Leo the Lummox meets a snake and a groundhog ...

... all on one walk with Carmen and me. It was hot so we took him over to Beckie's Park down by the Yadkin River where there is lots of shade. As we were getting ready to leave the park I looked back and saw the lummox in his attack stance. Carmen had a very firm grip on his leash. Right in front of him was a big snake which had instantly gone into a coiled strike position. Carmen drug the little beast away as fast as possible, but she didn't panic. We decided that the snake wasn't really poisonous. No, not at all. Couldn't be.

After that little turn through the woods we went to the Hidden Park across the road, out behind some of the industrial buildings. When we started to come out from under the trees the lummox went into full attention. About 20 feet from us was a groundhog silhouetted in a noble groundhog position, nose in the air, perfectly still. With the sun striking him his fur looked almost blond. It took him a second to realize that Leo had seen him, then he went racing for a large drain pipe. The lummox wanted to run after him, and on his short little legs he might have been able to do it, but once again Carmen kept a firm grip on his leash.

She's getting a lot of practice with that.