Our good friend Maverick tagged us in a game going around the internet, so we decided we needed to play.  The rules, in case you missed them, are really simple – Open a file folder, click on the fifth folder and then the fifth photo.  Post the photo and describe it.

First, we had a minor challenge.  We are Mac people.  So we use IPhoto which does not really use folders, but we decided to go with events.  That allowed us to pick the following photo:

On the left is Mama Bear Nikita, so named because she adopted young Natasha and taught her how to be a Siberian (i.e., made her into the Queen Natasha the Evil we all know today).  Before Natasha, Nikita never showed the first maternal instinct at all.  And, at the age of 10 years old, we asked her to suddenly take on this 8 week old puppy fluff.

About 3-4 weeks after Natasha came to live with us, a raccoon entered the yard during the night.  Nikita immediately defended “her” puppy and killed the raccoon, a very good thing since it was probably rabid.  When I let Natasha out of her crate in the morning to go to the bathroom, she walked out, saw the raccoon, and looked in total awe at her Mama Bear.  Hero worship was born.

A week or so later, I called Nikita and she can walking over to me.  Hanging from her neck was Natasha who had clamped on and was dangling like a pendant.  Nikita’s look at me was one of, “Please remove this obnoxious object that follows me everywhere.” 

Another week or so went by and we were sitting in the den.  Natasha was, surprisingly, acting like a total pain.  Nikita turned and corrected her, firmly but in a very appropriate way.  Nikita looked at me for guidance and I simply stayed quiet.  You could see the dawn in her eyes – “Ah, I am supposed to teach young grasshopper!”

And the mothering began.  Natasha mimicked everything Nikita did and learned tremendously from her.  When Nikita passed away 3 years later (2006), Natasha became the queen of the pack.

So this picture makes us smile because it shows how Natasha copied Nikita in every possible way, right down to laying in just the exact way on her bed (wrong front leg hooked, but learning).  Close enough to follow her if Nikita moved, but out of reach of that correction when it came.

Ok, so we have lost track of who has and has not played the game, but consider yourself tagged and go do it!