Tilly's High Sea Adventure

There is no photo documentation of the following event.

Consider that a good thing.

Foster and Tilly successfully completed over a thousand miles of travel last week to arrive in Florida. With me. We've been settling into our new digs nicely and enjoying some time off. Now, I'm back to writing work.

Where we're staying has a back "yard" or "patio" that backs up to the intercoastal waterway. Dolphins have been spotted along with herons, jumping fish, cormorants, and even a fishing boat. These are all very interesting to Tilly.

Since she isn't trustworty, I keep her tethered to a lawn chair on a long tie out. This prevents her from visiting the neighbors and sniffing around on the gnarly sand at the base of the four foot drop from the property.

Until Saturday.

Saturday morning, a flock of ducks swam into this harbor (there's a technical name I'm sure). Groups of two's and three's inspected the docks in search of people ready to share breakfast. It was sort of like girls on Spring break looking for the best two-for-one drink specials at the bars (not that I would know anything about that).

Tilly spotted the ducks and ran to the edge of the sea wall. The ducks saw Tilly and swam toward her, mistaking her for a person with thumbs. Tilly jumped. The lawn chair began to move toward the water. Fortunately, I intercepted the furniture before it could join Tilly, who by now was up to her chest in the water.

How many times have you chased after something that looked really interesting, only to find out that the pursuit would drag you down, possibly even drowning you? A person, a job, even a piece of chocolate cake has its appeal. For Tilly, it was a group of ducks. Sometimes a pursuit proves to be disappointing, even if the object is successfully attained. There's a reason for the phrase "wild goose (or duck) chase." Elusive, disappointing or just a complete disaster with horrible consequences.

Be careful what draws you from safety.