Saturday, July 3, 2010

This Gets Easier Right?

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It’s great being back in my hometown.  I had a little swim this morning before breakfast.  Wasn’t so thrilled when I got caught up in a big eddy and did a few ballerina twirls but after I got my feet on terra firma my thoughts ran to…may be old but this is one dog who stills has has what it takes.

Hill climbing is tough.  Hill climbing where the oxygen pressure is low enough that you can’t suck oxygen down into your kidneys makes hill climbing extra tough.  The problem with Telluride is if you leave for more than two weeks you are back to square one in terms of altitude acclimation when you return.  Sure dogs feel it too but no one feels it like owner.  Her huffing and puffing nearly drowns out the sound of my tinkling bear bell as we wind our way up The Wiebe.  Before we spent time back in Texas we could get up that trail in under 40 minutes.  Now we are back to the hour mark and it is an “ass drag” if I do say so myself.

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 Moss definitely grows on the North side of a tree. You’ll just have to trust me on this.  This is old moss.  New moss looks a lot like you’d imagine the hair on a newborn gnome. In fact it is so light that it falls off the trees and lies on the ground so you have no idea what you are looking at. 

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If for some strange reason you couldn’t remember what month it was (say you were son number two, P1020987for example, who never seemed to figure out which month came before which month or why it mattered?) you might get confused and think that this was frost because it bears a similar appearance to a frost photo (the white one IS frost!).  Oh, and by the way moss grows on rocks wherever it damn well pleases so don’t use that as a compass guide.

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It is difficult to figure out why grass can grow in the most miserable of conditions on a forest trail but refuse to grow in our yard where we have addedP1080371 peat moss and  a sprinkler system.  No matter what we do we always have the ugliest looking yard in all of Telluride.   Suddenly at the beginning of  Fall our grass will take off and start to look nice, then snow falls and back we go to looking like a run down derelict building. Have my people no dignity?  We have a yard that it is not even worthy of a good pee; how bad is that?

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Personally, I think the summer is looking good.  Town looks great.  The aspens are looking lovely as usual.  Owner has foot problems so she can’t hike for five and six hours at a time which is perfect for me with my arthritic joints.  Yes, she forgot to bring water along on our first hike of the season but graciously gave up her own so I wouldn’t be thirsty.   I had to learn how to drink out of a lid but aside from that all was well.  Every once in a while she proves how much she loves me.

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ForP1080472 now I sit in my window sill and dream of the next hike.  My dreams also include getting those darn windows cleaned so I can see out.  Think that is happening later this week, FINALLY! Anyway, back to hiking.  Those hikes simply have to get easier. Had to endure one of those “bath” things today but it felt kind of nice to get  a good scrubbing.  You probably didn’t know this but I am currently the poster girl for dandelion repopulation.  It is a job I enjoy and I do it well. See ya later.

 

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P.S. The windows are clean.

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