Good morning everyone! It is another cloudy and milder morning here. I had an interesting kind of day yesterday. In the afternoon anyway. But it is that kind of “interesting” that I prefer to do without. Honest. Probably my fault. I wanted to go for a walk to the river. So I got ready and off I went. That was my first mistake. But it was a beautiful walk, all the way to the river.

It was mild, the trail was well used and fairly hard packed. I got down to the river and sat on my usual stump and enjoyed looking out over the water as it flowed past. I counted no less than 53 ducks on the water, all Goldeneyes. Unfortunately, most of them were too far away for any real nice pics. The river is nearly back to its normal level now. Down about 8 or 9 feet from the summer high water mark. That is good. It looks more calm now, instead of the angry flowing water it was this past summer.

It was quiet and nice to be there again. After a while I started back up the hill. Finally I was at the top of the hill where the trail goes downward a bit for a while, then up again as I cross the little field area. Once back in a very heavily treed area that gets little sunlight, I stopped. I had this strange feeling again, like I get when I am being watched. I looked around but saw nothing. I kept walking, then stopped after just a short distance.

I still had that feeling of being watched. No bears this time of year. Perhaps a wolf? Or coyote? Then this strange thought came over me, that I should tuck my camera under my jacket to protect it. But there was still quite a distance to go before I get back to the street and I might see something. I walked a bit further and went around a curve in the trail and stopped again. I still had that thought to put my camera under my jacket, and do it now. So I did.

I had just zipped up my jacket when I heard a noise in the trees somewhere. I looked around but saw nothing, and the noise stopped. I walked a few more steps and stopped again. I heard that same noise. Then silence. I saw nothing. But that curve in the trail prevented me from seeing behind me. I looked ahead, then heard a noise behind me. I turned to see a rather large dog running full out straight for me.

I had no time to do anything and the dog threw itself into me at full speed! That knocked me flying onto my back with the dog jumping on me. I heard a woman screaming, obviously trying to call her dog who was not listening at all. I tried pushing this beast off me, which was not going so well. Her owner was standing some distance away trying to call her dog. The owner was obviously out of breath, trying to catch up to her dog. Finally she got over to us and pulled the dog back, just barely.

She had trouble holding that dog by her collar. She did have a leash for it, but seemed reluctant to put the leash back on the dog. I got up slowly. The dog broke free again. I was ready this time and the dog did not have the advantage of a full speed run, so I managed to stay on my feet. The owner then put the leash on her. That was very nice. She did apologize. That was nice too. Apparently this was not the first time for her dog to get out of control. She likes to let the dog run loose to get rid of her energy.

The dog is some kind of Russian hunting dog, a pure bred. She told me the name of the breed, but I cannot remember it. The owner is trying to train the dog. I would say the dog is winning. The dog is female, 7 months old, weighs 50 pounds. I looked at the dog. She was big, definitely well fed (that means she was overweight, or fat). I would say closer to 70 pounds. But I digress. She can run fast, I was told. I already found out. Good thing there was a lot of snow on the ground.

In summer I would have landed on solid granite rock. That likely would have put me in the hospital. As you know, I have serious health problems, most notably serious back problems. Today I am in terrible pain, in my back and my neck. I will not be doing much today. Now I know why it was necessary to tuck my camera under my jacket. It might have broken otherwise. I thank God that I was not more seriously hurt.

I like dogs, but… She is just being playful, said her owner. That kind of “playful” is dangerous. And dogs on these trails are supposed to be on a leash, at all times. There is a reason for that. But I digress. I will share more about my walk tomorrow. Time for more coffee, how about you? Sorry for the long post. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.