Play Pals

Violet and Ray are best buddies and, when they’re not sleeping, play almost constantly. Their favorite game is “Bite Face,” in which one bites the other’s snout, ears, throat or legs, but never hard enough to do any actual damage. Snarling the whole time is de rigueur.

Violet counterattacks

Once they’re outside, though, their main game is “Ray Chasing Violet.” She streaks across the yard, and he chases her at top speed with the goal of knocking her down. Ray is stockier and weighs more than Violet, so it’s pretty easy for him to bowl her over. But she has become expert at avoiding him: scooting around with her butt pointed toward the ground, so he can’t latch his jaws onto her haunches or tail; and changing direction abruptly so he overshoots her.

There are times when Ray has her down on the ground and seems to be getting too physical with her. But I have to say, whenever he takes a brief rest, Violet is all over him, encouraging him to continue.

Violet and Ray…

About Mabel the Maple

Mabel has been in the ground in our yard for about two years now. We named the tree because there are a lot of maples on our property, and we needed a simple way to refer specifically to this tree in conversation.

We planted Mabel because we wanted a native tree to create some color and interest near our driveway, and she has done a bang-up job. She’s spectacular in the fall, when her leaves turn amazing shades of orange and red. She’s pretty gorgeous the rest of the year, too – even now, to our eyes, in the winter, when all we can see is her sturdy trunk and branches.

We nearly lost her in her first autumn, when buck deer rubbed their itchy antlers on her trunk, gouging off her vital outer bark on one side. That’s why we’ve got a protective barrier of rabbit wire around her now. So far, she seems to have shaken off the effects of those rude, thoughtless deer. She’s about 10 feet tall, and we hope she’ll grow to 30 or 40 feet.

I’ll be updating this blog with photos of Mabel throughout the year.

Mabel the Maple: A Timeline

February 2, 2013