Where Did the Weekend Go?
“Nothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness.”
~ André Gide,L’immoraliste
Today was another action packed day. Well, maybe not so much action, but busy anyway.
I was out of bread this morning so I baked a loaf and did a load of laundry. Then went to church for two hours. There’s a women’s bible study before the service but it’s mainly a time to catch up on everyone’s life with about 10 minutes spent on the lesson.
When I got home from church, I got in my outdoor clothes, loaded my ski and skijoring gear and went to the park again where the Skijor club was putting on another class. I think because the session didn’t start until 1:00 PM, when it was 13 above, more people showed up with their dogs.
The instructor brought a 7 month old German shorthair pointer, greyhound mix, imported from Norway, specially bred for skijoring, from a line of international champions and worth $8000. The dog had an interesting way of moving that I can imagine will be very fast once he gets it down.
The rest of us were a hodge podge of breeds. There were lines attached to posts to work on doing the “line out”.
And tires and other devices to get the dogs used to pulling something.
We spent more time on passing by each other, which Java still stinks at. After the seminar, Java and I took a walk on the ski trail, which is an archery range during the non-winter months. I didn’t ski with Java because the trails were so icy. A young, experienced skijorer wiped out yesterday and landed on her forehead and had her face dragged across the icy paths. Not good. However, she still showed up again today with her dogs.
The trail at this park is not especially scenic but it’s nice and wide and mainly dog people are on it so I think I’ll come back with Java after we’ve worked on a few things at home. I was going to take photos of Java doing a “line out’ in the hallway in the house, but she was pretty confused so we’ll have to work on it more before I’ll be hands-free enough to take a photo.
I also rigged up Java’s leash to I can give her something to pull against but also have more control to steer her and pull her head up when she stops to sniff at something. We’ll get this eventually.
And another load of laundry, dusting, vacuuming, washing dishes…fueled by…
Your new sport looks very interesting! How is your body doing? You must have recovered to be doing all this. What troopers you two are. Great shot of the sunset too!
In the parks closer to the city than my house, there’s a huge movement to limit access to all sorts of groups. In fact, some parks are off-limits even to people.
As “they” decide which parks should be exclusive to which groups, they do surveys of who is using them.
The one conclusion reached at every single park is that dog owners are the number one users and there’s no seasonality to their use. They come out rain, shine, snow, or sleet. Apparently, for parts of the winter, the surveyers find almost 100% dog owners on the trails.
I think that you’re seeing the same thing. Dogs get you out there, no matter what!
Glad you’re having such fun with skijoring!
A perfect weekend for you and Java. Your pics are great.
Have a great week dear one!!!
Sounds like a very busy, yet fulfilling weekend. I can’t wait to hear more about Java’s training.
Lori – I don’t hurt while I’m out doing stuff, only later does it all catch up to me. My shoulder hurts pretty bad. I can tell exactly when the Ibuprofen’s time has run out.
KB – That’s interesting. I can believe the dog people are the biggest users but when you get closer in to the cities, surprisingly, we are treated like the enemy of the parks and put on trails where we will do the least amount of damage. That can mean that we are only allowed on bike trails which is horrible because you have high speed bikes racing past you all the time. Or sometimes horse trails, which is hard on the person walking as the ground is sandy or uneven. The best hiking trails in many parks are off limits unless, like many people, you just ignore the rules.
Gosh that looks like so much fun…and Java is learning a little (the coffee a the end looks good too)
Hey, I ended up on the HC Horse Trail on Sunday while I was snow shoeing.
Sounds like a full day to me.
I school my horses outside at a local part even in rainy weather. Then it’s usually me and the dog owners out there regardless doing stuff with their dogs so it looks like what those surveys said is true here as well.
That looks like a lot of fun, but COLD! I would probably cry if I had to go out when it was 13 degrees out. I felt extreme this weekend at an agility trial when it was in the mid-20’s – and even then the trial was in an indoor horse arena, which was unheated but at least protected from the wind.
Nice weather to be outside! You are coming along..Java will get it all one of these days..you make a great team! Are you still doing the PT for your shoulder..I just finished but they encouraged me to keep doing all my exercises for a complete recovery and less likely hood of bursitis setting in again right away. Keep your elbows tucked in!! 🙂
Lynn – It is fun but will be a lot more fun when I get past all this hard training stuff. I just want to ski!
Rising Rainbow- Thanks for stopping by! I love the way my animals get me outside doing things.
Dog Geek – Oh, I know you are pretty tough. You just put more layers on. It’s kind of hard to understand what people are saying though when they are talking into their face masks.
Far Side – I’m learning a lot about dog training, which is fun. I quit going to PT, with the intention of doing the exercises at home but haven’t done them recently. After falling on the ice and trying to break my fall with my bad arm and shoulder, I’m in more pain now than I was initially. It hurts to even tear open an envelope. But when I’m outside doing something I enjoy, I don’t notice the pain. It’s more a problem during the week, when I’m sitting at a desk all day.