The Outlaws Bonnie and Gus

     My good friends and neighbors are the outlaws Bonnie and Gus.  Many a day they join me on my walk on Iten Acres.  Bonnie is a black and white sheep dog and the leader of the gang of two.  Gus is a blond mutt; the happy follower of his lady boss.  Which is good, because Bonnie is the brains of the outfit. Proof?  When they are hunting ground hogs, Bonnie sits off  to the side patiently waiting for one of them to wander from his tunnel.  Gus stands over the tunnel with his face peering down the hole.  Not so bright.  And Gus has had MULTIPLE encounters with the neighborhood skunks.  MULTIPLE--enough said.
     What makes them outlaws?  They are country dogs.  Outlawed from the house, they spend their days living in the wide world--and loving every minute of it.  Oh, on really cold days Gus gets in the heated garage and Bonnie snuggles up in the hay bales in the alpaca/goat shed, but they enjoy their freedom.  No electric fence to tell them where they can and can't go.  They are free to roam wherever they please, whenever they please, at any speed they please.  And they are, also, totally free to just sit together with the cat and watch the world go by--no responsibilities here.  They wear no dog tags, are never lost.  If you run into them meandering through the fields or woods, you are probably the lost one, not them.  And they hunt without a license.  It's always rabbit or squirrel or groundhog season (or skunk season for Gus).  No wildlife office is going to tell them when they can or can't go hunting.  They are undeniably the outlaws Bonnie and Gus.
     Why do I spend my time with such rascals?  Why do I let them walk with me and tarnish my image as a law-abiding citizen?  Duh--they like me.  Whenever they see me coming, they race to see who can get there first to get the affection.  And when they both arrive, they jostle to see who can get the most affection.  Bonnie even has a beautiful jealous growl to remind Gus who the boss is.  Oh, and when I came back the last two springs after spending the winter in South Carolina with my mom, they were both ecstatic to see me return.  The lost "dog" had found his way home.
       In the history books to be written, I'm sure I'll just be portrayed as a hanger-on, an after thought to the antics of the real stars.  But no one will be able to deny that I was a friend and neighbor of the outlaws Bonnie and Gus.  They like me!