The mighty mouse hunter

Cody was on the hunt one morning.  I could tell because Charlie was barking at him as him as he scratched at a closet door. It started several days before when I found him in one of the closets, squeezed between some boxes. He had pushed the sliding doors opened and all I could see was his back end, tail up high. He was on a mission determined to catch what his nose was drawing him towards.

Evidence was found a week before that a mouse was in the house, a trap was set and the mouse was caught. I had hoped it was the only mouse but from how Cody was reacting feared there was another one.

Cody was persistent. So I started removing the boxes from the closest. It was a bit difficult as he still was there sniffing and digging. I’m sure he felt I was in his way. Finally all the boxes had been removed; Charlie joined Cody in the closet; both of their noses twitching at the scent. Cody runs out of the closet with something in his mouth; into the bedroom, up onto his bed then lying down he sets a mouse in front of himself.

“Cody, what do you have?” I asked, thankful he didn’t place it on my bed. He sits up proudly, grinning at me, “Look what I caught, Mom!” he seemed to express. “You are a great hunter, Cody” I replied back. “Yes, you are Cody, the mighty mouse hunter!” His grin widens.

All the while Charlie is barking non-stop; grabbing a piece of hot dog I lure him outside. With a little more hot dog I draw Cody away from the mouse and outside.  The mouse is dead so the clean-up is left to me. Ugh.

As a true crusader of truth, justice and freedom of all mice he prowls from room to room vigilant in his quest to rid mice from the house forever! When there’s Cody, who needs a cat?

Maggie

While in Tennessee for one of our annual mission trip to God’s Mountain, Maggie had an appointment with the vet which then led to a biopsy. She had started limping after jumping from the golf cart and then Randy found a lump at her shoulder. The vet said he was sure she had cancer and had about four to six months left. It was sad leaving for home knowing that next year Maggie wouldn’t be there.

 

After a few months I received word from Randy that Maggie had bone cancer and she only had two to three weeks. My heart was heavy.

It hurts when we lose our beloved pets. They leave a big whole in our heart when they are gone. Some of my friends will never get another dog or cat because the pain is so great. I can’t imagine not knowing the joy that my dogs have brought me over the years. Over time, as I grieve for my loss, that huge whole fills up with their memories. I’m one of those people who believe that I will see them again.

After my first trip to God’s Mountain I wrote the following in my journal.

‘A week ago I saw a resemblance of faith to move. I had taken a picture the morning we left God’s Mountain. It’s not a very impressive photo. In fact it’s really bad and even if you looked at it very closely you may not be able to see what I intended to capture. Randy had just given Brenda a ride up the mountain to the church bus in the golf cart. Half way up the path in the photo is a small spot. Actually it’s two dogs. One is Maggie, a Labrador retriever, and the other is Lady, a Golden retriever. Whenever Randy went anywhere in the camp, Maggie would follow. She was faithful to get up and move and go wherever her master went. Just a reminder from a couple of Tennessee mountain dogs……no matter what, wherever my Master goes, I need to follow.’

 

Maggie was still trying to follow Randy, even though it was difficult for her to do so.  Dogs can teach us volumes about love and devotion.

Dogs & Bears

The view of God’s Mountain was breathtaking. I felt as though I was exactly where I was meant to be as I looked out the cabin’s loft window. The college and career ministry team from my church had returned to help around the youth mission camp after being there four months earlier to do repairs on a home in the Appalachian. God’s Mountain is in the Vonore and Tellico Plains areas of Tennessee.   As I looked out the window I saw two dogs. Randy and Phyllis, who run the camp, have about six dogs that roam freely over their eighty eight acres. I had not seen these two dogs when I was there months earlier.  I ran down the stairs and out on to the porch to have a closer look at the scruffy Saint Bernard and young yellow Labrador retriever. They were friendly but hesitant to come close and then eventually approached for me to pet them. I found out the dogs, Mosby, the Saint Bernard, and Stuart, the lab, both named after officers in the civil war, belonged to the camp’s neighbor.

One day Randy, Phyllis and I were talking about the bears in the area. Their neighbor’s garage had a doggie door big enough for Mosby to get through. One night he heard Mosby barking and went to investigate. A bear had come through the doggie dog and ran off with the dog food.

Another neighbor had a similar episode. He overheard his dogs barking in their kennel and looked out the window. There was this huge black bear on his porch, reaching up to get the dog food off the top shelf and then rambled off with the food.

Phyllis recalled the bear that came near their home. They contacted the rangers at the national forest next to their property who set up a bear cage. A few weeks later in the middle of the night she woke Randy up. “We have a bear in the trap’ she told him. They quickly rode over to see the bear but could only see a black nose. When the rangers opened the trap, it wasn’t a bear but Lady their golden retriever. A couple of weeks later, they heard the trap again. This time there was no mistaken they had a bear and he was not happy. The rangers weighed, tagged, and then returned him to the forest.

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