I have just come back from Fernhill...a farm in Northumberland County, Ontario. This farm raises Scottish Deer hounds...I spent a good hour with one of them sitting on my lap whilst I massaged him. Sitting on my lap is a relative term. This dog is a champion...and stands a good three feet tall...or more. If I am sitting down, we are nose to nose. He had parked his hind quarters on my lap. I actually have a picture of this but I refuse to post it. In fact, I refuse to post any pictures which include me. Why?
I realized when the owners of said farm sent me the pictures that my issue is simple. I have always wanted to be a six-foot-tall model. The fact that at 71 I can finally accept the fact that such a wish would demand a genetic miracle has led me to ignore the lies in photos. I now think that I am a six-foot model despite proof to opposite. At 71 I have the privilege so to do.
I have visited the Fernhill deerhound farm. A friend of mine was interested in the breed and asked me to go with him to check out the operation. The hounds scared the bejeezus out of me! I was glad not to be a deer. Or a rabbit. Or a cat. Or a small imported vehicle. Or anything else that looked like food to the hounds.
ReplyDeleteOn my visit, which took place on a sunny summer afternoon, I had the surprising experience of seeing a Muskoka rattlesnake sunning itself on the porch of the farmhouse. Muskoka rattlers aren't supposed to be found this far south! I suppose I could blame global climate disruption, but I prefer to imagine one of the hounds went for a brief romp out to the Muskokas, picked up the snake in its fur, and brought it back to our neck of the woods.