The Nature of things

This morning I wanted to write an article explaining how I wracked-up my knee last week so that I could not get out and take pictures this week as I had hoped to do. I had the opening all planned but this morning, Saga did something that so reminded me of the way Dad insists I behaved as a child, that I decided to lead with that. Please keep reading for the sordid details of my recent injury. They follow the main story.

It is a story that is legend in my family. I do not recall this ever happening, but if it did, I have to assume that it is just a natural way to behave. Saga did it this morning and it had me laughing!
Every summer, the Bergquists of Miami would take a family vacation. Even years we would drive to Minnesota (pulling the camping trailer behind the station wagon); odd years, it would be somewhere else, one year it was the Great Smoky Mountains, another it was just as far as Ocala National Forrest. It was always somewhere and regardless of where, there was always one thing that Dad insists would happen.

Don, being a naturally gregarious and outgoing boy would make friends will all the campers in our circle of the campground. According to Dad he would then show-up at each campsite as they were having breakfast and join them, returning happily to my own campsite when the rounds were completed. Is this a natural behaviour? I think so. As evidence, I present Saga.

Saga is one of the most friendly dogs I know. (At least if you have food anywhere about your person she is.) Far from being shy of people (as is, after all a breed trait, she goes up to people to see if they have any snacks they'd care to rid themselves of. She would be glad to assist them with the disposition of the unwanted edibles.

Saga

Saga has befriended almost everyone in my complex and if there is anyone that is out and about as we go out for our walk, she is certain to run up to them, say "hello" in her doggish fashion, and offer to rid them of any unwanted treats. This morning, however, she rose to a new low!

Saga, as usual, ran across the yard to rid the tree of those pesky squirrels, then went to Lynne and Peggy's place to see if, by any chance, either Peggy or Lynne had left any extra cookies lying around for her. They hadn't, but Lynne came to the door to say "Hello" as Saga ran up her deck stairs so when she opened the door to pet Saga, Saga ran into the house, and into the "magic food room" and awaited the reward.

Lynne, seeing that Saga wanted a treat, went into the kitchen, gave her a biscuit, and then let her back out. The retrieval of the cookie thusly dispatched, Saga strutted across the yard with more of a wag in her tail than is usual, and retreated to her own deck to consume the cookie.
Add a few station wagons, a couple tents and campers, and you have what Dad claims I used to do all the time. Hmmm… maybe there is some basis to his stories after all.

I hope that you will do what is in your nature today and that it makes you happy!

Don Bergquist - 26-June-2005 - Lakewood, Colorado