Letter to teachers and kids – May 22, 2008
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Dear teachers and kids,
Well, I told my dogs Smokey and Bandit, another school year is coming to a close. There will soon be no school for the kids for the next three months.
"No school! No school!," little Bandit chirped as he bounced up and down (must he say everything while bouncing up and down?). "No school for the kids! No school! What's a school?"
Old Smokey told him. "School is where kids have to go all day and sit in desks," he said. "They do it all fall long, all winter long and all spring long. It goes on forever."
Well, it's not exactly forever, I told the dogs. But it does seem like a long, long time. And they got there all day long. No running around by the lake. No camping. No catching fish, except on the weekends.
"Run! Camp! Fish!," Bandit said. "Go have fun, fun, fun!"
The end of the school year and the start of summer break is a happy time for kids. But it also means these weekly letters and the Missouri-Yellowstone Adopt-A-Fish program has come to a close for 2008. I told the two dogs that I hoped the kids had some fun with it and learned a few things about fish, about rivers, about the natural world around them.
Just like all those boring hours learning math and science and reading and writing prepares them for their life ahead, we hope that the things they learned about fish and biology will help them understand how all things in the world of nature fit together and how each species plays a role in it.
Smokey, always being the more practical of my two dogs, added, "I hope they learned to pack along plenty of dog treats when they go out this summer. And don't spend all your time fishing. Swim, run, play and have fun wherever you go."
Bandit added, "And let the dog run the motor on the boat and drive the truck!"
Oh well, it's always same old stuff out of these two dogs of mine. I want them to point fish. They want to zoom around the lake, eat treats and sleep in the bottom of the boat.
So after school is out, if you go to a lake, take a close look at any big black Lab you see with his head constantly in the cooler. That just might be Smokey.
If you see a dog running an outboard motor, zooming from shore to shore, up the lake, down the lake and back again and going very, very fast, that couldn't be anyone but Bandit. And the old guy you'll see running up and down the bank screaming, "Come back! Come back with my boat! We have to go. We have no food left in the cooler!", well, that old guy would be me. Just stop by and say hello and let me tell you all about how to train a couple of dogs to be great fish pointers. Talk to you next year.
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Signed,
Mark, the old guy
Smokey, the fish pointer
Bandit, "Run! Camp! Fish! Have fun, fun, fun!"