While searching the world of the net I found animal trainer/interspecies communicator, Alan Turner. He even offers this free article—Teach Your Dog to Ring a Bell. Check it out, ya’ll. Kayce Cover was his mentor.

Sadly enough, my last dog moved on to the Happy Hunting Ground about a year ago, but my Gray Fox friend visits every night. Wouldn’t it be fun if he learned how to ring a bell? Better yet, wouldn’t it be fun if we spoke the same language?

We sure speak the same language when it comes to yogurt. Both of us like a good Redwood Hill Farm cup of goat yogurt. Just watching that little, speckled fox-snout root around for the last drop tells me he smells pure ingredients. To add artificial colors and flavors to his delicate system (not to mention refined sugar, growth hormones and GMO’s) would be highly irresponsible. Living in the Wild, a creature needs all his senses.

What does the Gray Fox eat anyway, I wonder?

According to Wikipedia and other sites, the Gray Fox has a broader diet than the more common Red Fox. Because Grays are skilled tree climbers, they eat eggs, birds and squirrels. They also like fruits and veggies. (Wow! Incoming!) Suddenly, this image of a fox eating grapes has popped into my brain!

I found it on the web! It’s Aesop’s Fable! (Number 19):

The Fox and the Grapes

One hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch.

“Just the thing to quench my thirst,” quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch.

Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again, he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.”

The Moral of the Story?

It is easy to despise what you cannot get!

Now there’s some food for thought. I’m not sure how life really works, but I’m pretty dang certain that despising what you really would like to have lessens your chances. Maybe that’s where the saying Sour Grapes comes from. Anyway, I’m sending Alan Turner (howsbentley.com), my mother, nieces, and nephew a Send-Out Card with this cool picture on the cover and Aesop’s Fable #19 inside. (I’ll send you one too, if you email me.)