Summer Moon of the First Harvests
OK. Late July and the temp outside this am is 59 degrees. And I approve this message.
Only one outside chore for this morning. Hardening the orchard fence against a Rigel 
invasion. She periodically checks all the points where I’ve closed up the base of the fence. On occasion she finds one that has come undone. Kate’s found her in the orchard twice in the last week. I found the spot and wired a log across it, crude but reversible solutions.
(Rigel and Gertie)
She used to climb over the fence. That’s when I added the electric fence. She no longer does that. Now her snooping follows the line where fence meets ground. You might wonder why we want to keep her out of the orchard. Both she and her sister Vega love to dig and when in the orchard they dig up soil mounded around the fruit trees. Since this is where plant guilds beneficial to the trees live, we see the digging as unwanted behavior.
It’s been a bright full moon the last couple of nights and the dogs have been restless. No, I don’t think moon rays make dogs crazy. I do think they make navigating easier for night time critters and the dogs notice. Then they whine to go outside. Two nights ago in the wee hours for example. We heard them bay in the woods not long after we let them go.
In other dog news Kona’s mass continues to grow. We have her on two tramadols three 
times a day which seem to manage her pain very well. She’s eating, moving around. It’s hard to tell how long she has, but for now she seems mostly comfortable.
(Hilo)
Kate and I counted up the dogs we’ve had since our marriage in 1990. 17. 6 whippets: Buck, Iris, Emma, Bridgit, Hilo and Kona. 8 Irish Wolfhounds: Celt, Sorsha, Scott, Morgana, Tira, Tully, Orion and Tor. Two Irish Wolfhound/Coyote Hound mixes: Rigel and Vega. 1 German Shorthair: Gertie. The Wolfhounds are short lived, sadly.
Kate already had Buck and Iris when we married. Buck, like Hilo and Bridgit, died early, around 10, while the others lived into their teens, as has Kona.
We don’t know yet the lifespan of Rigel and Vega, but since they’re hibreds I’m hoping for at least a few more years with them. Gertie should live into her teens.
We’ve learned many things from having this many dogs as life companions, but the most telling one of all, to me, is the remarkable differentiation in personality. Iris was a princess who didn’t like insects and chose to watch other animals rather than hunt them. Buck was a little daffy. He loved to pick up somebody else’s kill and run around with it in his mouth, very proud. Celt knew us, knew the pack and kept the other dogs in line. He was our only true alpha, a regal dog who accepted all praise as his just due.
The others, all different, too. Sweet Tully, who developed a predator/prey relationship with the whippets. Tira, whose fear of thunderstorms led her into serious injuries more than once. Sorsha, who took down a deer all by herself and loved to hunt. Also stubborn.
