I have a theory that prompts me to write about cheese. My theory is this, humans bred short legged Basset hounds because of the Coonhound's love for cheese. I began formulating this hypothesis while sitting at our dining room table carefully positioning our food towards the center so that Luna couldn't reach it. Luna you see, is highly food motivated and will stand at our table with her head resting on it with the most sorrowful eyes. Meanwhile, our small dog Ginny sits politely at Wayne's feet waiting hopefully for an errant morsel. Of course, none of this is actually the reason why Basset Hounds were selectively bred for short legs, but I think that it sheds light on how observation and experience spurs conjecture.
While hastily creating an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, I made the rookie error of leaving the cheddar cheese on the counter when I grabbed my toast from the toaster. I turned around just in time to catch Luna taking a careful lick of the cheese. I firmly told Luna, "hot!" which she understands because her curiosity once dumped hot coffee on us. Well there was nothing left to do but offer a bit of cheese to Ginny. Ginny for her part, sniffed at the cheese, stood up and backed away. So there I was, holding Luna in a drooling sit stay, with Ginny acting like I was offering her broccoli. Now Ginny hadn't always shied away from cheese, her aversion began after Wayne started hiding her medicine in it. Perhaps Garcia, Koelling and Pavlov were on to something. Truthfully, I had never heard of Garcia and Koelling's Selective Association Effect until cross referencing the famous Pavlov's Conditioned Response theory for this writing.
I decided in a most unscientific way to experiment with the residents of Vernon. I posted two photographs with the caption, "My Asters are Blooming." Twenty-four hours later with a vote of 30 likes to 8 on the Vernon VT Facebook Group, butterfly beat out bee.
Near the end of August a resident informed me of a very large hive that they wished could be removed. The trouble was that it wasn't on their property. I kept watching the hive from a respectful distance until my curiosity could no longer be contained. When I walked over to take a picture this week, the property owner greeted me while expressing how beautifully constructed the hive was. With some excitement, they told me of their wonderful plans for it once the weather cooled.
Though I am in agreement with the hive lover, I'm not too smug to scoff at the resident who wanted the hive removed; for this week, my Facebook Memories included a post which had prompted many comments along the lines of "Burn the house down!" and "Now you have to move."
Much to my dismay, another post to Vernon VT Facebook Group, created a stream of statements as to why chipmunks are the bane of lawn owners everywhere; and here I was thinking that everybody would love to see these cute baby chipmunks.
I often note residents concern over fox, fisher, skunk, bear, bobcat...visiting their properties. Yesterday morning I spooked a large bobcat from my Rhododendrons. Our encounter lasted only seconds as the big cat wanted nothing to do with me and vanished into the area of my yard that I let grow up each summer. Understanding that a bobcat's primary food source is rabbit and not humans, that cat had more to fear of me than I it. In fact, seeing this little guy along the side of Governor Hunt Rd gave me more pause for concern than the bobcat darting out in front of me
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I think that it's important when encountering challenging situations in nature, that we take the time to really understand where those feelings come from before we burn down the house. Have we like Ginny associated all cheese with a bitter pill? Do we think that our house and property are in eminent danger because conjecture dictates it? Would it help if I told you that the Bassett hound was not bred in response to the Coonhounds ability to snatch cheese from the dinner table. It was instead bred to hunt small game like rabbits. -Norma Manning
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