A forest adventure

Today, there was a bunny that ran through our back yard and both my sister and I chased it all the way to the edge of our lawn. We've been chasing bunnies for a long long time and have not caught one and we thought that today could be the chance we'd been waiting for. When our mama let us out, we both streaked toward the edge of the grass, where the dark woods begin. Sure, we'd wandered into the thicket there once or twice or maybe a few thousand times, and sometimes we'd walk out of it without any damage to ourselves and some times we'd end up covered in little green balls of something that we didn't understand, but we'd made it out fine.

Then, last week, there was a bunny that ran from one side of the yard to the edge of the forest and Rozi did a very clever thing: she snuck behind the shet and crept through the tall weeds and low bushes and surprised the bunny, who was waiting for us to go away. But, we didn't! And, Rozi surprised the bunny, who then ran fast across the yard and into the 'clubhouse' that we have on the side and then Rozi went in and then I went in and the bunny disappeared. Like I said, we'd been at this for a while.

Then, today when we reached the place where our grass meets the tall trees, where the darkness begins and you can't see the sun, Rozi did not stop. She pursued the bunny and even though the bunny put more distance between itself and Rozi than the Red Sox have put between themselves and the Yankees, nevertheless she persisted. She jumped over fallen branches and through thick patches of grass and more low bushes and more broken trees until the reached what we think is the very end of the world: a stone fence. Sure, there's one of those on the other side of the yard from the clubhouse, and - sure - we can't get over it to see what's on the other side, but we know that it's there and we've run up to it and even put our paws on it. This "end of the world" wall was something that we've seen when we're looking through the windows as we get ready for one of our several dozen naps in the day, but we'd never gotten close enough to see it or touch it.

Until today.

Of course, I am a good girl (my mama tells me this all the time) and I knew that it was dangerous to go that far and almost fall off the earth and so I stopped at the place where the dark trees start. But, not Rozi. She didn't get the bunny and then decided to do a little exploring. I tried to let her know that it's dangerous in the woods, that there are creatures in there like deer and antelope and monkeys, but she didn't listen. She just kept sniffing around and soon she was in trouble like I knew she would be. She was not being a very good girl and before she knew it, she was being picked up and scolded, since there are many things in the woods that could hurt a little puppy, like branches and rotten fruit and spiders and snakes and bigfoot. Also, ticks.

I waited, anxiously, as she was carried to safety and I knew that I was still a good girl and that she was a bad girl, but that's not news. Ever it has been, ever will it be. She was placed back within the confines of the yard and was soon sniffing around as if it had been a normal trip outside. But it wasn't. I would never admit it to her, but I was worried since there are so many creatures in the woods like birds and tin men and also lions.

She's in the house now (as am I) and we now need to unwind from our scary evening. It's about the time that we do our mindfulness and I'm so happy that we're both safe and we're both able to just enjoy the evening, now that there is a thick pane of glass and/or a wall between us and the outside.

Arf, Yip, Yip, Arf,
Izzi (almost without Rozi!)

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