Yesterday was a perfect fall day in New England. 65 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and all the trees in the park are practically glowing in the sun with brilliant shades of reds, yellow and burnt orange color. Sampson and his crew stop to meet and greet all the dogs. They are an odd looking group together, a half shaved, black Labrador (he’s got big shaved spots on him because of his multiple surgeries), our little ones and great big Sampson. The park is crowded, lots of kids, dogs and people having cook outs and there’s even a wedding going in some other area of the park.
Sampson is on his second walk of the day and he is motoring. He’s jogging off to explore the whole park while we’re trying to keep an eye on our little one who’s flying through the wooded areas and occasionally jumping into the muddy stream. Sampson will come when he’s called or at least stop and wait for us to catch up. Our little one just does a “fly by” when she is called. “Zoom - I heard you, here I am, gotta go.”
We spend a good part of the afternoon at the park and when we get home, it looks like Sampson has written some checks his body can’t cash. He wants a hip massage, to which we add a couple of buffered aspirin. After 30 minutes of massage and the aspirin kicking in, he is much more comfortable.
Everyone gets supper a little early because Keeway is claiming to be near death from starvation. He is quickly joined by a chorus of everyone else in our pack who obviously feel that if the Lab may die of starvation, there’s good chance they will too. Big dogs in the kitchen, little dogs in the living room and suddenly the house is filled with the sound of hungry dogs wolfing down kibble. Sampson is obviously feeling much better as he arrives at his food bowl even before Keeway, not an easy feet!
Desert arrives in the form of Flint River Ranch dog cookies and now everyone is in the mood for a short nap. After a while we head out for our third walk of the day, a short “around the block” walk. Cheryle has the two little ones in the lead, I have Sampson and Keeway. For some reason, Sampson does not do any sniffing; he is pulling hard to stay right behind Cheryle, staying on her six for the whole walk. Maybe he’s thinking that he better keep an eye on his massage therapist. But hey, I’m just guessing.
Tomorrow we’ll be going on our walk very early, as I have to be in work early for a board meeting. The economy is coming un-hinged like no one has ever seen before and our CEO wants all hand on deck to make sure that all his VP’s have their plans and backup plans to overcome anything that might happen. Our company makes very sophisticated software for very sophisticated medical devices, so while we’re as insulated as a company can be from the brunt of the meltdown, even we are seeing very ominous signs.
Be safe.
