I have had this particular flower bed filled with ornamental grasses since I moved in. Never have I seen it as a place of wonder and fun until today, again witnessed through the eyes of a young Sheltie pup who sees all the world as her personal playground. As I sat in my swing watching the world drift by in slow summer movement, I kept hearing a strange rustling in the grass behind me, accompanied by those delightfully fun little 'YIP's' of Kimi's. Yet when I turned to peer over the back of my swing into the flower bed, I could never see her. So where was the little buggar anyway?

I called to her by name..."Kimi..here Kimi...." I whistled to her, I even pretended to be calling the cat, which only brought my two Newfoundlands running. But then...as Kimi heard the approaching sounds of her two best friends, I spotted her. In the flower bed! Hidden behind all the tall grasses! Kimi spotted Katy and she let out a prize winning "YIP!", then just as quickly ducked down behind her fortress of grass. Katy heard Kimi's shouting voice and her head whipped around to see where her pint sized friend was at. Seeing nothing, Katy stepped in closer to the grass to look for her. Big mistake! Kimi leaped upward as high as she could go from her crouched position and nipped Katy on the nose. Katy jumped backwards in shocked surprise and Kimi leaped out of her 'fort' and began to run back and forth in front of Katy. With her tail tucked a bit lower than normal under her behind, her ears laid back against her head and her forever present grin in place, Kimi danced from left to right and back again yipping at Katy and nipping at her feet. Imagine Kimi's surprise and delight when each time she nipped at a foot Katy backed up a step!

That was all it took. From that point on Kimi knew she could defend her fort from intelopers just by nipping at their toes. Jack Frost isn't the only one who can do that you know! As soon as she had chased Katy back to a respectable distance from her secure world inside her fort, Kimi turned tail and jumped back inside, behind the tall grass. Smiling at this, I peered over the back of my swing again to see just what she was doing in there. Kimi had managed, even with her petite body, to track down the tall grass against the wall of the house to where she had a 'trail' between the grass and the house. In some places she had done this in a wide enough area to give her room to lay down. In wait of a new victim or trespasser perhaps? I saw Kimi where she was laying, feet curled beneath her, grin in place and tongue hanging from the side of her mouth, just waiting. Katy made the mistake of coming to close again, only this time with the innocent gesture of wanting to lay down in the cool shade. It was obvious Kimi didn't care what her reasoning was, for no sooner had Katy laid her aged stiff body down in comfort, Kimi launched another attack. Streaking behind the taller grass, Kimi raced down the length of the trail to the perfect vantage point for reaching Katy. There Kimi laid down on her tummy and did a perfect belly crawl under the overhanging grass stalks. Sneaking up on Katy, one could almost hear Kimi laughing to herself in glee. As she reached the spot where Katy lay, Kimi shot to her feet and released a bellowing "YIP!!" right into Katy's right ear. Not expecting her tiny friend to do this, Katy jumped to her feet as fast as her arthritic body would allow and with a look of surprise and annoyance on her face, she faced Kimi. Can you picture our miniature friend standing there, with her front feet on the landscaping ties, an umbrella of green and white stripped grass feathering her face, and her tiny pink tongue dolling from the side of her face in extreme pleasure? Kimi was definitely pleased with herself, and with a snapping shake of her head, she disappeared once again inside her 'fort'. Katy gave up and went off to seek safer shade elsewhere.

Kimi rustled thru the grass in her fort, waiting for the next creature who dared to pass to close to her domain! Who by the looks of things was going to be her other giant black friend, Brigs. Even at six years old, he is still a mommies boy and only wants to lay close to me. I ordered him to lay down before he could choose my lap as the best spot and Kimi had her next 'victim' to chase off. Unaware of Captain Kimi and her plans to rid all trespassers from near her 'fort, he lay down against the landscaping ties that bordered her fort. As I watched intently, Kimi sat back on her haunches, almost totally hidden by grass taller than her times three. She shook back her head a time or two as if she could not believe the audacity of this fiend. How dare HE enter Kimi-land?? And without HER permission no less! As the grin formed and took place around her mouth, you could see the plan of attack was forming. Kimi lay down again, belly down to the mud, and she began to creep forward. With every loud rustle of grass her tiny body froze in suspended animation. She would have made any mother lioness proud in her stalking ablilities! If the truth were to be known I think she has been taking lesson from our cat Garfield. Soon Brigs lay two feet from Kimi's reach....then only one....and on she crawled...slowly stalking his sleeping form. As she narrowed the distance down to 6 inches, her leg muscles began to bunch. With less then three inches to go to reach his tail, Brigs's head lifted. Kimi froze. Her head held high, her tongue hanging low, she didn't move. Did she even breathe? Hearing nothing else, Brigs slowly lowered his head to his paws again. Releasing a deep sigh of contentment triggered Kimi's next move.

Suddenly she leaped! High into the air, parting the grass with her body and clearing the ties with her feet she jumped. As she shot into the air she let out her best indian style war-'YIP!' and launched her attack. She cleared the walls of her fort and planted her four tiny white feet firmly into his rib cage. Brigs jumped, and let out an OOMMPH as her small but mighty weight pummeled his ribs on her way across. His body dropped back to the ground in surprise and Kimi landed on the other side of him. Twisting her body around tightly, she turned and leaped into his face. Kimi bounced and leaped from left to right and right to left, yipping as she wiggled. With every twist of her body, Brigs would move his face away from her, determined as ever not to look at her. Equal determination said that this time that Kimi would win and she kept up her ploy to gain his attention. Her chest dropped to the ground as her bottom end pointed skyward, her tail wiggled as fast as her feet could dance and she doggedly (excuse the intended pun) kept her face as close to his as she could. Finally unable to ignore her any longer, Brigs stopped short his face and let out a hugely loud "WOOF!" His doggy breath blew back the hair from her face and her own mouth dropped open in surprise. Clearly she was NOT expecting that kind of reaction. However being one of good sport such as she is, Kimi turned this too into a game.

And off she went in another MAD PUPPY RUN. Now, I am sure you have all seen this in your own puppies from time to time. Kimi however has it perfected. This is where they tuck their behinds down low, hold their heads slightly above body level, sport this wickedly, funny, silly grin on their faces, and run as fast as they can every which way they could go. Brigs watched in fascination as Kimi shot over the down- spout, streaked across the lawn, turned sharply around the milk can, narrowly missed the leg of the swing with her head, barreled under the swing, swung past Katy (who had by now returned to see what mommy was laughing so hard about), turned sharply to the left again and zoomed back out across the lawn. If you thought the run was over here, you are wrong. Kimi zipped backed to where Brigs lay, slid under his chin, yipping as she did, raced around the tree with huge rocks around it, climbed over the last one, only to launch herself off of it with another resounding "YIP!"and kept going. Around the leg of the swing again, arcoss the lawn, around the pole of the bird feeder (not even stopping to gather strewn seeds) under the over- hanging bushes to her right, and back she headed, straight for the tree in the middle of the yard. Just as you began to wince, knowing she would surely hit dead center into this tree, Kimi slammed on her tiny brakes and executed a perfect 360 degree sliding stop, coming to rest on her belly, pink tongue almost dragging the grass beneath her. With her sides heaving, desperately trying to draw in air, Kimi rolled over to her back and exposed her tummy to the sun. Rolling to her side once more she lifted her head, looked at me with her laughing face and jumped to her feet. Gathering speed she raced toward the swing, she disappeared beneath it and with a rustling of the ornamental grass, once again jumped into the security of her fort.

Brigs and Katy had both moved to a respectable distance from all her land, and with the cat no where in sight, Kimi felt safe enough to lay her head in the mud to cool off and rest. And of course to partake of her most favorite snack...MUD! Laying there beneath the overhanging grass, happily munching on her snack, I am sure Kimi was dreaming of other fun places this grassy wonder could become for her. With the imagination of a child, and the eyes of wonder, Kimi could turn this plain old flower bed into a world of excitement. Who needs to leave your own back yard to vacation in far off lands? This could be a pirate ship next, or the jungles of Africa (where is that darned old cat of ours anyway?) or any place else her heart desired. All it takes is a free spirit, a little imagination and the heart of a child. Sometimes I think we look to hard to find something to make us happy when, if we only opened our eyes and our hearts, we could see that the grass is greenest in our own back yard!

Take it from Kimi...be at peace with what you have and you will find youself enjoying it a whole lot more.

walk in beauty
Kristi & Kimi