Clues

Our dog, who is usually a Little White Rug with a Pulse, comes alive when she thinks we are going on a walk. She runs into the room, tongue out, tail wagging, dancing, acting all happy.

Years ago, she figured out that the leash indicated a walk was coming up. It's plastic and makes a clunking sound when we remove it from the coat hook on the wall.

Now, she has figured out many more clues. She's so smart!

I tie a plastic bag from bread or newspaper onto the leash before walking so I can scoop her poop. Now she comes running when she hears plastic bags rustling -- even if it means DH has just come home from the grocery. (I use cloth bags for groceries.)

When I put sneakers on, I often sit on the side of the tub. This excites her as sneakers often indicate a potential walk. Heels don't excite her -- only sneakers.

In similar fashion, socks might indicate a walk. Obviously, I only wear socks with sneakers, not with dress shoes. Nowadays she comes running if I open the sock drawer.

The undies drawer is just below the sock drawer. She does not react to my opening the undies drawer every morning. Just the occasional sock drawer. These are heavy wooden drawers in my armoire, not screechy plastic things. They rumble, and to my ears, they rumble identically. How does she tell the difference?

On a related note, I have recently begun putting the crusts from LO's sandwich on the floor near the pet bowls in the mornings when I pack the lunchbox. The crusts have the tiniest smidge of luncheon meat that gets trimmed when I cut the crusts from the sandwich.

Little Dog has just lately figured out the sound of LO's lunchbox unzipping, and comes running. Food?

The Perfect Walk

I could easily be the biggest fan our local parks system has. Not that I use all their services -- they offer after-school programs, art classes, exercise, and much more. There are facilities with racquetball courts, weight-lifting facilities, a "disk golf" course and more.

So it's not that I avail myself of all they offer, but I truly appreciate all the work they do on a limited budget and I appreciate the way they improve my quality of life.

Above you can see the covered bridge on the greenway where Little Dog and I walk in the mornings. I am a terrible judge of distance, but I would easily say this bridge is between 20 and 30 feet long. It is stoutly constructed. Our footsteps echo with a deep sound. LD's little feet really go "trip trap" just like the billy goats gruff.

Look at the beams inside. I appreciate the way they are solid so that no pigeons or anything roost up in there.

This is the creek below the covered bridge. LD and I usually stand at the side of the bridge and look down into the water. Sometimes we see fish and once I saw a beaver. The water is especially deep right now as we have had lots of rain. But even in the midst of the drought last year, there was enough water in this creek for a continuous current.

These are the woods just past the creek. You can tell by the green blanket on the floor of the woods that it is pretty damp in there. Isn't it beautiful?

This is only one of the crooked-y trees to be found in the woods. All the growing stuff here has such personality, I never tire of looking at it all.

See the honeysuckle on the left? It is everywhere right now and as I walked, I searched for a way to describe it for you. Heady -- intoxicating -- redolent -- they have all been so overused. I can only tell you the air smells so sweet it seems to lift me a little off my feet. I wish it were always in bloom.

I do believe LD has allergies. If she is outside for any amount of time, her eyes take on this squinty look, and she sneezes unusually much for a dog.

These pictures show the fields. Although the greenway meanders through much of the Little Town, the stretch I walk on is only a mile, but it has varied land: creek, fields, woods, and marshy area. LD and I typically walk it only twice, for a 2-mile walk. If I try to walk it a third time, she lies down and says, "I'm done." Then I have to carry her the rest of the way.

Last week I mentioned a bush that was covered with lovely white fringy blooms. As I feared, by the time I remembered the camera, all the blooms had fallen off. The bush stands about 15' high and man, it was gorgeous.

This tree is at the very beginning of the trail, near where I park at the elementary school. I love the way the trunk & branches look like someone scrubbed them.

There are a few other little footbridges and I took this picture over the side of one of them. These are the tallest daylilies I have ever seen. They stand almost five feet tall. They are in the ground down below the bridge I was standing on, and their spires came up beyond the handrail of the bridge. I wonder if they are a special type, or if the marshy land is just especially fertile.

Postscript: I got the following email from my most faithful blogreader:

I believe the plant that you thought was a daylily is a yellow flag iris...
Of course she is right. Learn something every day! She should write a plant encyclopedia.