Sadie: a high-energy dog

My dog, Sadie, has far too much energy to have ended up in the home of a couple of people in their sixties. Unfortunately, I'm deeply attached to her, so I make do.

I've never been able to turn her loose, because she's been off like a shot running around the neighborhood, once she's free. That would be OK in this country area, except my last dog died running across 224 highway. I don't think I could stand losing another dog that way.

So Sadie has been turned loose each day for our walk in the pasture, then confined either to the house, or on a tie-out in the yard.

Since we've moved back further from the road, though, I've been giving her a little more freedom: For instance, when I put her out to potty, I no longer hook the leash to her collar. I stand on the front porch and watch her, and she comes right back when she's done. When I take her to the tie-out, I've stopped hanging onto her collar for dear life because she's stopped her desperate runs for freedom.

Yesterday, each time I went outside I took her along, sans leash. She did great.

This morning she had a relapse. The minute I went outside with her, I could see she was in her "escape" mode. I no sooner got the words "Here, Sadie" out of my mouth than she was gone.

I should have remembered to have a Frisbee session with her, first thing, because on the days we don't walk and give her a chance to run, she's a mess. She's passionate about her Frisbee, and I can wear the edge off her energy that way.

All's well that ends well, and Sadie showed up back at home after about twenty minutes. I scolded her and she acted sufficiently contrite. I gave her five minutes to think about her sins and repent, then took her out for the Frisbee session she should have had earlier.





When we're done, I tell Sadie to take the Frisbee to the house, and she does so quite willingly.

I do believe Cliff has cleaned up the Gold Wing for a reason: It's perfect weather, and we'll ride today!

I'll throw in this picture of yesterday's sunrise at no extra cost. One can't get too many sunrises, you know.

What a wonderful world!

Cliff, his sister Rena, me and the two dogs walk every morning on our property; while there are drawbacks to where we walk (heavy dew that soaks our shoes if we wear them, for one thing). Because some of our paths through the wooded areas are fairly narrow and bordered by trees on either side, we encounter lots of cobwebs. I usually walk in front and break the webs... sometimes with a stick, sometimes with my body when I don't see the cobweb coming.

Before I broke through this one, I had to take a picture of it with the dew glistening on it.

I rode this morning; I arrived at our town's little park in time to see the sun coming up; I could tell it was going to be one of the most beautiful sunrises I'd ever seen.

Ah yes. The sunrise above the lake at the park.

Wow.

As always, click on any picture to see it larger.

Random unrelated photos

That's the sunrise, as seen yesterday from just outside my back door. At the old, two-story house, you had to walk to the pasture to get the full view of a sunrise...

or a sunset.

Cliff now has a new helper; that's his sister, Rena, driving the tractor.

An electrician made a quick visit to get my electric dryer up and running. When Sadie heard an electrical-sounding "snap", she ran to the farthest point away from the noise she could find... behind the guest bed against the wall. I finally coaxed her out about a half-hour later.

IN SEARCH OF A SUNRISE

This morning I woke up before 5 o'clock, as usual. I was on my second cup of coffee when I remembered the granddaughters wouldn't be here before school, and I suddenly realized I could take a morning ride!

When I went to get Blue from the pasture, I knew perhaps I should have started earlier... day was already breaking.

But I don't get this chance often, so I figured I might as well go for it. I could hear Blue thinking, "Hey, lady, you just got OFF my back less than twelve hours ago."

And the sunrise did hold possibilities, even yet.

We had to wait for a long, long train to go past, in order to head toward the river. Blue loves trains, for some strange reason.
We hadn't gotten as far as the river yet when I noticed the sun was coming out of hiding, and was officially "up", peeking out from behind the river bluff on which I live.

Heading toward home, I noticed what a long shadow my horse and I make, this early in the day.

Haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

I had three links to other journals added; then I went to the new format, which appears to be almost as easy as AOL journals. Somehow, in the process, I lost my links. It's OK, I'll get them back, and then some.

While I was at it, I figured I'd add a picture of a November sunrise, just so your trip here wouldn't be totally wasted.

Whoa, I'm liking it over here better all the time. I can add pictures from my computer, and they are automatically re-sized in the entry... but if you click on the picture, there it is, full-sized. OK, maybe I do need to re-size pictures a bit before adding them.

This may turn out to be EASIER than AOL. Now, back to adding links to my favorite journals. Something tells me I won't be getting much housework done today (as if I ever do).