[but first, the back story]

Because Maggie’s so shy she’s highly in-tune with her surroundings – it’s almost autistic, really.

She can spot the slightest difference from over 50 feet away.

She’ll stop cold turkey, fully alert, ears-up, face wrinkled, chest puffed up & up on her tip-toes to look bigger…staring right in the direction of the difference.

We joke around that she’s our IED dog….and that if the Army ever finds out about her they’ll probably ship her butt off to Iraq.

IED – Improvised Explosive Device: And if you don’t know the term by now, what rock have you been living under for the past 6 years? I’d like to join you.

[moving on]

The Little Green Men are in our woods again.

They were actually there last week as well, but they had packed-up & gone home for the weekend.

So I was disappointed to see they’d come back yesterday.

Maggie & I have walked these woods every day for the past 6 months – rain or shine.

And for almost every day for all of those 6 months the woods have been our’s.

But when the Little Green Men do come they usually stick to the center of the small wooded area so Maggie & I skirt the outside so as not to disturb them.

Over the months it’s kinda become a game…how many times can we walk the perimeter of their ‘field games’ without being spotted.

And before yesterday, the score was Me & Moo 12, Little Green Men 1.

But now they’ve started gaining on us.

YESTERDAY

They were back with their toy trucks, tents all set-up and the generators were running to keep them warm.

So we took the long way around…down the outside road past our little neighborhood Buddhist temple & up the curve to head back around the far outside. It’s the only road that gets you to the temple & to a few of the apartment buildings – so it’s not like it’s 100% Army-owned. So I’ve always considered it fair ground when they camp out.

But we spotted them first.

One…then two…standing up along the trees but far enough apart to tell they were playing some sort of field game.

Since they were at the far end of the center area, I whispered to Maggie that we needed to be quiet. I just wanted to sneak past them, without notice, and head back home.

As we made our way around the curve, Maggie spotted another.

He was belly-down holding a sniper rifle & covered in leaves & he hadn’t spotted me or Maggie yet.

She stopped dead in her tracks & puffed-up like a blow fish.

And then he spotted us.

You’ve never seen eyes get so wide…it was hard not to laugh.

I used our code word for Maggie – “Friend” – and she settled down a bit.

The sniper & I smiled at each other without saying a word and Maggie & I continued on.

Me & Moo 12, Little Green Men 2.

[keep reading]