Our old buddy, Scout, was a large, mixed-breed dog. Despite his size, he love to romp like the puppy he no longer was and didn’t realize he was big enough to knock a child over. He had big feet and the sweetest face! He loved to snuffle through the snow and many times came up with a silly-looking little snow pile on the bridge of his nose. He was brown and white and brawny:
We tried to coax Ox down the steps, but he wouldn’t come. “Ow!” Dad jumped down the steps. The air was suddenly full of hailstones. “Forget the door! Just step back a little.”
Ox was running around above us, trying to catch the hail in his mouth.
“He must think it’s popcorn,” Mom said. Ox loved to catch popcorn when we threw it for him.
Ox began to yelp each time he was pelted with a stone as the hail increased in size.
“That’s gotta hurt,” John said, wincing.
“Poor old Ox,” Sam yelled. “Ya’ shoulda came down here with us!” We couldn’t help laughing.
Sharley’s Lessons, 2016 
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