Gold Canyon, Arizona

The other day I met Gracie–a Pixie-Bob cat.

According to The International Cat Association,

The active, social Pixiebob is doglike in its loyal devotion to its family and makes a great companion for children while embracing the company of other pets. They bond strongly with their families and easily learn to fetch and to walk on a harness and leash. While the Pixiebob is an active cat wanting to take part in all your activities, it is also a very laid-back relaxed cat participating calmly in the family. They are an inquisitive, companionable cat that wants to be with you and to communicate with you in their own language of chirps, chitters and the occasional growl.

In the mid 1980’s a cat breeder in Washington state purchased two male cats that had some unique characteristics. They were very large and they were polydactal–had extra toes. She thinks that they were a cross between a domestic cat and a bobcat.

One of these males mated with a barn cat and produced kittens with tufted ears, naturally bobbed tail, and grey tabby coloring with brown spots.

The breeder kept one female from the litter and named her Pixie. Pixie became the foundation for her program to create this new breed.

Gracie, the Pixie-Bob I met, is a sweetheart. She sits on command. She’s very playful. And she’s a loving companion for her owners.

Gold Canyon, Arizona

The funniest running story I ever heard was from a woman named Kelle who lived in Fallon.

Much of Fallon is rural and there are wide dirt areas along each side of the paved roads.

Kelle was training for a marathon and putting in some long runs. She was doing an early evening run along Harrigan Road on a summer night.

As she ran down the road that’s populated with small farms, a goat decided to join her. The goat tagged along and kept up with her brisk pace.

Kelle tried running faster, but the goat kept up with her. She stopped running, and the goat stopped and waited for her to begin running again. She yelled at it to go away, but the goat calmly kept following along.

Finally, she decided to just continue on her run and pretend the goat wasn’t there.

The goat still followed her but wandered out into the street in the way of oncoming cars. One guy had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting the goat.

He yelled angrily out to Kelle, “GET A DOG!”

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I thought of that story yesterday while Sophie and I were on a trail run.

Sophie is a ball of fire at the start of the run. She bites at my feet and is a general pain in the butt. Then about 1/3 of the way in, she poops out and drags behind looking like she’s on her last breath.

That’s when we ran into another hiker who said I was going too fast for her to keep up.

Sophie probably would have agreed with him had she understood what he said. 🙂

But the minute we turned around to go run back to the start of our run, she ran like a gazelle and I had a hard time keeping up with her.

Guess she wasn’t all that tired after all.

Maybe I should “Get a Goat!”

Gold Canyon, Arizona

No, I didn’t really lose weight. Just feels like it because I whacked my hair off yesterday morning.

It’s been bugging me tons, and I’d had enough…

Now I know why most men wear their hair short.

It feels so liberating!

PS Don’t ever take a selfie looking up your nose. I had no idea my right nostril is almost twice the size off my left nostril. 🙂