2003-10-30 - 9:55 p.m.
Today I got to thinking about a lesson in perseverance that I've learned by watching Sadie. Sadie is one of my daughter's Staffordshire Bull Terriers and a more dedicated dog I have never met. Sadie has an absolute obsession with squirrels. We have tons of them all over the farm. Now Sadie believes her mission in life is to catch one of them. Every day she spends 3 to 4 hours hunting them down. Back and forth she goes through the woods hoping to catch one far enough away from a tree to get it. This isn't just a passing whim, it's been going on for years. Rain or shine she makes her rounds more faithfully than any postman.
The most amazing thing to me though is not that she hunts them but that she never gives up. In all her tries she has yet to catch one of the little devils. She's come close on several occasions but at the last moment they allude her and scamper up the safety of a tree. Now that's persistance! It shames me to think how quickly I've given up on somethings over the years and I believe I have a lot to learn from this little dog. Sometimes when things get rough I've thought about throwing in the towel on farming and I need a little motivation. I have to look no further than Sadie as she comes back from yet another failed squirrel hunt. She may look a little downcast and tuckered out but give her a little rest and just as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow off she'll go again just as excited as the first day she chased one. If she could talk and you asked her why she was going to try again I think she'd look at you and say, " I believe today will be the day!"
