In a conversation about Ranger I made the statement “one starfish at a time.” That statement got lots of questions so I thought I’d add that story to the site and also use this page to tell you about our starfish.
by Loren Eiseley – from The Star Thrower - 1949
A young man was picking up objects off the beach and tossing them out into the sea. A second man approached him, and saw that the objects were starfish.
“Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?”
“If the starfish are still on the beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises high in the sky, they will die,” replied the young man.
“That’s ridiculous. There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can’t really believe that what you’re doing could possibly make a difference!”
The young man picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully, and remarked as he tossed it out into the waves, “It makes a difference to this one.”
our starfish
Deacon
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| Like every other animal in our lives, Deacon came to us when we least expected it. One day North Shore Animal League showed up at Bayer with a truckload of unwanted animals. This is nothing new – the world is full of unwanted animals. Jill went out to have a look at the truckload of misfit toys and saw a skinny old tri-color English Setter. Naturally she called me to tell me about this beautiful dog. I believe my exact words were “We don’t need another dog what color is he?” |
| I darted over to Bayer, met this toothless bag of bones, and feel in love with him. He had been bounced around a bit – most recently he was adopted to someone who lived in a condo and that was an exceptionally bad fit. We were also told he had been de-barked. Cruel, yes, but not something we could do anything about. |
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| That evening Deacon was part of the family. While he is mostly deaf, mostly blind, and usually stinks to high heaven, he’s probably the best hunting dog I’ll ever have and is the most beautiful English Setter I’ve ever seen. |
| We are so fortunate to have Deacon in our lives. As it turns out Deacon isn’t de-barked. He has a wonderful, deep bark that he uses rarely. I’m guessing his former condo-dwelling owner assumed he as de-barked because he never barked for them. |
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Ranger
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| This picture is of me and Ranger at the 2008 MoKan Border Collie Reunion. An English Setter at a Border Collie event? Yup. I learned about this wonderful boy through the MoKan Border Collie Rescue board and he’s now an honorary Border Collie (well, at least once a year). Clearly this boy was dumped. When we get to the farm it is very difficult to get him out of the car. And when I’m wandering around he doesn’t take his eyes off me. This may be a challenge when it comes time to start his much-needed gun dog training. The good news is he has excellent recall! |
 Me & Ranger |
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Tony
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| This handsome devil is Tony and he’s one of the Hardee’s Boys. He’s the most aloof of the boys but has gradually warmed up to us and now is quite comfortable being petted. He’s very athletic and has quite the vertical and horizontal leap. |
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Joey
| This is Joey. Joey makes my eyes hurt when I look at him. Jill’s crazy about him so I tolerate him. He’s also very noisy. |
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Frankie
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Whoever first said curiosity killed that cat was talking about Frankie. He’s terrible. If he isn’t getting into stuff he’s asleep atop my grandfather’s elk or he’s trying to get on the other side of every closed door. He’s such bastard. I love this cat. |
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