Along the river

Minnie has gotten lazy with her daily walks.  While she barks with delight when she sees me get ready for our 5pm drive to the unfinished subdivision where I walk the dogs, she dislikes walking the entire 3.5-mile loop now.  Ever since my return from Alaska, she has fought me when she walks more than 1.5 miles.  Kevin didn't walk the remaining two dogs during my entire absence and Minnie got out of shape in those six weeks I was away.  Minnie is my "Fat Girl" and needs the exercise, so I seldom relent when it comes to walking her.  She slows me down and she pants the entire time, but I want to make sure she gets her daily walk in with the others.

Minnie is a smart dog. She's learned to turn around and walk back to the truck and wait for me to return with the other dogs.  She has memorized the route. She waits patiently by the truck for us to return and is always happy to see us. Yesterday she got out of the truck to pee and then stayed by the truck.  She didn't even walk around the block.  The dogs and I managed a meager 1.4 miles without her, walking a short loop nearby rather than the entire 3.4-mile loop.  I didn't want her to be outside where coyotes could overtake her and thus cut my usual walking route in half.  I can't keep on appeasing Minnie, though.

So, to avoid another trick by Minnie today, I opted to take the dogs to the river and walk the bed for as long as I could.  I hadn't taken the dogs here since earlier in the winter, and Sammy managed the 3-mile walk.  Walking along the river thus put me in a melancholy mood.  I miss Sammy's gentle demeanor, his steady, quiet gaze, his long, loud howl whenever he heard a siren within a mile's range.  His howl would get the other four dogs to howl in unison, and sometimes the neighborhood dogs would join in. His voice is forever silent now.

I was curious to see how low the river would be.  Our monsoon hasn't been a good one this year and it officially ends on September 30th.  No rain is expected in the ten-day forecast. As expected, the riverbed is dry enough to be walked far enough to make a 3.4-mile out-and-back walk, replicating the distance I normally walk with the dogs after work.  The sand in the tributary wash where we walk to get to the river was caked dry and splitting. Minnie was getting tired, contemplated going back on her own, but completed the walk. There were pockets of water for the dogs to drink out of, so being thirsty was not a problem.

It was late in the afternoon when we started walking.  The wild grasses that grow along and near the river are currently over three feet tall. The county is STILL working on repairing the bridge overhead. Progress is slow with the workers, as this bridge has been closed to one lane for almost a year.

The riverbed was mostly smooth, and a shallow layer of dead ash and cottonwood leaves are starting to blanket the bed.  I am not ready to depart from summer just yet. I spotted three raptors and perhaps two were the same bird.  Migrating eagles and hawks use the riverbed for nourishment along their flight south. It's so pretty under the canopies this time of year.

I passed one young couple with a small child.  The father picked up the boy when he saw the dogs, and I made a detour up and over the river to give the couple some space.  My dogs don't mind people and small children, but other people may not know that. The dogs continued their romp until we got to the bamboo grove at the 1.7-mile mark.  Water was resurfacing here and dogs were sinking into the wet sand.  We returned the way we came.