This Was No Wile E Coyote

I've written about my dog before, especially how she loves to smell flowers. You can read it here. She also, like every other dog likes to smell other dog's shit, so there's that. I must say, I do enjoy watching her go from flower to flower, much more than watching her go from shit pile to shit pile. But that's not why I'm writing today.

On our afternoon walk yesterday I took a slightly different route. There's a bakery about to open on this one street, so I thought we should walk past and see what was going on there. Well, it's a work in progress and I'm not holding my breath that it will really ever open.

But here's the reason for this post. Walking past the bakery, there is a property with a large open space in the back which is enclosed with a chain link fence. The property owner I believe, rents out some spots for overnight car parking. It seems he decided to add a little outdoor decor to the space by placing a cutout figure of a coyote next to the fence.

As we walked past, Hershey did a double take. Then she stopped and cautiously put her nose close to the fence. Now she was confused. No scent, no movement... I could see her looking at it like WTF? She made a few circles, but kept going back to it. She even got down on her front paws to play with it, but it didn't move. A man got out of a car next to us, looked at Hershey, looked at me, and we both started to laugh.

I'm going to wait until next week, then bring her back there again. I'm curious if she will ignore it or just be pissed off that it won't play with her. Today, I'll take her on a different route.

One that has some flowers.

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"Bearly" Cool Enough for a Walk

Waking up before six on a Saturday is not my favorite thing, but it happens often so you get used to it. Knowing how much is on my plate today, there was no thought of trying to fall back to sleep. As usual at the weekend house, the dog is already awake and waiting patiently at the top of the stairs for me to start moving.

After what seemed to be weeks of 90 degree plus weather, this morning in the mountains is in the low 70's. Taking the dog for her morning walk with the temperature not in the 80's for a change, was worth waking at an early hour. As we walked down the driveway, I saw two doe, each mother with her twin spotted fawns. A little up the road a few more deer. It seems they know today will be another day close to one hundred degrees, and have decided to have an early breakfast. By the heat of the afternoon, they will be resting on the leaves that have almost turned to mulch out where the woods are thick.

Two blocks up we make a right turn to go down a circular block which is right on the lake. There is an acre or two of woods which is a designated wetlands area. It's also an area of a bear den. Knowing that, my eyes always scan the woods and the trees before I walk down. Everything looked fine... to me. A few steps down and the dog stopped, ears shot straight up and she growled and barked and growled and barked.

Well, I don't know about you, but when an animal senses something that you can't see... I'll trust the instinct that nature provided to all her creatures great and small. It was time to think of a different route this morning. Now I never did see the bear, but the house closest to the area did have their garbage nicely strewn across their front lawn, so he or she wasn't far away.

Back at the house, it's time for a cup of tea, a little time to write this and then it's time to disappear into a world of research and writing. I'll "bearly" have time for anything else.

Still, it's a new morning, a day of promise and new challenges.

 And air conditioning set at icy blast.

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Pretty, Yes... But It's sNOw Fun

Snow.

Oh it's so beautiful. Yeah it is unless you need to shovel it. Unless you need to dig out your car from almost two feet of it and unless you need to travel in it. Then..it sucks.

It snowed all night and yes it did look beautiful as I got ready to walk the dog. Oh yeah, that's another time when snow isn't so beautiful. That morning walk before anyone has shoveled their sidewalks and you have to walk in the street. Only the dog doesn't like to walk in the street and it's tug-of-war time.

There are still strong winds and the sun has yet to make an appearance. Usually the time when people are digging out is one of great camaraderie. A few inches of snow, everyone smiles at each other and discusses the clean-up process. Not so today. The gray morning and the mammoth undertaking that awaited did not exactly put a smile on anyone's face.

The sidewalk and stairs are done, soon it will be time to find the car under the mountain of snow in the driveway. Once that's done, people who live in the snow zone know that's about the time when you start to get antsy. We've been in the house since yesterday, the roads are cleared, the car is cleaned off...where can we go?

It's also about that time, when the dog starts to follow me around the house and I know where I'll be going next. Apparently, she gets a little stir crazy too.

Boots on.

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A Weekend Wake Up

Woke up at five this morning, not unusual, although since tonight might be a late one, I had hoped to get at least another hour of sleep. Walked downstairs to turn on the heat in the sunroom, my favorite room in the house. It faces northeast, so the morning sun finds it quickly, but with three walls of windows, the night chill is slow to leave.

Checking the outside temp, mid 20's does not make me happy, especially since the past two days have been in the 60's. And the dog just picked up her leash and is following me around. She's in a hurry. Me? Not so much. Too bad this is a battle she always wins.

She's getting old. We've had her for over seven years and the shelter thought she was around three when she moved in, to help us manage our lives. There's gray hair on her chin, and her body is beginning to look like old dogs bodies tend to look. Thinner, hips more prominent. She has always been a good dog, a little off sometimes, but aren't we all?

As the sun barely lit the road, we walked up the hill...east, toward the sunrise. It seems the new neighbors have moved into the house closest to ours. Guess we will be meeting them today. The dog knows the route. Up at the lake, our walks go one of two directions, so depending if I take a left or right, she knows where we will be headed.

Keeping my head down, bracing against the 25 mph gusts, I wasn't as aware of my surroundings as usual, until a loud noise got my attention. A buck chasing a doe at full speed, less than ten feet in front of us. I could feel the ground shake from the force of their hooves as they barely missed us. Any closer would not have been good, not at all. I think the dog was as stunned as I was because she didn't bark or lunge toward the deer. My blood was pumping so hard, well, I was no longer thinking about the cold.

The sun is up now, the wind has died down. A cup of tea and a little morning writing. Soon household chores will take up most of the day, but the promise of a night of live music, makes it all worthwhile.

Maybe another cup of tea before the day really begins.

Love weekends.

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