Well, Henry tried out waking me at 5:55 again this morning. I thought about turning him away but really, what does that get me? It's not as if I'll get much sleep between then and, say, 6:01 -- his usual up and aware time. So I praised his determination and out we went.
Naturally, it was still pretty dark. Sunrise today is at 6:48, and the camera is pointed east to give me some of that early light. We walked over to the more open field and he spent a nice few minutes exploring all possible escape routes for small critters.
I did come to understand though, that at this age, Henry is not going to be my vehicle toward a great amount of exercise. Sure, steps are added each day. I surpass those 10 000 goals easily. But they are casual steps. Our walks are such that they are too tame for him (I don't run), but on the other hand, his sniffing -- so necessary!-- slows us down even more. I do not work up a sweat, even on our longer walks. Too many interruptions and distractions for my infinitely curious pup.
He, of course, doesn't need even more exercise, so long as he has another day of daycare (which he does today -- I have kid pickups all afternoon). But I need to quit fooling myself that just having a dog around will keep me in shape. I need to fit in more solo walks, or else drive over to the farmette and take one of our trail paths through it.
And yet, here I am, after breakfast...
... feeling sleepy on the couch with my pooch. And after dropping him off and picking up groceries for the week, feeling sleepy once again. Am I going to turn into one of those napping nanas, that dozes off in the middle of spirited conversations? Hmm... one more thing to learn about myself as I slide toward the middle of my seventies.
Pick up time!
The kids are lively, happy to go to Culver's after school, happy to come to the Edge, happy to pick up Henry. You know big Henry? The dog who still cannot be left alone for more than a minute, and who loves an evening on the couch as much as I do?
with so much love...
