The Day Snowbear Earned his Free-Pass For Life

Yesterday I came home to hear from my youngest son that he had seen a very large cat in our yard.

From the sound of it, the cat had seen him first. 

Arthur's report:

"I saw two eyes looking at me from the trees and I thought it was a deer. Then Snowbear started chasing it and I thought 'no Snowbear, don't chase the deer!'. But when it jumped it looked like a cat with elongated legs"....that was as big as Snowbear and tan like a deer. 

For those that may not have enough context to read between the lines above: Snowbear is a fluffy 120 pound dog. A tan cat of that size in this area is known as a cougar (Puma concolor), also known as puma, mountain lion, mountain cat, catamount or panther.

Typically, with our dog, I have kept a running total of costs in vet-bills, food cost, damaged property and inconvenience to my self in my head. Up until now his balance has been technically deep in the red. With parts of my velomobile, all of our hose and most of our extension cords chewed to bits, I had many reasons to complain about his cost.

Now, however, he has done in an instant something of incalculable value. Thus it won't make sense to keep a running-total of debits and credits anymore. He has earned himself a free-pass for life.

And I offer my thanks to the generations of breeders who had the good sense to breed such a fine dog.