A letter to the Poms.... from Maggie.

Dear Lexi and Cosmo. Maggie here. It's too bad yer mama don't like hiking in the rain. You shoulda come wiv mama and me on our walk this morning. It was awesome, even if it was raining. We didn't go far away, but we did all the back lanes and paths in Crofton (lotsa good smells!) and then down to the far end of the seawalk.

I think someone stole some of mah beach!  

The tide was really high, so I couldn't walk the beach at the south end. Mama sez it is a King Tide - I dunno why, maybe all the Queens and Princesses were busy. Anyway, I walked the seawalk, keeping an eye out for my favourite sight - ducks!

I see some!  I see some ducks! 

Not just any ducks. I likes the ones shaped like domestic ducks even though they are wild. I don't care about the seagulls or oystercatchers or commerants or little round plovers. I like DUCKS. Mallards mostly.

Hold your head high, Geraldine, so that dog won't
mistake us for a common domestic variety duck! 

Mama won't let me chase them cuz that would be mean, but she does let me move up on them slowly and quietly to drive them into the water. She says I has great herding instincts (I is a Shetland Sheep Dog, which is a herding dog y'know, though mama sez I should be called a Crofton Duck Dog) . Or maybe I has had some training on duck herding in the past. That's how they start shelties for sheep herding sometimes - using ducks. I move side to side and sometimes I even crouch low like a border collie to creep towards them. But sometimes I get so excited I forgets myself and I run right into the water and start barking! Mama hauls me back (I'm on a long leash so I can't run off) and all the birds swim or fly away real fast.

I can hardly contain myself!
Maggie the intrepid duck hunter - er - herder! 

That's what happened this morning - I raced into the water RIGHT UP TO MAH BELLY, barking the excited happy sheltie bark. But Mama had me on that stoopid long leash and she was way behind me so I couldn't go any deeper. I woulda swum to Salt Spring Island after those ducks if I coulda. She made me come back on shore and waited until I stopped barking before she would give me a treat. It was my favorite kinda treat - dried duck filet! Now isn't that silly - I coulda had wet duck filet if she'd just let me catch those darn ducks!

Mama, sometimes you're no fun!

But y'know what happened next? A man that lives right by the beach dragged a little zodiac-type boat with a motor down to the water near where I was, and I just trotted off right after him! I did! I wasn't afraid of him at all, and I just left mama standing there holding the end of my 25 foot leash while I went with him! He didn't even realize I was right behind him, heading fer his boat! I was gonna get in that boat and go after those ducks! At least, that's what my mama thinks I had in mind, because, y'know, I'm a Very Smart Sheltie. I figured out a boat could get me out where those ducks had gone. I don't haz a picture of this because actually these photos were taken yesterday (which was also a King Tide) and mama didn't take the camera today because of the rain. But mama sez you can picture it in your im-ag-in-nation!

See the ducks out there?
They is sticking their tongues out at me
sayin' "Nyah Nyah Nyah you can't get us!"

Mama's such a spoil sport sometimes. But I hads a good time. When I got home, I had to stay in the mudroom for a while because I was allllll wet even after mama used a towel and the blow dryer on me. I didn't mind though because I got TWO toys filled with treats to keep me busy.

I know you like water, Cosmo, so next time it rains on a Friday you just hustle your furry little butt over here and come for a walk and a swim with me! Lexi can watch from shore if she doesn't want to get her prissy self all wet. She can stay with the hoomans while we haz a blast - and gets ourselves some nice fresh duck. And the scenery is pretty nice too. I LOVES the beach!

Love, yer pal, Maggie.

(No ducks were harmed in the making of this blog post).