What Excitement in a Walk

"My little old dog:
A heart-beat at my feet."
-Edith Wharton

We stop at every tree, bush,
rock, stump, hump of grass
Leg lift to the left, leg lift to the right, sniff, lift, sniff, lift,
an endless
shuffle
ears perk
sniff, lift
shuffle
impossibly large tongue
flap
sniff, lift
ears perk


My dog takes me for a walk most days. He can sense we are heading out before I leave my chair. Something in my thought process must be detectable. Before I can dress, before I can get my socks over my feet, he is terribly excited, so much so, that I often think he might hurt himself before we get out the door. It's not like he hasn't been out during the day. He's in the yard all day when I am home, and usually all evening as well. There is something in the heading out that turns his heart to pure joy. You've never seen such excitement as when we cross into the grass, onto the path, up the hill, over the streams, around the bend. A walk we've made hundreds of times, but to watch him on this adventure it seems he's never been on this trail before.

We've done the loop twice on some nights and he'll stop to sniff the very spot he lifted on before, perhaps to partake in his own scent? He's a large dog. A breed with a reputation (undeserved in my opinion), so we find we are never without room on the path. Some people will stop for a scratch behind the ears, the dog gets them too on occasion, some people look quickly to the ground which might be more a remark on myself then on this hound with the graying chin, others will say their quick hello's and carry on their way. No matter to this dog, he's on a mission, a job to be done. Head down, ears back, no time to waste, "if we are quick perhaps there will be some time to chase a ball on the soccer field before we head back home!"

1,421,521,920.00

If I live to the average life expectancy of a Canadian male the above number is how many seconds I have left in this life. Some other numbers for you:

23,692,032.00- Number of minutes
394,867.20- Number of hours
16,452.80- Number of days
2,345.20- Number of weeks
541.20- Number of months
45.10- Number of years

What are you doing tomorrow?