Homebodies - No long lasting negative effects, just renewed caution
- Details
- Published on Saturday, March 24, 2018
Rita Friesen
Neepawa Banner & Press
The urge to lie abed was strong. Even with the time change, the sky was getting brighter, and I knew that if I delayed the getting up, by the time I walked the dogs, the streets would be wet. Up and out while the frost was firm was the goal. The day before I had waited a tad too long. By the time we completed our 5,786 step circuit, both dogs needed a shower. That means that the forty-minute walk now has to include shower times two. Not that the dogs object. We return from the outdoors with their under carriages coated with salt and sand, their little feet coated with mud. They know the routine. They stay in the garage until I have the towel down in the tub, the water temperature set, and the drying towels set in place.
Then as the garage to the house door opens, one enters, reluctantly follows me down the hall and waits to be set into the shower. With patience they endure, knowing that after the towelling off, a treat awaits. The next one in follows the same procedure. I have to say that Miss Daisy needs her treat more desperately and comes quickly down the hall whereas Henry Hoover approaches with the attitude of one condemned! He is coming, but only because if he doesn’t I pick him up and carry him. Ultimate humiliation.
The early morning walk is good for us. On one occasion I truly attempted to proceed at their chosen pace. That worked for the first four blocks. As the snow retreats smells emerge. Each one requiring investigation and obliteration. It was a slow start to our jaunt. Wanting to be home before the frost was gone and the slop was back, I tugged them forward. Even with my increased pace I noticed the promising signs of spring. The caw of the crow, the mating song of the magpies, the squeaky gate call of the bird high in the cottonwood tree. I took time to dance on the edges of the ice lining the road, enjoying the crackle and crunch.
I walked with caution, recalling my one and glorious fall of my winter walk. I had chosen to walk on the bare earth of the shoulder rather than on the icy road. The wind from the west grabbed a bit of garbage and sent it scuttling past. I didn’t see it coming and the dogs saw it go. They took off in a flash and the unexpectedness of their departure sent me down. Hard. I landed on my left knee, and in my game plan to always protect my face, tucked and rolled and took the brunt of the fall on my right shoulder. The dogs broke free, and thankfully the garbage lodged in the tall grass, so they stood there, wondering how on earth I had not enjoyed that run. Shoulder checking for any witnesses, I brushed myself off and caught up with them. No long lasting negative effects, just renewed caution.
There are mornings when I do not heed the initial call to rise and shine. There are days then, when I wait for the cover of darkness and the return of solid soil to get a walk in.
