There is a television show on Discovery Channel that we have started watching called "Dirty Jobs." It is about a guy who goes all around tackling the world’s dirtiest and stinkiest occupations — everything from plumbing nightmares to jet airplane fuel tank repair to hog farms. The hog farm episode really caught my attention. The man was given the task of taking pigs from a confinement building and sorting them into an outdoor pen. Not sure why, didn’t catch that part. My fascination was with the piglet’s reaction to the whole deal. It was, quite naturally, freaking out at being carried by a human, but once put down outside, it kept up its tirade in full voice and flopped around on the ground like it had forgotten how to walk. I asked my other half, Doug, a wealth of farming and sqat (manure) related knowledge, what this behavior was all about. He replied the young pig was reacting to being outside for the first time and, more importantly, responding to the texture of the ground beneath its feet. It had never felt anything but the grated floor of the confinement building. I had never looked at the perspective of surfaces before and it got me to thinking…A doe and her fawn live in the trees just down the road from our farm. I have witnessed this fawn on numerous occasions actually dancing on the highway, running across, back and leaping in the air like a three-year-old in a new pair of tennis shoes. I would think that mother deer would put the fear of God into their offspring with horror stories of uncles and cousins meeting premature death and dismemberment on roads. Enough so they would be frightened of all roads and only cross when necessary to get food or water, but that was not the case with this tiny fawn. And why don’t deer find a section of ground with food, water, and shelter and never cross a road? Anyway…I associated the fawn to the piglet in the TV show. Only instead of being startled at the feel of a different surface beneath its feet, it took delight and skipped with sheer joy. I have known children like this. Our daughter, Abby, has never been frightened by anything in her life. She hit the ground running and has never backed down from an exploration of her world. It made her a bit of a handful at times but you had to admire her fortitude. I see the same trait now in Abby’s firstborn, our grandson Gage. At fourteen months, he is quite the thrill-seeking little guy and I liken him to that fawn waltzing on the hard surface road just for the pure escapade of a different texture. I snicker to myself as Abby and her husband, Eric, struggle with Gage’s climbing abilities, full-voice tantrums and adventurous nature. I don’t have much trouble with him myself as, having raised his mother, I have seen 90 percent of it and have learned the subtle tricks necessary to avoid, stifle and deal with behaviors that go with a spirited child. What goes around definitely comes around. Look for the dancing fawn in a difficult person you know. Don’t close the gate on understanding; you reap only what you sow. Story ideas and/or comments can be e-mailed to Nancy at Nancy861@msn.com or call me at 962-3411