For the second time a Cooper’s hawk flies right in front of me. Yesterday it appeared in town and today it comes out of the woods, and crosses in front of Lupine and I. We are up in the mountains again in no time Lupine is sniffing the ground all the way down the hill to the ravine below. Driving up the road from where I live to a very busy intersection I hear a car honk and then see a rabbit running through the road to get to a curb. The rabbit finally makes it to the side of the road as we cross over to the highway that will take us up in into the mountain and through the village of Canada de los Alamos. The village it a mix of Hispanics and hippies and ranges from run down to older but charming cedar siding houses with an old white church with a slightly tilted steeple. The charm of this kind of village does not quite hold the same appeal as it did ten years ago after living in a small town down south where the line between neighbor and just not welcome was very thin, and the state of mind was often not easy to feel at home in. As in any small town there is also the abiding sincerity of those who have lived there well with a Christian approach to how to treat others and emitting kindness. But I could see it would easy to feel an outside in this village. As we drove through to the forest the sky is a cool winter blue and the air like mountain water. Lupine jumps out of the car and is filled with excitement with the smells, the wind sliding through the pine needles. There is a steep rutted trail with horse tracks leading down to our first plateau and she revels in everything she can lace her nose over in a entwined reverie of leaf, of fur passing over the branches and the quiet of the morning. She perks up at something in the distance and later on in the walk the attention is so riveted that I shiver a bit. We do not walk much further and as she becomes eager to race up the hill, I do the same. I have paid attention to her alert moments and sometimes her circling back rather then walking on in a particular direction. One time Lupine spotted a cat up on a hill before I did and she circled my feet and whined and I saw the cat when I looked up and another was a bear a bit further up the trail with that same sharp gaze and primed body. This time I just simply turn around as she high tails it up the trail and we drive further to other places up the rocky road. Each time a car goes by and someone makes contact with us Lupine snarls and barks. Unless they know her name and are respectful of mine she gives them a going to test you out buddy warning. Today is a good day for her, she does not want to get out of the car at the house but wants to travel and travel in the car. At the store I buy her some treats and bring home the makings for soup with the turkey broth we were saving from out festive meal. Loving her is easy even with all her antics and it always has been even in our most challenging times with her enormous prey drive and her old-yeller on rabies look when she sees another dog on a leash.
I am on strike about meds yesterday and this morning with just a dose of a couple of the meds she is supposed to take, and I am looking around for options. But soon as we hit the outdoors the rather glum energy perks up with the expectation of new adventure. I take her to her favorite spot on the campus where there are many critters and smells. We roam around as she tucks her nose under a huge metal trash container where bunnies often duck and cover. I am happy to see her energized. I drive her around to some other small places so she can check out the world this morning. She needs her own driver’s license.
hearthsite 