It rained all night, and it rained all day. I could see building an ark and putting our animals on it and spending the next 40 days exploring the water-made highways and byways. I think that all our animals would enjoy this – they are all up for adventuring, even the chickens.

I would be sure to bring my raingear and plenty of snacks. Also, books. This would be a good time for me to get caught up on my animal behavior readings. Right now I’m reading Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words, by John W. Pilley.

Ryder

This is an excellent book by a fellow who was a Professor Emeritus at Wofford College in South Carolina. Chaser is a border collie. By the time Pilley passed on, Chaser knew over 1,000 words, as was evidenced by the fact that she responded to given commands. Chaser died a year after his owner passed.

I wish that I had met this man – this is by far the most insightful book on border collie behavior that I have yet read. It is too bad that John Katz, who wrote several insightful books himself, lost interest in writing about experiential animal behavior. He now has a daily blog; his animals are all pets – his all consuming interest in the emotional work of dogs seems to have petered out.

I now want to get a border collie puppy and do as Wofford did. Problem is, I don’t have the time. However, this lack of time issue is soon going to change. I would like to work with this puppy on language acquisition skills. Shadow knows three words – table, chair, and mat. She is not at all driven. Her greatest joy in life is being out on the trails with us. Ryder is getting up there. Her greatest joy in life is hanging out on our bed.

I went to work today. I can now work on Sundays because I am no longer having to clear my work area out for church services. I went to work because it was raining. If it had not been raining, I would have stayed home and ridden the horses and cleaned out the goat pen. It’s good to have a plan, and a contingency plan.

It was a day for getting stuff done. There were no visitors, and the street noise was minimal.

Instead, I sorted through the literacy materials that were dropped off yesterday, then I worked on stocking the two children’s nonfiction areas. I also moved the boxes of books going to Car Quest (they were up against a far wall) and got books that we’d have a hard time finding places for, in boxes. They will soon be enroute to the recycling center.

After work, I continued to work by distributing books. The local little library was a shambles and I did not even have enough books on me to fill it.

Tomorrow, supposedly, we are going kayaking. It’s supposed to rain, and this is a rain or shine sport.

Next: 195. 7/16/23: Rain