With the half-wild nature of the work animals around here, particularly the horses, there's no shortage of entertainment on my little dirt road. On more than one occasion, horses have gotten loose (not surprising when you consider they're more often than not simply tied to a tree, or large stick even, with deteriorating rope) and come tearing down the path in front of our house. At this point the feint of heart, including yours truly, watch from a safe distance while two or more courageous cowboys begin the tedious process of slowly closing in on the terrified beast from both sides of the path, eventually lassoing it and riding it bareback to a field of poor fencing, where the whole process will inevitably begin again. It's amusing for me, although surely not for the owners, and even less so for the angry steeds.
A "doggie" of a different type, our neighbor's canine friend to be exact, has taken to following me everywhere I go. He's some sort of tiny terrier mix (named Terry - go figure), and he walks with me all around the community, taking short-cuts through the woods, climbing buildings to get cell phone service, stopping to chat with community members. He even sits patiently waiting when I reach whatever destination I had in mind, occasionally leaning up against me to show his affection. Everyone except my immediate neighbors seems to think he's mine, and it's pretty cute that he likes me so much, although with his tendency to jump for the first 5 minutes of your company, it took me a while to warm up to him. I think I'm just a substitute anyway, since the young boy who normally plays with him is on vacation.
As I was leaving the house the other day, Terry in tow, my neighbor (not his owner, but another) noticed that I was being followed. In an effort to scare the pooch into returning home, he quickly produced a whip (I still have no idea where from) and began cracking it wildly in the air and on the ground. Terry quickly took refuge behind me - smart little thing - and when he felt it was safe darted in the direction of home, with my whip cracking neighbor in hot pursuit. Although I would normally find this horrifying, for some reason this scene struck me as incredibly funny (I'm hard up for humor here sometimes), and I justified my giggles by reminding myself that the whip didn't actually ever touch Terry, but merely scared him. Apparently not enough though, because he was back today, following me even more dotingly than before.
I figured I would find a dog while I was in the Peace Corps…I just never guessed that one would find me!
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