After we finished the burnt offering from the grill it was time to take the dogs for a walk. This is a major highlight for Maddie, the Boxer, and Dora, the Dachshund--plus we had Hailey, the mini-Australian Shepherd. So it was a major undertaking for the wife and I. Actually it was an adventure for all of us. So, off we went . . .
First stop on the walk was to a church member's house. There we stopped and talked to the missus of the house and asked her to have her husband bring his rototiller over to our house. The rototiller is a necessary tool for the completion of the "evening recreational area". Having removed the grass I now need to level out the concrete dirt so that I can lay down the rock. Of course, this was not a minor stop along the walking route as the wife and the missus of the house talked flower gardens. Thankfully the dogs were more patient than I was, even though I was quite excited about getting to try out a new piece of equipment tomorrow. Once we made all the necessary arrangements we on our way again. We headed down the street and around the park.
Now one would think that a person could walk his or her dog through the park--dogs and parks seem to be a perfect match--but not in our community. Dogs are not allowed in the park. That is why we walked around the park even though the wife was being mischievous as she suggested that we take our pack through the park. I guess they did not want dogs leaving little land mines laying around the semi-manicured lawn. This is an insult to me because I would never allow my dog to leave a reminder of her presence in the park, I'd save it until we walked by the yard of the week! Ignoring the wife's mischievous suggestion, we walked around the park.
Our next stop was just around from the park as we stopped to say "Happy Birthday" to another member of the church whose birthday happened to be today. This was a dangerous recess as the woman we stopped to see is a notorious talker who happened to be working on her garden. This was an opening for the wife once again. Ten minutes later, dogs patiently waiting, we finally got to reiterate a "Happy Birthday" and get back on our walk. The wife picked up several new ideas for the yard while there which translates into more work for me somewhere down the road!
From there we headed down to the Rock Creek to see how the creek was doing. We have been on flood alert for the past month as people are pretty flood shy after the late May flood. With an unusual amount of snow melt off of the mountains the creeks and rivers have been on the rise. Even with the extra warn temperatures this past week we are still doing okay--we are still about a foot below where the water level was with the great May flood.
From the creek we headed onward and ending up stopping at another church member's house where the missus and mister were busy doing yard work. Once again, after the minor flood talk, the conversation turned towards flowers and gardens--plus a little about the local deer population. The wife was in heaven--or as close to heaven as one can get when talking about flowers. Me, well, with each conversation about flowers and gardens I imagined my "honey do" list getting longer and longer. At the rate I am going on the "honey do" list I figure I should be done about the time I retire--at least another fifteen years!
Daisies was the hot topic . . . this church member has daisies everywhere in her yard. Of course the wife complimented the woman for the wonderful landscaping with all of the daisies, only to find out that the lady had nothing to do with it. The local birds did the landscaping--apparently they pooped the seeds out and made the lovely arrangement. Now the wife is trying to figure out how to entice the birds to do a little seed planting in our yard. I'm all for it--I figure that they could knock a year off of the "honey do" list if they would just poop in our yard!
From there is was the home stretch. It was down the highway to home. Thankfully there were no more church members or gardeners to slow us down. With semi-tired pups we finally made it home. Five minutes later I received a call that the rototiller would be delivered to the house within minutes. The next phase of the "evening recreational area" begins.
I enjoy walks with the wife and dogs--it is usually relaxing. What I learned this evening is that there is no such thing as a short walk in a small town. Between stopping every five minutes to talk to someone, a person actually gets to walk. Thankfully none of the dogs dropped any surprises in any yards, including the Yard of the Week. The dogs were happy as they got to read a variety of "pee mail" from the other canines in the town, and the wife picked up a lot of new ideas for the yard. Me, well, I got myself a rototiller, learned a little more about patience, and wondered what in the world everyone was thinking when they decided that walking was good for one's health! Outside of my jaw getting a workout, the rest of me spent a lot of time waiting and talking.
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