Day Out

Spent the day in the mountains. Sounds wonderful but a big part of it was spent in an air conditioned car. Looked like it was going to be a hot day so we took off.

That “we” was a nice surprise because most of the time it’s, “You have to stay. I’ll be back,” like some old Schwarzenegger movie. I used to try to follow. For a while, they’d throw a treat to get me away from the door, but after a couple of times I stopped falling for that old trick. Then I tried my pantomime of sorrow and loneliness. I flattened myself down as much as I could under the table and looked up at them with tears in my eyes. Totally silent. No whimpering or howling which only aggravates everyone. But they’d leave anyway. That thing called work, I think.

After a while I figured out that being alone in the house wasn’t so bad. I could walk around on the table. Carry shoes downstairs. Nibble on things like the cardboard under the couch and the edges of books. And sleep uninterrupted for hours. No TV. No one walking around doing things. No vacuum cleaners, no washing machines. Peace and quiet.

Back to the mountains which were beautiful and cool. Still lots of snow on Loveland Pass where we stopped on the way. I met a nice Golden while the bearded one lifted his leg in the woods. We walked around Breckenridge. More accurately they walked and more or less dragged me. There was just so much to smell and see. I didn’t want to be rushed.

Breckenridge had a lot of nice dogs. I met two just adopted last week. They were in the rescue after some real hard times. Brothers and a little nervous about everything. Their new owners actually looked at me on my leash and told them to walk like that. I tried telling them that living in Breckenridge with these nice folks, who never had a dog and took both of you to keep you together, is going to be sweet. And that was before I knew Breck had a whole store devoted to dog treats and toys.

It was a real family day. Stopping at Starbucks for a drink and walk on the way home. And they even took some of the junk out of the back of the car so I could stretch out without getting tangled up in a bicycle tire.