Our Neighbor Skip

Digory and I made a new friend.. well, technically we made two. Skip and his dog Blue. Skip lives down the street and rules the neighborhood from his red truck or preferably from his riding lawn mower, which he frequently rides up and down our busy street. In either vehicle he prefers to be sans shirt and is accompanied by his shepherd mix dog with one blue eye. Blue walks leashed beside the mower proudly and Skip waves at everyone he sees. I wave too if I'm outside. It's a one-man, one-dog parade. He's probably in his sixties, retired and is extremely hospitable, honest, and kind. I have yet to meet his wife, but from the praises he speaks of her I am looking forward to it.

Blue and Digory are officially best friends. Really, while I've tried to get Digs to befriend my friends' dogs he just hasn't quite bonded as quickly to them as he has to Blue. He and Blue are both boys and about the same age and they run and chase each other and just have a grand 'ol time. Some days I walk by Skip's house and he is sitting out front with Blue and Digory drags me across to play. Skip pulls up a chair and we talk about dogs, birds, churches, and of course the neighborhood. Skip really does rule the neighborhood in my opinion because he seems to know everyone and everyone knows him. He's a great resource. I now know the ethnicity of most of my neighbors. I also know that one of my neighbors has a temper and I should be careful of upsetting him. I learned not to pet a certain neighborhood dog because it bit Skip on the hand and there used to be chickens and roosters living across from Skip, but someone complained [not Skip] and they're gone now. Oh, and I also learned that souring milk isn't bad for dogs to drink... Skip had some out for Blue and Digory decided it was his. That was fine except Digory is very furry and food tends to stick around his face. You probably see where I'm going with this...

So, after a lovely visit with Skip yesterday I saw a hummingbird, some swallows, learned a lot, and I left with a tired dog, four very muddy paws, and a very sour smelling dog in desperate need of a bath.

K