Ring Hick's Be-e-elll, Ring Hick's Bell

When Hick came home Friday afternoon from his Friday-afternoon-bull-shooting session with his cronies, he took little puppy Pepper out to the yard to play. Pepper looks forward to it, and is on high alert in his  porch-pen enclosure as the time grows near. After 30-60 minutes of tormenting our old dog Jack, Pepper trots through the kitchen behind Hick, ready for his supper back in his pen.

Pepper is growing up. He's nine weeks old now, almost ready to have free range of our 10 acres. His fur is getting coarser. He's not as bite-y when playing with humans. He will sometimes take off on a tangent to explore, but he always comes back to Hick.

Friday evening, Hick came in the house and started for the laundry room. "Come on, Pepper. Let's go get supper! Here, Pepper!"

Pepper was busy exploring the porch. He rounded the sticking-out part that is where the kitchen has the three windows. That brought him around to the other side of his pen wall, where Jack's water dish sits. Pepper was not responding to Hick's call. Hick came back through the kitchen to fetch Pepper. Who is still small enough to be tucked under an arm and easily carried.

Hick went around the corner and came back carrying Pepper. "I cain't just set him over into his pen. I left the laundry room door open, and he'd just run through the house."

GONG!!!

Hick had walked right into his decorative metal bell that's been hanging beside the kitchen door for over 25 years. Thankfully, he didn't drop Pepper!

It's colored green and yellow, like a John Deere tractor. That thing beside it is a ceramic gun holster. They are not connected, nor related. Here's an artsy view with the sunrise peeking through:

"Are you okay?"

"I hit my head on the bell!"

"I saw that. Do you have a concussion?"

"No. I'm blind in my left eye."

"Well, that bell HAS been there since right after we moved in. And you're the one who put it there."

"Yeah. But I didn't see it."

I'm really not one to be pointing out Hick's clumsiness. I still have a bruise on my forehead where I hit it on the laundry room doorknob, trying to stop Pepper from running back in when I put him out.