Eco Minded: Meet the McGee's

In my house, we have a pseudo family called "The McGees". Everyone in the McGee family has a nickname, and usually one that changes on a daily basis depending on what's going on that day. For example, the dog is sometimes called "Whiskers McGee" if she is sniffing around for floor crumbs and has her whiskers at full extension. My newest nickname is "Snowball McGee", because I got a sprained ankle resulting from a snowballing of stressful events that - it turn - resulted a snowball-like tumble down the stairs. Admittedly silly, this naming game emerged as a way to define and humorize the day's events.

So today's nickname is "Huntress McGee", pinned on my dog (she gets the most nicknames) for her adept animal chasing skills. Skills that really do not make me a proud doggie-mommie, but instead truly trigger my gag-and-ewwwww reflex.

My dog is a patient hunter...she waits on "her" deck, sometimes for hours, surveying the creatures that run or fly through it. She seeks not the kill...no, she prefers the chase. When in her sight, she will wait, carefully planning the right launch moment as her hind legs shake in anticipation. And then, when that moment arrives, she catapults into the yard a-la-scooby-doo in pursuit of furry or feathery things that may - or may not - escape.

After a few years observing the skills of "Huntress McGee", we too have refined OUR skills of observation, carefully detecting when she is in patient-steath-hunting mode so that we can interrupt and save the unsuspecting. Ah, the signs are subtle...there's only a slight drop in her head, closer to the ground, and the ears pinned back just a trace. When the stalked is her most favored chase - the rabbit - the true giveaway is the tiny leg shake.

Although certainly capable, "Huntress McGee" is often surprised when she actually catches something...seems to be a bonus only to the thrill of the purposed run. She often does not know what to do once her "chase" becomes a "catch". She'll just prance in the yard until (sorry to say this) it stops wiggling, then she drops it.

Until today - today "Huntress McGee" added to her I-MUST-CHASE-THIS-THING-BECAUSE-IT-SQUEEKS-AND/OR-RUNS list...the chipmunk. Regretfully, the little munk is no longer with us. So the McGee's say a little peaceful prayer for the passing of the chipmunk, and we expand our watchful eye to now include the area UNDER the deck as well as the area around it.