FINALLY! the rain and cold has left us and seemingly the first nice day we’ve had since Labor Day Monday was yesterday. We’ve received almost 2″ of moisture since then, so we shouldn’t complain, but I do miss sunshine! Itching to get out and about, the dogs and I went for a bike ride. I’m horribly out of shape, but evidently it is about the right speed for the dogs to run alongside! Pavement would make things so much more enjoyable, I’m obviously not one of those wild mountain biker type people! Ruts and rocks beware! Oh, well. Anyway, I pedaled out about a mile, and decided to take the dogs down to the creek for a drink…which they welcomed most heartily. Lucas and Elsa waded out belly deep and layed down. Boomer started looking for bubbles or sticks to chase in the water. Little Dally walked confidently out in the deep water and started swimming. I kept saying “Swim” and encouraging and applauding her. She’s the only swimmer of the bunch and I figure she’ll be the one I can send across a creek to chase a cow! So, I kept cueing her and laughing. She had come back near me and then must have smelled something across the creek. Her nose went up. I said “Swim!”. Off she went. Now the bank on the other side was a vertical 8′ challenge, but she climbed out like it was nothing, and off she ran! I clapped and laughed and was all excited and glanced down at Lucas. He gave me the most dismissive look. “That’s nothing. I can do that too.” Off he swam. Oh, my goodness, this from the dog I couldn’t get to swim at all. Even if I am out there swimming, he would just stand on the bank and watch. This is the dog I needed to have swim for his therapy, but he refused. Only if I crossed a creek on horseback and was leaving him behind would he ever swim. Now that his daughter was getting all the attention, he changed his mind! He clambered out the other side and looked at Dally’s route of straight up. Thankfully he has more sense than that and took a slanted exit route but it even had a 3′ steep ending, and with me holding my breath, he managed it. Off he ran as well. I was amazed. I gave them quite a while, but then decided we should leave and gave a quick yell and turned to go. Here they came! I lost sight of Dally when I turned to pick up my bike, but a loud splash turned me around again. Here comes Dally swimming for all she’s worth. She must have come straight down the steep bank, virtually launching herself into the water! Lucas followed, checked out his original route, and then went over to see Dally’s route. I yelled, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Go back to your’s!” He listened and returned to his route, pausing for a moment. He doesn’t like jumping on his bad foot and had to situate himself for a lopsided landing. He did it with style. Angling down the bank, he reached the creek and without pausing started to swim back to me! He was greeted with laughter and petting and Dally’s look of “Oh, Daddy, wasn’t that fun?”
Find me here!