Creature at the Creek

Whenever we visit Glen Highland Farm, Molly spends a good amount of time in Butternut Creek. It winds throughout the property, babbling like a brook in some areas, rushing over rock piles in others and has great swimming for Molly and great wading for Ben.

Molly loves for you to throw things into the water for her to chase and swim after. Note I did not say fetch. For Molly, fetch seems to only to apply to objects thrown on terra firma. Over the years I've lost many a frisbee or floaty toy in the hopes that a such fun bright squeaky object would entice her to bring it back so that, yay, we can play with it again! But no. So I throw sticks. And I know lotsa folks are weird about using "sticks" to play with their dogs but they are plentiful and cheaper than fun bright squeaky floaty toys.

If there are no sticks to be had, or I'm occupied with Ben or taking pics, Molly will entertain herself. She goes bobbin' for rocks using her front paws to scrape the Creek bottom then plunges her head in to pull out the rock of her affection. And these are no small stones. Some of the rocks she's pulled out of the water over the years weighed as much as 3 pounds. (I've even kept a few of the more impressive ones, labeled with the date and location.)

In the photo above, we had just arrived to a favorite spot. My camera batt was low so I was fussing with it. Molly went ahead into the water to start bobbin'. By the time I changed out the batt she had scouted her rock, looking at me with excitement at what she found. She had not gone for a swim yet, so she was mostly dry except for the water pouring from her head. I likened her to a strange creature rising out of the depths of the water and chuckled. "Good girl!" I say. She proceeds to dig out her rock and carry it ashore. Still laughing at her antics I turn to taking pics of Ben. After 10 minutes I turn to Molly and I see that she has a collection now. She had been depositing her rocks in the same place on the shore. She had been standing her pile... I wonder, waiting for me to notice? "Good girl!" I say to her again. Soaking wet now, Molly trots over, right next to me and shakes off. A lot of water. I guess it's payback for not being more interactive with the creature at the Creek!