Tika is a Dachshund

According to my The Essential Dachshund book, dachchunds are curious, agile, single-minded, comical, fearless, sturdy and scent hunters. I can vouch for the fact that Tika is definitely a dachshund!  She is curious; I keep trying to get a photo of her sitting up on my footstool looking out the window for elephants. She is agile; she leaps up and down from our chair as we play throw-the-toy with her. She is single-minded; there is an old stinky something down the lane and she NEVER FORGETS to sniff it out. She is comical; she won't eat her dinner until we finish ours and she can have a lick or two...... hope springs eternal that we may leave more. She is fearless; I've seen her tear into two larger dogs and promptly show them who was boss. She is sturdy; so far so good, no broken bones. And she is surely a scent hunter; we could let her run with us in the yard but she'd catch a whiff of something and poof! she'd be beyond the fence.

All of which makes me think: genealogists are curious, agile in their thinking, single-minded in their thinking, comical at times, fearless mostly, sturdy all-weather souls and scent hunters......... put us on the hint or sniff of a trail of 4-great grandpa and we're off beyond the fence too.

I think dachshunds and genealogists have lots in common; at least Tika and I do.

Tika & "Her" New Birthday Blanket

Tika loves our new bedspread! To mark our 50th anniversary, our children presented us with this gorgeous Pendleton blanket/bedspread........we had told them NO PARTY........ and we all think it's quite snuggly and wonderful. Tika says it's a perfect birthday gift for her; she turned 3 on September 18th. Why argue with a dog?????

Tika & Elephants

While we did miss our little Tika, we so enjoyed seeing all the African animals on our recent trip...... this was a herd of elephants crossing a river (led by the matriarch) and very carefully guarding and helping this baby.

FAMILY, whether in people or in animals, is all-important. We saw that over and over....... mother baboons cradling their babies, "ellies" watchful of their babies ("if you get out of the truck right now, the mother WILL stomp you," said our guide), mother giraffes nuzzling their babies and mother wart hogs (Pumbaas on the hoof!!) herding their 2-4 babies.

So what did I learn to share with you that is "genealogy?" Only that families are central to life, period.  And Tika is a furry little member of our family!!!

Tika is NOT in Africa but I am!

This is the African Bee Eater bird........ bet you've seen them on nature shows. They are way more beautiful in the "real." I am in South Africa and while I miss my Tika I'm seeing wart hogs, kudu, wildebeest,  impala, giraffes, rhinos, ostrichs and dozens of new birds. It is barely the start of summer and it's already in the 90s I'd guess. I wish all of you could come visit South Africa but if you cannot be sure to watch every nature or "planet earth" type show that comes along. It is a beautiful place!