A Walk With the Dogs

The two dogs, Apache, my big young German Shepherd, and Pepper, the older black and white Border Collie cross who belongs to my friend and ranch helper, Ron, took me for a walk today. That’s how unleashed country dog walks go; the dogs are almost always in the lead checking out interesting tracks and smells. When they do stop, it seems that directly in the person’s path is the favored location. The woods were quiet except for some staccato drumming by a woodpecker. Obviously sending a message of some sort—he couldn’t possibly dig out bugs and eat them that fast. The creek has flooded, frozen, and re-flooded so many times that it is paved with shiny new ice, bank to bank. It will be interesting to see how far past the banks the ice eventually spreads. I hope it doesn’t attack the newly-replaced footbridge!