Walks with Rumpy are wondrous things.
Walking out the front door leads to canine greetings from our neighbor dogs. Sometimes Rumpy sniffs the yard before heading toward the gate.
Once we’re on our way, there are amazing things to experience. Some things only Rumpy could love, such as the smell of another dog’s pee on a utility pole, or animal poop by the sidewalk.
Other things we see are of interest to both of us.
There was the morning I happened to notice that a homeless guy had made camp in some brush. He was just waking up as we walked by. We often see transients walking around the area. Some have places to go. Some don’t. Rumpy didn’t seem the least bit concerned, so we just kept on going.
Lizards are out and about now. One we saw recently had a red throat that expanded and contracted. He was quite stunning. Rumpy’s interest in lizards has more to do with the soft rustling in the dry leaves left from the fall.
Hills of ants pop up in the cracks of the sidewalks. Some have gotten quite large; they’re probably fire ants.
Squirrels play in our yard, seemingly ignoring us, then JUMP! and run up the nearest tree as soon as Rumpy closes in. We watch them run across power lines and leap from limb to limb with the greatest of ease.
And then there are the outdoor cats. There are quite a few of them.
We see the white cat most often. That little guy is often found hanging out in a paved lot. Sometimes he has a friend with them. Sometimes he’s alone. He gets around. Once we ran across him rolling in the grass.
There’s a big tux that Mary, the feral cat chronicler, calls Demon. He’s comfortable in his own skin. Once we saw him lying in our neighbor’s yard, and they have a dog! He roams around a rather large area. I’ve seen him as far as a couple of blocks away at Charlie’s shop. Charlie feeds the outdoor cats, and old Demon is one of the ones that frequents Charlie’s Cafe.
There’s another black and white cat whose markings remind me of a Holstein cow. He likes to hang out in my yard sometimes. So do the two gingers that are seen in the alley. One looks like he’s got a home. The other looks like a scrapper.
There’s a ginger and white long-haired cat that lives at the apartment house a block away. He rarely leaves the yard, and if he does, it’s just to cross the street. I feel bad for that one, because he seems to be out of his element outside.
And last, but not least, is miss dilute tortie who lives next door, but has claimed my yard as her own. She is a climber, and I’ve seen her perched on top of my house on more than one occasion.
There’s the sounds of birds, Air Force jets, and vehicles of all shapes and sizes.
There are smells. For instance, did you know it took less than a week for the dead possum in the road to go from dead, to smelling the rotting corpse a half block away, and then to no smell at all?
And then there are the differences in the way the air feels. From crisp and cold in the winter, to humid now. A few days are cool with soft breezes blowing my skin.
So much of my life I spend ripping and running from here to there. When Rumpy and I walk, I feel grounded, and actually aware of all that is around me.
What do you notice around you when you’re walking with your dog (or without)?
Dogpaddling Through Life 
I enjoy walking Maggie, as it helps get my thoughts in order. Most days I notice different things. Recently Hubby and I have started up a conversation with a property owner who is forever digging out roots in a long narrow flower bed.
He thinks he’s finished, then turns over a bit more of the soil only to discover another root from the hedge that had been taken down over 4 years ago.
Makes me wonder how long that hedge was there before taken down?
We don’t know, nor what kind of hedge it was either. This particular property had previously had a conservatory which the present owners had taken down by a professional company, thinking it would be quite straightforward. Apparently it had been built on 3 foot deep foundations, and a day’s work became two weeks with over 8 skips of rubble at £200 a time for disposal!
Wow!
Driving my wife to work this morning, we were interrupted by a duck, casually crossing Main st. Just sauntering across a 4 lane drag. I stopped, waited, and even flashed my lights (like he even cared). He looked up at me, as if to say, “Why thank you good sir – lovely day, is it not?” Considering the rain, my first thought was – yeah, lovely day for ducks!
Those encounters lead me to believe that perhaps we humans got it all wrong, and life is meant to be spent the way of the leisurely duck, instead of the rat race we created.
Thanks for inviting me to a walk with you Rumpy, that was great to see all things around you with your eyes. Maybe Charlie’s Cafe should be renamed in Charlies Ca(T)fe? I mostly see people around me and horses and cows… oh and that crazy Malinois girl what barks at me like crazy…
Max and Sarah bark at me too. They don’t seem to like me very much, but I don’t know why, because I never did anything to them!
What a lovely walk I had with you and Rumpy..I cannot imagine seeing stray cats here…seems to be that they are a rarity and I am thankful for that..when I walk the dogs here it is a sensory delight too..roos and their poo which is always a ‘leave that ewww ‘ and ‘when is say do you want a poop I mean have one Forrest not eat one’ the roos themselves have a scent that drives Forrest wild..and the birds are always flying everywhere in the afternoons diving in to what’s left of our ever lowering dam..and if a bird has dropped a yabby (crawdaddy I think you guys call them) from the dam then Forrest is in heaven..Doc prefers sniffing rabbit burrows which in summer I do not allo as snakes like them..snakes leave trails and poop too..very similar to bird poo the way they poop..so our walks are a bit different but the same in that we get grounded and the dogs get high on life 🙂 xx
We do have those things. The area we walk in used to be a business area, but now there’s a fenced off concrete slab that belongs to the county, and some abandoned buildings. There are possums and raccoons, most likely finding homes around those old buildings.
Makes for such fun for all when a little critter does a runner..no matter what side of the globe it is so good to get those smells 🙂
I saw your Gravatar on a friends site and thought, “I need to find out what’s new”. Sorry for not visiting. Sounds like a pretty animated neighbourhood. I used to really love walking with Bud. We had one of those expanding leases for weekends when it was busy at the lake. He had to say hello to everyone. But weekdays we were footloose and fancy free. He never got too far ahead and always looked back to see were I was. It was good exercise for mom, which I miss and more importantly need, HA. Cheers Boomdee
That’s another benefit to walking Rumpy. I do get my workout!
OMP! This is so cool. I’ve been out a bit here and there. Still a little too cold for me these days. But I tell you what. I think Houdini the puppy here needs to take a walk outside…. a long walk. Of course I’ll send him chaperoned. Make he can get out some of his energy. You think? XOXO – Bacon
Long walks are always fun for pups!
I love walking my Borrow Dog Ollie. Firstly I cannot help but smile when I am with him – he is always so happy to see me & so overjoyed to be on a walk. He stops & sniffs, so I look at people’s houses, dreaming of the types of things I want in my house one day, we say hello to all the dogs in their yards, Ollie even teases the new puppy sitting on his verandah watching as we go by, he always pees extra long on that fence. I keep an eye out for cats to fuss over & Ollie eats every scrap of digestible material he finds. In the park Ollie greets other dogs, than wanders away as I get in as many pats as I can. We talk, he shows off & we meet our neighbours. The Deputy Premier of our state even gave us a tray of fruit once. Because I am responsible for Ollie, I stay in the moment, aware of all around us & most especially my love for him. Walking Ollie is always a blessing.
Now see, I think it’s the dogs that do that for us. If I was alone, I’d have that darn phone out.
It depends on who I am walking. If it’s Dakota, he doesn’t seem to be too interested in much, other than being outside. If we happen to pass someone he knows, he keeps going. If he doesn’t recognize them, he’ll try to sniff at them. He loves the neighborhood kids and they love to pet him. I take him almost every day to go pick the kids up from school, and a lot of them line up to pet him (after asking nicely if they can). He loves it. He’s pretty good on walks, there’s very little that distracts him. Although as we walked through the woods yesterday, something went running through the underbrush that he took an interest in.
Missy walks with her nose in the air, sniffing everything. She’s more interested in how things smell rather than how they look or sound.
Abby, our GSD on the other hand, is partially blind so she’s always on guard and listening to everything. As a result everything manages to catch her attention. With her I have to use a head harness to keep her on track.
This morning we came across one of Charlie’s ferals. Rumpy wanted to introduce himself, but that cat was having none of that, so we crossed the street and gave feral kitty a wide berth.
Walking is centering and reconnecting. Dog conversing and teaching along the way. We like to listen to the birds early in the morning before many are out making noise. Paw waves – sunny we are headed to run with dog friends. Have a great weekend
Enjoy yourself! And smiles sent back at ya!
We walk almost daily up here in the mountains and we notice that peace sounds great! But it must be wondrous for a dog with all his senses! 🙂
There is much to experience in the city too!
true! 🙂
I do not have a dog at the moment but I found how friendly and happy to talk to you people are when you have a dog with you!
It’s true! I wouldn’t normally talk to strangers when alone, but do when Rumpy’s with me.
🙂 xxx
I love it when we take Speedy out…I know crazy bunny lady and her rabbit on a harness and lead,but he loves it,seeing the wild ponies,the sheep and the odd cow,the wild bunnies, and dog walkers and listening to all the birds,its just wonderful.and then watch Speedy exploring all the smells of the wild bunnies and leaving his own messages,it really is wonderful,xx Rachel
It is a totally different experience than walking alone, isn’t it?
it really is,xx
I’m jealous of all of the things you. Living in NYC is a while different matter. I’ve never seen a stray cat or dog. Walking with BJ is sometimes trying.g He stops to sniff everything, not just pee and poop. Walk four sniffs, stop. Walk from steps, sniff. And so it goes during our walk.
There are a few places in the neighborhood that EVERY dog that walks by sniff. I have to keep an eye on him because he’ll all the garbage. People in NY are pigs. Rather than walk a few steps to the garbage can when you can the just throw it on the street.
Sniffing is fun for dogs. Rumpy has a few ‘must-sniff’ spots we have to hit. And trust me, if he wants to sniff, we stop and sniff, because he’s too strong for me to pull.
We just love it when we go for walks with Mom. Phantom doesn’t go very far but he sure does enjoy all the sniffs he can find. Ciara and Lightning go for long walks. Lightning never misses a biker, skateboarder, rollerblader, etc. He is very much afraid of them. Ciara loves to greet anyone and everyone she sees on her walks. She too likes to find the tiny lizards in the brush and pounce on them:)
Woos – Phantom, Ciara, and Lightning
Do you all walk together or separate?
Sounds like our kind of neighborhood, with all those sights and smells. wag wag 🙂
Since we usually walk in the woods there are always new things to see and the dogs to smell. I just love being outside in nature. Last time with Mica a fox shot out just above here and took off, she only made it about 10 ft. Before it was totally gone:)
Millie and Pearl have enjoyed their virtual walk with Rumpy, though they were frustrated at not being able to chase the cats! When I take them for a walk, I notice how big and spacious my surroundings are after being up close to a little computer screen for most of the day.
Morning walks are almost quiet ones, it’s early. Only birds, maybe a car or two. Evening walks are the full deal, with people, strollers, dogs, everything. It gives Sam at the opportunity to practice his neighborhood concierge duties. 🙂
Thank you ver much for showing us those beautiful natures in your neighborhood!!! Miss dilute tortie is funny! She seems to enjoy being on the top of your house as if it’s her place!
When I used to walk with my Kevin, he showed me many new streets that I didn’t recognise and of course I was lost but then, he lead me to go back home. That was one of dogs great gifts that they never forget where their homes are!
Rumpy is the opposite in that he takes the same route each time.
The ants are probably crazy Caribbean ants. They live in the cement. Fire ants seems to like the grass. Most of the salamanders in South Florida have the red expanding neck. The dead possums are usually done in by the turkey vultures. They are gross and voracious. Happily, we see few cats. I think it is irresponsible to leave cats or dogs outside to fend for themselves.
The beagle notices all kinds of things, especially if he thinks they’re edible! Here’s how he describes walking with me:
http://livingtheseasons.com/2015/02/04/a-walk-with-mom/
Nancy
thanks for sharing your walk with us Rumpy, glad I stopped by. Did you meet any catty pals along the way?
PS: Mr. Cheddar is working on a book right now, he’s wondering if you might want to review it from a canine perspective??? Will keep you posted. 🙂