With Freedom, Responsibility

If I could only teach him how to select and bring in kindling of a morning.

It was just a task that Scout took on–a way to let us know that we don’t always have to be responsible for his goings and comings.

Besides, if we put the leash ON the dog when we brought him up to the house from the garden, he rebelled, spinning and leaping in a tantrum. You could almost hear him saying “I’m a big boy now, stop treating me like a puppy!”

The one minute video ends with the dog carrying the leash to my mom, who was staying the weekend.

She comes to see the dog, and we are also here. We’ve gotten over it.

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. Every photograph, article, Scout report, your garden, the walks, your community involvement and your 2 books and all else have been enjoyed and I look forward to reading each one when it arrives. Thank you for sending these. I found you when I researched Minnie Holman School which I also attended in the 4th- 6th grade about 70 years ago!!!
    What is your next book?

  2. I would refer you to something I posted on my FB page back on March 1, 2018 about retrieving sticks. Not sure how to link to it here.