It’s a beautiful spring day, and as soon as I got home from synagogue (okay, after I got out of my good clothes and into my weekend attire), I let Tig out. I heard a cardinal cheeping and so decided to take the camera and see what I could see. Gracie sneaked out behind me, and before I knew it, we had a bunch of rare twofer shots (to come later). But more interesting than that is almost catching Gracie in her meerkat position. From time to time, when she is interested in something, or perhaps a little frightened of it, she will rise onto her hind legs, with her front paws hanging down, making her look for all the world like an orange and white meerkat. She evidently heard something suspicious while she was bathing herself, because this is what she looked like:

And because it’s just been that sort of day, here’s a picture of Tig looking greatly concerned. Now, you might think that he’s simply looking elegant for the camera, or staring lovingly at me. You would be wrong. Sheba, the Australian cattle dog, is lying down in the grass about twenty feet behind me as I snapped this picture. Tig’s eyes were all on her. Not me.

About a minute after I shot this, Tig came running inside, tail poofed out, preceded by Gracie (by about a second). I think Sheba must have moved. He’s inside now, resting from his efforts. Whew. Tough day for all of us. I subbed as storyteller for the Cookie Minyan (children under the age of six, read a story about a boy who had to find his Hebrew name) on a day I frankly wasn’t expecting to be at synagogue, and the cats — well, gee, it’s tough to be looked at by a dog. Who, by the way, wouldn’t harm a hair on their heads.