Happy Thorsday, little friday and thankful thursday! I have up a post about a leash failure on the girls’ blog, if you are interested.
I’ve tried to stuff this post down so it wouldn’t insist on being written, but… here we are. I did control myself and didn’t rant on Facebook as soon as it happened, but a few of you have already heard this tale.
On Saturday, we were enjoying our usual very long walk, over the river and through the woods. Remember, we were INVITED to use those trails. However, the private road to get to said trails is owned by someone else, and as I had feared when we began walking to the trails, that someone finally stopped me and told me to “stick to the main road.” He was nice enough about it, and no, I didn’t point out that his neighbors (who have to have a legal right of way) had given us permission to use their trails and the road we have to travel to get to those trails. I don’t know the terms of their own access agreement, and I don’t want to start a turf war.
The girls don’t understand why we now turn around at the “end of state maintenance” every single walk. They were NOT amused yesterday when we made a loop – twice – to cover the miles I wished to log. I have a back-up option we’ll exercise this weekend, but as with Gretchen’s attack, it irks the daylights out of me that we cannot just step out of our back door and walk the paths we’ve enjoyed for over a year now.
So, I’m still very thankful for the INCREDIBLE neighbors whose generosity gave us many months of awesome walks in the woods. I suspect they’ll straighten this out when they hear of it, but somehow, even my inner six-year old self couldn’t find it in her to call them on Saturday and tattle on the other neighbor. In time, we’ll pass on the PUBLIC road, and they’ll ask why they haven’t seen us on the paths, and we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
We were happy to see our horse friends back in their field too. They’re older and frailer, but I was elated when both dogs dropped into obedient heels and just walked on by. Can you see how close they are to the path? Gg was within INCHES of the horse closest to the fence, and she stayed the course without any barking, spinning or pulling!
And of course, I’m very grateful for the alternate route proposal. It will require a short drive, but it too offers exposure to other dogs, horses, and a very large neighborhood with miles and MILES to walk.
What are you thankful for today?











