It’s day four of remarkable weather. What could be better than to celebrate with approved outdoor activities?
Three friends and I started the day by letting the dogs run wild. Imagine the joy-filled romping of two Golden Retrievers, one Bernese Mountain Dog, three Irish Setters, two Yellow Labs. Four of them are under a year of age—and one of those four is only four months old.
They wrestled and rolled all over each other. They carried around sticks—sometimes two dogs on the same stick. They dug up stones, flinging dirt with wild abandon. They played chase–in groups of two, or three or four. They galloped down to the pond, jumped in, raced back, and jumped back again.
Between supervising the dogs, we friends did manage to chat and catch up. It’s a bit of a scattered conversation, but it’s to be expected and we all take that in stride.
After two and a half hours, the dogs are finally starting to tire. Yellow dogs have turned to black with all their wet bodies rolling in leaves and dirt. (My black dog was just as filthy. I just didn’t realize it until I put her in the tub after getting home. After running the water down her legs and should-have-been-white feet for ten minutes, the mud finally stopped pouring off her!)
Again, I am struck by how much the dogs get the silver lining of the whole COVID socially distancing thing. But I’m claiming my time with friends today as my silver lining, too!