Déjà Vu

Setting Sun or Fried Egg? – Photo: L. Weikel

I had a shocking sense of déjà vu early this evening. I set out to take a walk and as I passed by our neighbor’s house, their newer dog, about a year old, nearly lost its mind barking at us. This is not uncommon, which is unfortunate, since we walk every day. (You’d think it would know us?)

The owner was outside and as we waved to each other I laughingly yelled (to be heard over the barking) how I sure hoped this dog wouldn’t find a hole in their fence. Of course, I was alluding to the incident I wrote about here, that occurred two years ago. This new dog is larger than the two that were involved in the prior incident, which makes its aggressive behavior a bit more worrisome – although those little dogs can be vicious!

No sooner had the words come out of my mouth than the dog rampaged along the perimeter and rammed its head against the fence, knocking a picket clean off the lateral supports. Luckily, Spartacus was on a short enough leash that I was able to scoop him into my arms before the larger dog got to us. Of course, the butterscotch colored pup (which piled on and added to the fracas last time) tried to join in again this time, but Spart was such a great boy – allowing me to hold him without struggling or taking his angst out on me.

I have to admit – it was a most unpleasant way to begin our walk.

Myriad of Shapes – Photo: L. Weikel

Nature’s Reward

It took us a good mile at least to settle down from the adrenaline rush we’d both experienced.

I rewarded Spartacus with an abundance of treats. He needed to know how much I appreciated what a good boy he’d been.

Meanwhile, I was treated to a spectacular display of artwork painted across the sky. And the artistry shifted and transformed before my eyes over and over. At one point, I stopped to take yet another photo – this time of the setting sun looking for the life of me like a fried egg, sunny side up – and was startled by a Red-tailed Hawk shrieking at me and taking off from a tree only about 15 feet from me. It flew high into a tree in the field beside the road, raucously crying out again and again. Then what I gathered was its mate (which I hadn’t seen up until that point) took off toward the cliffs. She (the first one I saw – I’m guessing at its gender) yelled at me a couple more times and then also headed toward the cliffs.

I’m sharing just a few of the photos from tonight’s walk. I heeded the message of the Hawks and allowed the sheer abundance of beauty and magic surrounding me to ease my mind, chill me out, and bring me back to myself.