Tod taking a 'breather' after a chase around my patch.
Cousin 'Tod'
Now cousin Tod came into this world one week after I did and, as the name suggests, he's a boy. This made him fair game as a target for dominance.
When we first met I thought he was one of my brothers (though he didn't smell the same), and he thought I was one of his sisters. Since I was bullied by my real brothers, and he wasn't one of them I guessed this was a good case of "get back time".
Being a boy he thought himself all powerful but after a few laps of the garden, some neat gambols and well timed growls he was eventually resigned to his lowly place in the 'pecking order'.
Since Tods keeper has no access to a computer at home then it's unlikely that he will see these pages. That being the case I'll tell you about his first visit to my 'patch'.
It was a glorious warm spring day and Tod, with his wise old brother Dex, had arrived for a visit. We'd had a good dash about, with the humans giggling at our antics, and Tod, by this time worn out, decided to investigate his surroundings a little closer.
Boys can certainly make fools of themselves, and it's usually when everyone is watching.
Off he wandered, nose to the ground, stepping up a small wall and onto what appeared to be a bright green patch of grass. But this was no ordinary grass. What he actually stepped onto was a layer of 'duckweed' which coated a small pond that was home to several gold and silver 'things'.
Talk about panic! Down he went with paws beating into the water trying to get some grip - but you can't get a lot of grip in water (this he knows now, and will never forget).
His keeper was at hand to heave him out by the scruff of the neck and deposit him on the real grass. Here he stood with a pained and embarassed expression on his face, pieces of pondweed hanging from his wet whiskers and most definitely the centre of attention (for the wrong reasons).
With everyone still laughing,he shook himself off and ambled away to hide his shame.
I found it particularly hilarious since I too had 'tested' the pondweed some weeks earlier - but without a large audience.
We have to learn the hard way . . . .