June 1, 2009

• June 1, 2009….not just an ordinary day, but one for celebration around our place. The reason? It’s the 10th birthday of someone very dear to us….Happy Birthday, Chocolate Chip Taber!

                  

  He came to us at just six weeks,

                  

  a cuddly, placid, sleepy puppy. Then something happened. By the time he was four months old, Chip was nearly grown and we were aware of his true nature….hyper, excited, happy, fun-loving, needing LOTS of attention and exercise.

  Chip, an English springer spaniel, has his idiosyncrasies.

                   

  I believe I’ve told you about his penchant for playing in the snow….he loves to ride down our steep hill on *his* saucer and even brings it back up for another run.

                  

  He likes to play with the horses behind our house. One day, he somehow got a big ball down the hill and into the horse pasture, and he and Lucky had a real ballgame, Chip pushing it with his nose, then giving Lucky a turn while he barked excitedly. Chip does know how to share.

                  

                (riding in the boat on the lake)

  Chip will befriend anyone, even strangers walking by. One time he followed a fellow who was walking down our road with a pack on his back for 25 miles, with the guy yelling at him and telling him to go home. Finally, the man gave up, and the two of them walked to the nearest town where Chip was taken in by the city policeman. Thankfully, Chip was wearing a collar with our name and phone number on it, and I raced to town to bring him home. How do you tell a friendly boy like Chip to leave strangers alone….he has never seen one!

  We’ve had our ups and downs, as all friends do. One questionable incident occurred when I first brought home my chickens. When I opened the cage and ten feathery creatures plopped out one by one, Chip thought they were special toys just for him to play with. He flew into their midst, scattering the terrified critters to kingdom come. In the end, ten became four. But after a stern scolding, Chip never bothered my chickens again, and now he will even tolerate them when they come to his water bucket for a drink.

  His best four-legged buddy is our strange feline, Justacat.

                                

   Although Justy will have nothing to do with humans, he and Chip are tight…when Justy isn’t wandering off somewhere getting into trouble (notice the cat has no ears….they’ve been chewed off too many times.)

  I wish I had some idea of how many miles Chip and I have logged together through the years, walking all over the farm.

                   

  He gets in many more miles than me since his duty is to run ahead and look for wildlife or other exciting discoveries and periodically come back to check on me. Sometimes his discoveries are TOO exciting, such as the time he flushed a defensive skunk out of tall pasture grass. We HURRIED back home from that walk! P-U!

  One never knows how a pet will respond to new family members, but Chip has accepted each of our grandchildren, loving them as much as we do. Last weekend, Addie’s giggles as Chip licked her bare feet were a delight to this Mimi’s ears. Chip knows that babies are precious and to be careful with them.

  Ten years is getting up there for a dog. Chip can no longer hear very well, and he takes a little longer to get up after a snooze. But he still adores a swim in the creek, 

          

  will still *speak* for a treat, and loves to go for a ride in the back of my truck.

                      

  I think we still have some good years together ahead of us….I sure hope so, because I can’t imagine life without faithful, loving Chip! Happy birthday, dear friend!

  • 10:19 pm
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