Walking

I took a walk this morning.  I wish you could have shared it with me.  I will do my best to paint a picture for you, but it is never as good as the real thing.

Put my bathrobe on this morning over my t-shirt and exercise pants.  It was just getting light out and I knew the dogs had to go out.  Sometimes these days I let them out on their own, especially in the morning when I am in a rush.  Well, today I put my coat on over my bathrobe and slipped on some shoes.  I expected to walk around the driveway, or maybe down the road a bit.  But once I got going...the birds were waking up.  They were chirping and talking to us.  They were getting ready for the day.  It was a call to my feet to keep moving. 

The girls (dogs) were full of vim and vigor.  They danced and pranced around me as we moved further along.  A bunny quickly ran across our path...unnoticed.  The girls had their noses to the ground and they were sniffing and sniffing.  Tim says that dogs have a different sense of time than we do.  He says when they are sniffing, they are "seeing" things that have happened in the past.  Mind blowing...

We walked down the road the "wild way" and got down to the swamp/creek.  The birds were having a hayday by that time and the sun was full up.  Or at least the sun was fighting its way through the misty fog by that time.  There has been a lot of rain and melting snow lately.  Things were wet.  I began to wish that the shoes that I had slipped on were my hiking boots.  Oh well, I was far enough away from the house now to not want to go back and get them. 

We went down into the neighbor's field.  The tall grass was all bent over from the recent snow and as I stepped out onto the grass it crunched under my feet.  I hadn't realized how cold it still was.  I guess since the fields are so open to the weather, it can get colder or warmer there than up in the woodsy area where we live. 

The girls love the fields.  They run, they sniff, they run, they did, they check this smell out, they check this smell out.  When I call them, they come running at full bore...ok, well just sometimes.  Sometimes they are up to their elbows in mud and they are reveling in the smells and the love of the chase.  Not sure what they are hunting for in the mud and muck, but I can tell it is something good.  They run to each other every once in a while to see what the other has found.

By this time, I have noticed the sound of the river. It sounds full and rushing.  I haven't been this far down in the field for a while...well actually since it snowed and when I went tropping down there in the snow.  That was about a week ago and the snow has melted and fed the river.  We walk along the river.  The dogs know to stay away from it when it is in its full glory like today.  We walk further down and I call the girls.  We get to the beach area and I realize that the sandy part of the beach is all underwater.  Wow.  I haven't seen the river like this for a while.  It is wider and fuller.  The voice of the river is different than it is in the summer.  It is rolling and rushing.  I can't heard the birds anymore. 

It is time to go home.  It is full light by now.  The neighbors will be waking up and honestly I don't want to show off my bathrobe and crazy hair.  We get up into the middle field and the goat dog starts barking.  He knows us and likes us...but he is on patrol and he is not about to let us pass without telling us that we shouldn't be out prowling around at this time of the morning.  I think we actually woke him up.  He is busy at night making sure we are all safe and early morning is when he gets to sleep. 

He stands stock still when he is barking.  Tail up and at attention.  He doesn't change his mood until Belle goes up there (while I am wildly yelling at her to come back -- so much for not waking up the neighbors).  She play bows in front of the goat dog and wags her tail.  He wants to show how serious he is...but who can resist this beauty and the fun that she is offering?  His tail starts to wag.  He lets her run around in his yard...I am yelling...trying to be quiet, but she is not supposed to be in their yard.  I squat down to wait and see if she will come.  The goat dog loves me.  He looks up and sees me squatting down.  He comes down into the field for a good love.  He knows he will get it.  We are friends. 

Well of course Belle runs after him...phew I catch her collar.  I give the goat dog a good scratch with one hand while holding Belle with the other.  "Let's go home."  I call Gabby, but she is digging and up to her elbows going after something.  She will come soon and I am not worried about her. 

Belle pulls down on her collar until she is choking.  We are close enough to the house by this time and I let her go.  Yes, I have been taken in by her before, but she is such a good girl, I am once again duped.  She runs back into the field and runs circles around the goat dog.  Even when I run towards the house and call her name, she will have nothing to do with me.  Oh well, I leave them both in the field.  They will come home soon...I hope.