Siblings

Growing up in an Air Force family I was fortunate to have a little brother that I could play with and explore with while traveling the globe. John also grew up with brothers, and I never tire of hearing about the country shenanigans they got themselves into. Our experiences growing up with our siblings makes for some entertaining storytelling sometimes, and I would say that a very key benefit to having a sibling, at least for us, is the companionship. Because of that factor, we started thinking about getting a little brother for our sweet yellow Labrador girl Islay (“Eyela”). I am sure that anyone who has ever grown up with, or has known a Labrador Retriever, knows just how much energy these dogs can have. All they want to do is run and play (and eat!). We thought it would be ideal for Islay to have a brother close in age to her so that they could grow up together. So, last month we brought our new family member home. Enter Jura, our sweet baby boy. The night we brought him home Islay was insistent on thoroughly checking him out from head to tail and of course, he got the big thumbs up.

It makes us incredibly happy to see how much Islay loves her new baby brother, and since their first meeting, which seems like eons ago now, they have become fast friends and are completely inseparable.

Recently, the weather has started to warm up a bit here in the Midwest, and we have had some beautiful warm and sunny days. Last week we decided to take the “kids” over to our pond for the first swim of the year. Swimming is one of Islay’s very favorite activities in the world, so she was keen to literally dive right in and show Jura how it’s done.

It seems that the subject of siblings continues to be in the air around here lately as we just had another animal family move into a den on the quiet side of our house. Our night/motion camera recently caught the comings and goings of a gray fox and her cubs that have taken up residence there. When we first discovered the cubs, we were concerned that they might be orphans as there was no sign of the mother for a couple of days. Then, just as we were getting ready to call Missouri Conservation to rescue, rehabilitate and rerelease these babies back into the wild, Mama Fox appeared on camera, showing up at three o’clock in the morning with dinner in tow, thank goodness. Looks like chicken was on the menu unfortunately. I’m glad it wasn’t one of mine!

As of a few days ago, we noticed one remaining cub left in the den. We are hoping that Mama Fox is just in the process of moving them to a new home somewhere and will come back for this last baby sometime in the next few days.

On a side note, this particular den seems like it has been a rather desirable place to set up residence. Here are a couple of prior tenants that we know of that have made this “condo” home over the last few years.

If you have a sibling, either by birth, or a dear friend who is a sibling by choice, we wish you good times together and many grand adventures ahead.

Until next time . . .

K.