Angus, our 9 year old Scottie, is definitely the head
Honcho around here. He’s always the first to snuggle
into new furniture – then we get the chance to enjoy
it. His meals are home-cooked and consist of organic brown
rice and vegetables, natural beef, turkey or chicken.
His nickname is King Angus. He has been described as a
good communicator – meaning that he lets you know
exactly what he wants. You get the picture…
Two of our nieces, ages 7 and 14 were visiting us this
summer. On a warm summer afternoon, they asked if they
could walk Angus. I suggested that it was a bit too warm
but that after dinner a walk would be much appreciated
by Angus. In preparation for His Majesty’s walk
I carefully placed his leash on the counter where he could
not see it. But he heard the familiar jingle and he knew
the leash was there. I left for the weekly “Dinner
on the Patio” Event. When I returned I was informed
by the 7 year old that Angus reminded them of the promised
walk by taking his leash from the counter and carrying
it over to her. And until the walk actually commenced,
Angus followed them around the house with his leash in
tow.
Somehow I have the feeling that the 7 year old will never
forget Angus. Maybe she will tell her children about Angus
and the leash event. And maybe they will tell their children
…
By now you might be thinking, what does this have to do
with honey, bees or mead? Actually, there is a bee connection.
We adopted Angus when he was 5 years old. And to
be honest, Angus and I did not see eye to eye for the
first several weeks. You see, Angus quite naturally stepped
right into the alpha-male role and he and I were butting
heads for weeks. But Angus had a few things to learn.
He was a city-slicker and not in touch with the magic
of nature and specifically that of the bees. To him bees
were flying toys and he routinely jumped and snapped at
them. Fortunately for him he was not a very good bee catcher.
But one day his luck ran out. He raced over to me and
plopped down right at my ankles, pressing firmly against
my leg -uncharacteristically submissive behavior for Angus.
Something was up. As soon as I bent down I heard the buzzing
of several bees which were stuck in his coat. I did what
I had to do and Angus and I have been best buddies ever
since. We were bonded forever through the
bees sacrifice!
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