Ernie’s morning adventure

Ernie bolts out of the Shack for his morning walk with the enthusiasm of American Pharaoh leaving the starting gate.

I catch up with him as he leads the way with conviction down the well-worn path to pasture. Frequent stops are made so he can sniff out any rabbit that might be hiding in the high grass alongside the welded wire horse fence. Over the last few weeks there have been pop-up encounters with resident hares.

Eventually as we begin our return Ernie is now at what he determines is a suitable over-the-shoulder lookback distance ahead of me.

With my other companion being a camera I stop and take a picture of a solitary Texas pink evening primrose wild flower.  It’s a welcome splash of color in a drab field of grass.

Then I’m immediately distracted as I hear Ernie’s screeching about twenty yards ahead: my BBF spooks a small rabbit from a thicket of dewberries.

The chase is on!

I see a tuft of white bobbing along the path with a long tail and four brown legs in hot pursuit.

The small rabbit makes an abrupt 90 degree turn to the right and escapes through the rectangular pattern in the fence onto the neighbor’s property. Too big to squirm through Ernie is left standing on hind legs shrieking and yelping in frustration.

Not ready to give up he goes back to the tangle of berry vines and feverishly circles the entire fifty foot long oval patch that doubles as a hutch.

Praying for another prey he dives into that mess disappearing and re-appearing panting in the ninety degree heat and humidity.

I intervene concerned that in his ardor the dog can become badly scratched by the burrs on the vines as he tunnels under them. Of course, following his nature, he doesn’t like stopping the action.

Once he calms down he’ll recall that there will be a next time; and being the dogged optimist that he is he just might catch dat kwazy wabbit.