Another beautiful walk at the river, long shadows in the morning sun, shoots of green grass working through dry wheaten stalks and old brown leaves, and a late raccoon waddling across the field in search of a sip of water before bedding down for the day. Waterfowl are populating the wetland areas, choosing mates and nesting areas. Last spring and early summer, we watched ducklings and goslings as they grew from little fluff-balls to full-fledged flying creatures.
The sun cut across the trails and fields from its perch low in the sky and I had the sense that we were startling the area's residents by our extra early presence. The scent of deer hung heavily enough in the air for me to pick it up once or twice. Nicholai's nose was high as he probed the breeze for information, deigning once or twice to dash into the tall brush, in search of the elusive ruminants.
Though Nicholai's ribs are showing a bit these days and he's lost a tad of musculature – part age and part cancer – his coat shimmered in the morning sun and he danced with glee about the deer he chased, the one that got away. With a sudden burst of speed, he and Izzy gave momentary chase to the tardy raccoon. It jumped into the pond and hissed furiously at the two of them. They pulled up short, considered the masked mammal, and loped back to me – a good choice as a raccoon can make a worthy opponent for a dog. The morning's peace was maintained.
As we hiked away from the rivers and wetlands and toward our easy-going Sunday in the city, we met Labrador retrievers, Australian shepherds, Basset hounds, an Akita mix, a husky, and a Bernese mountain dog, all out with their humans for a Sunday morning stroll.
A-h-h-h, what a start to a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment