Tuesday's Walk July 1, 2008

Many of you know that for the last year I have been on a walking program--mainly to lose weight. (Unfortunately, until I do something about eating after dinner, I don't think walking 2 miles a day is gonna help!) But as a hiker, I do love getting outside and enjoying whatever presents itself in my path.


Having a VERY high energy dog who was stuck in the backyard, the walks presented a great way to "wear" her out. So, now little Bonnie Dog stands on my chest every morning I am not up and out of bed by 7 a.m. Usually this act is accompanied by whining. Ah, mornings...so much to be grateful for...


Each day of the week I take a different route around the neighborhood. On Tuesdays we go to the "bad" part of the 'hood. What I mean by bad, is that scenically there is not too much to see. Part of the route is on the major road that borders my neighborhood--not a bad thing necessarily. It's just that when I go the other way, there is big, beautiful Lake Cane.


So Bonnie and I start out by getting her harnessed up, grabbing keys, sunglasses, camera and trying to do all that while she is still whining and trying to get me to hurry up. Of course she has already had to wait while I go through my email and pack any orders that came in overnight...so, let's just say she is READY to go.

The first thing of interest we see at the corner is the poor German Shephard who lives across the street...let's call him "Shep". Sometimes he escapes the yard but doesn't make it back home until after his owners have gone to work. So, he is locked out of the yard. He waits pitifully at the driveway for someone to let him in. When he sees us, he sometimes crosses the road to visit...usually he doesn't look both ways...resulting in rapidly braking drivers, honks, bad words and me cringing on the sidewalk, hoping he doesn't get hit. He is sweet and I think he reminds Bonnie of our big dog, Sonny, who died of bone cancer a couple years ago.


So, once we convince Shep to go home, we walk down the street past my friend Patti's house. Down to the busy road and make a right turn. If we are lucky, the little kind elderly lady is sitting out on her bench by the driveway and we stop and chat. She thinks Bonnie is "sweet" and she wishes she had a dog like her. I tell her a dog like Bonnie would drag her into the next county in two seconds.


On the next street we make another right turn and we continue to zig zag through the streets in this neck of the woods. We hope the lady who walks her three little white dogs does not come out to walk at the same time we are going by--this usually causes a big to-do for all the dogs and worries the owners that one will break loose and really cause us a problem. Bonnie just wants to get to know them, but, both us owners seem to know this would not be a good idea.


The next interesting thing is the house on the corner with the stealth cats. I swear these cats are not afraid of anything. One laid in the grass about 2 feet from the curb as Bonnie and I approached. Neither of us saw her and by the time Bonnie did and yanked the leash the cat's way, I was already walking past her. That cat did not move a muscle!!! Smart or dumb...I am not sure. We have passed here before many times and seen cats in the tree, on the fence, under the car or by the back door. Very interesting house for a dog to walk past.


On the same road is the scary, big, fat rottweiler, Adolph. Actually Adolph's owner, is the scary one-he's big and fat too. The first time we met Adolph he was out sniffing by the mailbox. The owner was leaning against his car. As soon as Adolph saw us he headed our way--not apparently aggressive. The owner casually walked down to the mailbox, but, didn't call to the dog or try to warn us. When an unknown dog approaches I always stop, Bonnie settles down while she gets sniffed and I eventually move on...sometimes with the other dog in tow. As we appoached the mailbox, the owner called for the dog who was following behind Bonnie. He kept saying "that was close"...which I think meant that he was glad his dog didn't attack us. If your dog might attack someone, it would probably be a good thing not to have him unleashed in the front yard, ya think?!






The rest of this street is pretty quiet. We pass the funny "Air Mail" mailbox up on a 15 foot tall pole, the beagle who we have seen grow up from a new Christmas puppy and the house where the kids are out playing sometimes.






The last loop is one we do several times a week. It borders Lake Marsha, there are pretty houses with nice landscaping. One has this pretty blue flower that I love and wish I could find out what it is. We pass Bonnie's favorite dog buddy, Sally, a beautiful Siberian Husky. We met Sally face to face once when Bonnie pulled the leash out of my hand as we were walking past Sally's house. By the time I recovered from the shock, Bonnie was already wrapped up in Sally's cable tie-out. Sally's house is one of those weird architectural ones and I could not see the way to the front door to get her owner's help--plus I wasn't sure how long that cable was. So, I just approached very slowy, got down low and extricated Bonnie's leash from the cable. Sally was just happy to meet Bonnie I think and didn't pay me any attention. I met up with the owner several weeks later and told her about the chance meeting. She said Sally is usually not people-friendly so she was just glad it ended ok. Me too!


Well, that is pretty much the story of our Tuesday walks. We usually see a couple more dogs at one of the last corners we pass. Bonnie loves them as they are loud and boisterous and always bark out a greeting. Me, I am just glad to be back home with Bonnie in one piece. Now if I can just get the arm with the tennis elbow pain to bend into my pocket to get my keys out!