Gibby is Wonderful

Gibby has a lot more room to run now with his fifty foot long rope instead of the shorter cable. He showed off beautifully tonight. My across-the-road neighbor was already there and plowing when I got to the farm today. He seems to really like Gibby, and Gibby likes him. Gibby had tangled his new yellow rope and his old red cable around the big stick that is his only stick big enough to show up through the snow, and Jim saw me getting in trouble trying to untangle it while Gibby tried to take the stick away. I had the rope wrapped several times around my legs and Gibby was almost chewing on my hands while he was yanking on the stick. Jim came to our rescue, got the stick free, and then stopped to talk for a couple minutes. Gibby then did something that at first looked dangerous and rough, and then proved to be marvelously obedient. He took a flying run at Jim, skidded to a stop, flung his body in a half circle, and sat right next to Jim's right leg. He sat long enough to be petted, and then did the same thing to me. It looked like a very practiced trick, but I never saw him do it before. When he sat next to me, he leaned into me for petting the same way George does. I had to say that he's really a beautiful dog. Jim said he was training some of his dogs to be sled dogs and I thought Gibby would be a perfect sled dog. He doesn't seem to mind the cold at all. He has a thick coat but doesn't have long hair to get tangled with ice balls, and he is extremely powerful - he could probably pull a big freight sled all by himself. Maybe next summer I'll teach him to pull my tricycle.

I had a strange trip home from the farm. The snow was falling in increasingly large flakes, the sun had gone down, and with the dark trees on both sides of the road, I felt like I was driving through a dark tunnel. Very few other people were foolish enough to be out on the roads. Blue must have sensed there was something a little eerie, she came into the front seat and reached her head over to touch my hand. I had cleared the driveway before I left for the farm, but the new snow had filled it all in again. It took almost half an hour to get up the hill to the house, but I was intent on having the patience to let my front wheel drive do it's job (Mother's new caretaker, who comes for two hours a week, told me to "feather" the gas and let the front wheels do their job. She just bought a 2007 Ford Freestyle just like mine, but she read the instruction manual.) Amazing - she was right. Patience and feathering worked. Nice to have new learning take me to the top of the hill. So, feeling quite pleased, I drew a new pattern and dyed some wool, so I'm moving over to my other blog. http://rughooker.blogspot.com