Dan,

Bravo for the successful hunt and for your noble effort at creating an avid hunter to walk in the ever-narrowing path we follow. He will crave double rifles soon enough.

And also my heartfelt pleasure in seeing photos of your English Mastiff. In the early '80's we had a female named "Sarah" who was entirely a part of our family. The kids loved that dog like a sibling, and the dog returned their love in full. Here's a scanned photo taken in 1985 of my kids with Sarah. My daughter was 5 then and now is 30 years old.

In the yard I made a big sand box for the kids to play in. By "big" I mean it was 8 feet by 8 feet and held a truckload of sand. They used to have the greatest delight in burying Sarah in the sand. Using little plastic shovels they would cover her until only her face and nose were visible. It looked like the Sphinx. She would lie there patiently. Once the job was done they would walk away a short distance. Then they would call Sarah. The dog would stand up and shake off the sand. They all thought this was amusing to the extreme, and the sketch was re-played many times.

My blessings to you and your family.

Curl