Susie the blackmouth hog dog

I'm blogging from Robson Ranch, an adult retirement community outside of Denton, Texas. I've been here since Wednesday--flew out to help my aunt Avis as she recovers from a surgery that removed a cancerous tumor in her lung. She's doing well, kind of tired, but relieved to know that the small tumor was just a stage 1 cancer--and she doesn't have to see her oncologist for another year! Praise God!

Aside from the temps being over 100, it has been a mellow visit so far. Auntie and I shuffled through some of my grandma and great-grandma's old recipes, and reminisced through stacks of old photographs. We got our hair done at the Country Club, made a Walmart run, and I met a lot of nice folks at the little church here at the Ranch this morning.

I finally met my cousin, Blake's, wife and kiddos when they came to visit and even got to wolf down a Whataburger with cheese! (If you don't know what that is, you've obviously never been in Texas).

And did I mention getting to hang out with Molly and Susie, my aunt's two furry compadres?

Molly is a crazy calico kitten who thinks she rules the house. Susie, a stray who wandered into my aunt's life a few years ago, is the sweetest (and smelliest) dog I've met to date (sorry, Scout).

According to my aunt's vet, Susie is a bonafide blackmouth cur hog dog. A quick Internet search informed me that these dogs--hounds, actually--are bred to hunt the wild boars that plague the south. They are smart, loyal, persistent . . . and really like to hunt hogs. I kept this fact in mind as I walked Susie around the Ranch tonight, holding firmly to her leash as cottontails bolted past us every few seconds. But Susie didn't pay much attention to the bunnies. She was busy sniffing out bigger prey.

Robson Ranch, however, is apparently hog-free and we finished our little stroll without incident.

Susie and Scout would make a good hog-hunting team, now that I think about it. Susie could hunt them down and then Scout could round them up and herd them!

Yep, the heat's definitley getting to me . . .