Zephyr Learns to Fish

It's been a while since I wrote. I had a couple of weeks of vacation, and was for ten days in a place where there was no access to the internet. That took some getting used to. I was with family, and not having Google to answer important questions like: "How do you know when corn is ripe?" or "What do sand dollars eat?" was a real eye opener. It made me realize just how dependent we've all become on the great encyclopedia that's usually at our fingertips.

Anyhow, I'm back now, and as promised a few entries ago, this post tells the story of how Zephyr learned to fish.

Zeph loves to swim. She appears to be just as comfortable swimming as she is walking -- maybe more comfortable. She took to the Ontario lakes like, well, like a duck to water. And the bigger the waves the more fun she appears to be having.

After we arrived here, we took her to the lake often . She chased her water toys, or sticks -- whatever was around. Sometimes she simply swam, just for the pleasure of it. And then winter came and with it the ice, and it was too dangerous to go down to the shore.

In the spring Ian discovered a beach not too far from us that we hadn't visited before. It's a beautiful beach, looking right out onto the vast expanse of the lake. For the two months when school is out it transforms itself into a provincial park, with all the attendant rules, but for the other ten months it's wild and largely deserted, except for dog walkers and the occasional cyclist.

Tall dunes separate the beach from a protected little lake behind, and a stream joins the two bodies of water. And one day, in this stream, Zephyr discovered......fish!!

Well, the excitement was unbelievable! Squirrels

are one thing, but it's really hard to get close to them.

"HEY, DAD!! These things are right under my feet!!!!! What are they? Are they good to eat?? There goes one!! There goes another one!! How do I get them? Howhowhowhow??"

Zeph is a pointer, and after the intital frenzy, she reverted to the methods for which the breed is known. She will sometimes stand for 15 minutes watching her prey, every muscle tensed and ready, before something causes her to break point, and she pounces.

It's hard not to laugh -- she's having such a good time. Check out the tail in the video:

Sadly, so far the "point and pounce" technique hasn't resulted in any catches for Zeph, but she remains undeterred!