I will be forgiven tonight for writing a little “mad”. A persistent headcold has returned and all day at work I was taking Dayquil to keep me “productive”. However, I coughed less frequently but more violently — and my head swam each time.
Once back at home, both Comet and Dexter were very insistent on an immediate walk and I obliged. We walked up to the open preserve area at the northern end of my block. For whatever reason, I tend to walk the neighborhood counterclockwise on our evening walk and the opposite in the mornings.
Habits? Or “Things one notices when medicated” , the title of my future novella.
Tonight Dexter seemed more distracted than normal; he wanted to go left, I wanted him to go right. He buried his nose at the base of a bush, an electrical box, a telephone pole and a neighbor’s emptied trash can (today was trash pickup). However this morning one of my neighbors was working at front of his property. He greeted the dogs as we walked, asking to bribe them into helping move dirt. Routinely, Dexter cannot wait to greet a person we encounter on the walk; Comet is generally all business. This morning, Comet was the greeter and Dexter was ambivalent.
I think Dexter must have been distracted. He often listens for gophers or rabbits and tries to dig out and jam his nose into the burrow. Tonight, not 10 feet from him, while he was nose-deep in a wild daisy clump, a rabbit dashed out and across the trail, disappearing into the brambles. I think Comet noticed but didn’t get excited; it could have been that he was waiting for Dexter. Or it could be that in place of sleeping all day, these two are off on some adventure. Or perhaps the DayQuil is giving me hallucinations. And the dogs are just along for the walk.
It's a Dog's Life 