We like to say of Red that he is not like the other children. I have never known a border collie that wasn’t a little — strange, and I have known few border collie owners who are not a bit strange also. Perhaps that is our connection to this hyper- dogs, they see the world differently than most living things. Well, so do I. I wasn’t like the other children, either, and had many odd tics, quirks and instincts. Red is fearless around sheep but terrified of linoleum floors. He does not consider them solid and leaps over them in panic. When he leaps onto a bed, he often goes sailing right off the other side. Sometimes, on his outruns, he will go so wide that the sheep will simply move to another pasture before  he comes sailing around.

Red likes to sleep on my feet. Not near my feet or around my feet, but right on my feed. He loves to meditate, but on the third and final bells, he comes and puts his head on my knee. Always. He scarfs food up as if were near starvation.  And then, there is the wind. Red does not like the wind. It rattles him, unnerves him. Yesterday when I was out taking photos of our pinwheels, Red bravely came out with me, even though the wind was howling. As he always does, he looks for the wind, perhaps to herd it, eyes wise, ears up. I was fortunate to by lying right next to him with the camera. Red in the wind. The wonderful strangeness of the border collie.