October 26, 2004

Dogs Make Good Company

Today, being Tuesday, was one of my floating work days. Which means I get to set my own schedule and go where I either a) need or b) want to go. I get to decide if. I get to decide when. It's a flavor of my work life I'll miss someday if I no longer have such flexibility.

So when one client wasn't ready for me, my Tuesday morning freed up but my Friday morning became booked. I can live with that. I ran a bunch of miscellaneous errands from the list I'd carefully been compiling in my notebook for whenever I found time to do such errands. It was quite satisfying to mark them complete.

Potomac ViewThe day has been gorgeous weather-wise. So when I returned home from errands and one other quick client visit, I grabbed the leashes, loaded the dogs in the car, and headed for the river to take a walk.

I missed Detail a lot. He and Cosine were wonderful leash walkers. I could hold both leashes with one hand and they'd be out in front walking side by side. Oh sure, there would be some stop-and-sniff or stop-and-pee continuity issues, but for the most part they were easy. And Dudley took quite naturally to pack-walking. He'd follow the lead of the others and we'd all move along quite smoothly.

Potomac ViewWith just Cosine and Dudley, however, it's a different experience. Poor Cosi is so old now. She doesn't see well, she doesn't move well, and her balance isn't good. Dudley led the way, perking along ahead. One of my arms was stretched out in front of me holding his leash. Cosine was lagging behind and tottering along quite slowly, so my other arm was stretched out behind me holding her leash. Then every so often one or the other would cross the path or Dudley would move to the back and inevitably I'd end up twisted in their leashes. Obviously we are all out of practice.

Despite that, we all had fun. I enjoyed being outside in the crisp fall air observing the colors of the changing leaves, although these pictures don't do the scenery justice. It felt so good to be where we were, I burst into song as we walked. (Yes, it's a good thing there were not many people around.) My song of choice today was "All For the Best" from Godspell.

Thinking about The Boy I was.
Sweet missingness of him, Detail and Wendy.
Sweet enjoyment of free time.

It's all damned good.

4 comments:

Eyes for Lies said...

Sounds like a nice time :)

Pisces75 said...

Sounds like wonderful freedom to have in a job. That would be nice to have. Sounds like a great day.

Udge said...

A dog named "cosine"? How very, um, distinctive :-) Interesting blog, I'll be back.

Suzanne said...

Welcome, Udge. Your handle is interesting as well. :)

Cosine is the name she came to us with. The breeder's husband was an architect and he named all the puppies with terms used in his field. Their names are/were T-Square, Pochet, Cosine, Detail, Folio and Hatch.

We like the name Cosine, although folks usually misspell it co-sign. Like she's a check or something. :)