Tremper's Big Night

(This event took place on Saturday, 30 October, and is hereby duly reported by Heather Borden, age 11, almost 12.)

One dark night, Lisa Borden was looking at her beautiful face in the mirror when she saw the black silhouette of a rat run past behind her. Nervously, she called Byron Borden to come find the rat and kill it immediately. Heather ran to get their young Jack Russell Terrier, the outrageous, one and only Tremper Shortman.

As soon as Tremper entered the room he could smell the disgusting yet juicy rat. Byron, Lisa and Heather all had their various weapons ready as Tremper sniffed under the trunk where the rat cowered. Byron lifted the trunk, making the dirty rat scamper for his life. Fortunately, Tremper had quicker reflexes than the rat and viciously killed it with his sharp teeth.

The drama was over.

Puppy Love and Good Gifts

New puppies are the best! This little guy was a surprise arrival on Saturday when friends called to say they'd decided they couldn't take the pup they had booked and wondered if we wanted him. He was ready to come home that very day. We were more than happy to rearrange our afternoon, not to mention our lives, for him.

New Pup (short legged Jack Russell Terrier) is still nameless, though we're fond of Tremper Shortman, in honor of Westmont's legendary Old Testament professor, Tremper Longman. It's a compliment in every way as we adore our dogs and Dr. Longman is also well loved. In the mean time, we'll just keep calling him Puppy. Right now Puppy is sleeping on my empty suede boots under the desk.

Speaking of names, we used to have 2 Jack Russells named Harvey and Bristol. Also had one named C. Pete and another named Zero.

I was pondering a list of lovely things that have happened lately, Puppy's arrival being the culmination of them. I was thinking about how each thing was a gift from God and I was feeling very thankful. Quite distinctly I heard God's response: "Well, you know I speak your love language."

Very well, apparently! :-)

Charlotte

To say that our family is a little attached to our dogs would be putting it mildly. Ask our long-time friends and they'll confirm to you that we're all a little nuts in this regard. Oh, I could tell you all the sound reasons for our passionate affection toward our canine family members, but it doesn't have to be justified. It's just a fact. We simply enjoy their company. A lot.

All the sadder, then, that we should return from 2 weeks away to the news that Charlotte had run under the wheels of a friend's car just a few days after we left home. We were off-line and out of phone range so we heard about it as we were getting ready to drive down from Nairobi yesterday. Sweet Tammy cried when she called to let me know.

Well, Heather made a little list and presented it at the dinner table tonight. I thought you might like to hear what she thought was good to remember about that little dog that we reared from birth in Portugal, took with us to the States for 9 months and then moved with us to Tanzania.

Here are Heather's "Memories of Charlotte."

1. She would go crazy when she would see the leash. She would jump up and down and get so, so excited!
2. She would make this funny snoring sound when she was looking at your food and was hungry. (Which was always.)
3. She loved it when you would scratch really hard on her back and she would start shaking her back right leg.
4. She would always sneak into the house and go into Mom and Dad's room and go under the bed and get all tangled up in the mosquito net.
5. She was really good to take in the Land Rover to, like, the land. And once she even got to go to Maji Moto!
6. She was a really, really good dog.

I miss that little white dog. She certainly was a cheeky one.

Of Hedgehogs

I read today on the BBC that a man in New Zealand is being charged for using a hedgehog as a weapon. He threw the wee thing about 16 feet to hit a young man with whom he must have had some problem.

Weird.

Another weird thing... Last night I woke up to the strangest noise. It was a squeaking screaming barking kind of thing. I asked Byron if he knew what we were hearing and he said, "It's a hedgehog, " followed by, "Charlotte!! Cut it out! Leave it alone! Charlotte!"

So I have this Jack Russell (Charlotte) that feels compelled to protect our garden from hedgehogs. Terrific. I wish she would just leave them alone. They are cute and harmless (though I hear you can contract dread diseases from them) and I don't know why the dog has developed such a strong dislike for them.

Our night guard rescues them from her. He scoops them up and tosses them over the hedge in an effort to help them escape the crazed terrier. I hope they find refuge on that side.

(Photo taken by Jesse last summer here in TZ)

Pepi Has a Cute Face

This is Pepi, a 3 year old Jack Russell Terrier who has just moved in with us. He packed light, bringing only a bowl.

Pepi's owner is returning to the States after about 40 years in East Africa. Here's something wild: his owner and her husband built the very first house that Byron's family moved into in Kenya in 1964!!

This move must be quite difficult in so many ways for Pepi's friend. I suppose there are things that she does look forward to, though.

I hope that we can make it a little easier by providing a nice home for Pepi.

FYI: The Pepster has attached himself to Byron. After Byron left on the motorcycle this morning, Pepi stood at the gate and howled. I went out and told him that I'm nice too. I hope he believes me.