Dog walks. More than just poop-ertunities.

Is there anything better than a long walk with your dog?  In a word, no.  Today Roxy & I suited up and headed outside for about 3 miles of fall-walk-bliss.  At the end of long school day, I come home exhausted & stressed out from dealing with mountains of paperwork and attitudes from adolescents and adults alike.  Sure, it'd be easy to collapse onto the couch and into a sweet reverie of catatonia in front of Oprah or Law and Order re-runs.  And I won't lie...every once in a while, I do need that kind of afternoon.  But most of the time, the best medicine for that dull headache and general fog I'm in is to put on my sneakers and head out with the pup.  Roxy needs the exercise and so do I.  But it goes beyond exercise.  Roxy LOVES her walks.  She gets excited the second I get home, anxiously waiting for me to change.  She starts to whimper as I lace up my sneakers.  By the time I come downstairs she's pacing back and forth by the door.  On the way we enjoy all the small critters Woodbourne has to offer; squirrels, birds, the occasional stray cat, and every once in a while a few deer.  The foliage has been really nice but is slowly starting to disappear- I'll miss that once it's gone.  We marvel at the simple beauty of nature (yes even in Woodbourne lol).  We mostly just enjoy being together.  Roxy gives me so much love.  There's something almost divine about the unconditional love we can receive from animals.  I feel so blessed to have both Roxy and Riley in my life.  So many times, we walk by houses with dogs tied up or dogs shut up inside who bark like crazy to get out.  All these dogs in our neighborhood yet so few people out walking.  Sad.
Here are some photos from our jaunt this afternoon:  

Let's Go!

Pretty red tree on Kahn Street.

Taking a breather for a minute.

On the move.

Rolling in goose hair next to the Michigan Street pond

Hey, where'd the geese go?

If you have dogs, please get them out for walks.  They need the exercise, it's a good opportunity to work on obedience, get some fresh air, and hey you might even find yourself writing a mushy post about how much you love it!