Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Val Proclaims the Innocence of Her Client

Puppy Jack is no angel. Even I know that, as much as I enjoy that little imp. But Puppy Jack is not the devil, either.

Just before he left for Sweden, Hick was puttering around over in Shackytown while I sat on the front porch pew after giving the dogs their evening snack. This was before the time change. We still had some daylight left. Actually, Hick had been secretly stowing something in the BARn that evening. I watched him drive down through the BARn field, go in and out, and then drive my mom's old 2002 Chevy Trailblazer back toward the homestead. He stopped by the water spout so he could feed and water his menagerie.

Hick does not think Puppy Jack is an angel. Hick thinks Puppy Jack is the devil.

This little guy!


On this particular evening, Hick picked up his hose (heh, heh, his GARDEN hose) and proceeded to rearrange it from its state of disarray.

"That dog has pulled my hose off!"

"Really? This little dog? Pulled that hose off the roller? I don't think so."

"Well, who else did it?"

"You, maybe? And you just decided to straighten it?"

"It's that dog! He needs to learn how to behave."

"I agree that he needs to learn how to behave. But pulling that heavy hose off the roller is not something he did."

"He's all the time pulling on things."

"That's too high and too heavy for him."

What do you think? Could Jack unroll this hose?


Here's Hick fiddling about with his hose. And some evidence, lest you wonder why we have a patch of yard with no grass.


Here's my Sweet, Sweet Juno sitting over there as darkness was falling. She avoids strife. Usually tries to come between Puppy Jack and his adversaries in cat-canine skirmishes. She had crept up as Hick was complaining about Jack. You can see (maybe, in the dark) her size and the height of that hose. Sweet, Sweet Juno doesn't mess with stuff like that. If it's not food, she's not real interested. Unless it's one of Jack's toys, which she takes directly to her house and hoards it.


I think Hick is barking up the wrong tree with this one. Maybe whatever pulled Hick's hose is the same thing that took a crap on the trunk of his Toronado!

14 comments:

  1. If the hose is on a roller, maybe, but I'd have to say there is reasonable doubt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's on a roller, but the roller won't roll if you pull on that hose. Hick has it draped over the side. In fact, that hose itself will jam up the roller from rolling.

      You can't see it very well, but there's a not-green hose actually wrapped around the roller. He has to hook them together to get water around back to Poolio.

      Delete
  2. It seems wrong.

    I hope you solve the mystery!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Hick probably used it one night to fill the water tub for the goat and mini pony, and just pulled it back over without coiling it up. He's always in such a hurry to get to work on one of his shacks...

      Delete
  3. I would never presume to know more about dogs than you, but I do think Puppy Jack could have unwound that hose.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He IS a muscular and tenacious fellow, but I just don't see him having the smarts or technique to flip the hose up over the edge of the roller every time he stretched out a loop.

      Delete
  4. Jack is innocent, and so is Sweet, Sweet Juno. The guilty one walks on two legs...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please tell me you're running for judge in our next Backroads election!

      Delete
    2. Sioux gets my vote!!

      Delete
    3. Don't run against her in the Backroads judge's election! You'll split the vote!

      Delete
  5. I'm no detective. As to the mystery of who unrolled the hoses - Instead of looking at hoses I noticed your lovely roses in the second photo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Better that than the bare patch of lawn! We are not gardeners, and our thumbs are far from green. But I have been mentioning to Hick in our front porch conversations how robust that rosebush is this year. There's a yellow one, smaller and unpictured, to the left of it, which has also thrived.

      The Pony used to grab my kitchen scissors to cut them to take to my mom when we were headed for a visit.

      Delete
  6. Sweet, Sweet Juno appears to be just waiting for Hick to drive away to . . .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She can't be bothered with hose-tampering. Now that we're down to six chickens, all her energy goes into looking for eggs (allegedly) to maintain her silky coat.

      Delete