Enjoyed the rhythm of a hike in what purports to be spring but which one must take on faith given the temperatures and lack of greenery. I’d rather I’d gone off trail and up the hill to the old pioneer cemetery; it always cheers me to go to see the graves both because they are like time capsules of a better era and because it halts all self-pity since you see the alternative.
Instead I trod the familiar path but caught a less than familiar sight: two deer feeding just ten feet off the path. Only their white-starch'd tails gave them away. They stared at me, unmoving, until I was even with them and then they resumed their eating, convinced that someone had told me, “move along ‘bub, nothing to see here”. Their coats perfectly matched the surrounding leafless trees. The thought occurred that Heaven would be a place where we will be in our element at last, perfectly matched to our surroundings, no longer sticking out as sinners amid these animal saints, who are always where they are supposed to be, always doing what they should be doing. Our dog rattles his legs against the hardwood floors when he’s dreaming. I think it’s funny that all animals dream. Perhaps it’s a “species prejudice” (they have issues too!) but I figure they have less call for dreaming than humans. My understanding is that dreams help resolve the conflicts of the day, help tie things up for purposes of BMH (“Better Mental Health”). So naturally I’m wondering what my dog is dreaming about. Near as I can tell, he sleeps the whole day so there’s not much to resolve. I wonder if he has repressed memory syndrome concerning a painful early childhood incident of an absentee father or having a squirrel picked before him in some sporting event.
The river is so high today they closed the trail for the first time I can recall. I made an executive decision to ignore the yellow tape and sign that said “High Water”. I rationalized it by figuring I’m a taxpayer, I paid for this trail, and that if they asked what I was doing I’d say, “don’t worry, I can swim.” I’m sure it was all about liability. When you have a lawyer around every corner, you have to close things for no real reason and ignoring the sign was my way of absolving them from responsibility without having to sign anything. A two-fer: good for them and good for me. I figured I’d have the trail to myself but came across a large group of fellow transgressors.
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