Friday, July 9, 2010

Life in my lane

 

Yup, that’s me.  Drinking from Cornet Creek at the end of a hike is such a fabulous thing to do.  You can even lie down and cool your belly and paws. Heaven on earth in this lowly dog’s opinion.  Owner and curly-haired never partake. I’ve heard them mumble about metallic remnants from old mines but I haven’t seen any.  Water looks clear to me.  Humans are so damn persnickety.  If I worried about half the things owner worried about I’d have no fur left.  Note to self…..why IS my fur falling out and not growing back? 

P1080791A new hike opened up in town and owner has gone twice.  I’m forbidden. Big signs block the way to the bridge….No Dogs.  Not planning to go into any detail about whether I’ve been or not. Zero interest in having the dog catcher come pay me a visit; you know how that goes.  At any rate this place is really beautiful and bears a resemblance to Northern Ontario.

Is this picture incriminating evidence against me? What do they do with dogs dragged places “against their will” by their owners?

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One of our guests grew up in New York.  She really THINKS she wants to see a bear.  What she doesn’t get is that this means you have to actually MEET the bear. In most encounters of the “ursine” kind you do not  get to pick the distance from which the rotund brown furry guy says hello.  It could be she’s changing her mind about this whole bear business as last night I heard her ask in a tiny voice, “ ummmm. do you think we should take a flashlight with us when we take Casey for a walk.”  I guess she thinks berry munchers are frightened by flashlights?  I don’t think they are afraid of much if you ask me! Besides a flashlight isn’t going to scare them away from our old chicken carcass and our leftover watermelon rinds now is it?

Town has gotten really smart about how our garbage pails lock up, but I see one of our pails is cracked around the middle as if some old black bear sat on it trying to crack it like a nut.  Those guys are smart you know!

Owner was really frustrated.  She had the people, the perfect hike, the camera and a dead battery.  Recharging her battery and then leaving it behind in its case P1080817on her bureau was not helping    her have a perfect day.  She consoled herself with the thought that if you’ve seen one whirling eddy you’ve seen them all. 

 

 

She and Sue reflected on childhood picnics, some P1080831in Northern Ontario and some in Wales.  Both had parents who kept the picnics cool in ice cold waters along rivers’ edges.  They had lived parallel lives while children but never known each other. Every child thinks their family invented these cool traditions and then finds out nothing is ever truly original. 

Grey storm clouds started to fill the sky, distant thunder started to rumble and we weren’t even halfway through the hike.  Owner was urging everyone forward but it is a tricky hike for footholds and neither Sue or Rosena was interested in a sprained ankle prior to yogafest.  I thought  wrenched ankles would be super  since then one of the three women would always be home with me.  It gets so tiresome sitting home on my mat waiting for my people to return.

The green moss we encountered was such a treat I wanted to hang out there, approaching storm or not.   The sun broke through for a few moments and enticed me to sit and rest a while. Feigning thirst is always a good delay tactic.

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We made it down to the next bridge, crossed the river and started our uphill trek.  Rosena and Sue had only arrived a day earlier so the altitude really kicked their (well actually more Rosena’s) butts.


Our timing was perfect.  With a few rests on the uphill and then a quick  pace on the flat we managed to make it to our car before all hell broke loose in terms of rain and stormy weather.  The best part was we managed to complete what we had set out to do and this sat well with Sue’s prior hopes for a great hike. The only thing left to do was grab some lunch and return home to rest up. Oh wait,  I mean set Rosena up with Gary for a two hour Ashtanga yoga class.  Sue, owner and I rested.  See ya later.

(here is a little video clip from atop our regular hike, The Wiebe, so you can get a good view around the area and down into town. Enjoy)

 

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