A Dog Day Of Fall

On the riverbank under a giant oak.

            The wind is steady, at sixteen miles per hours, and out of the west today.  More importantly, the air is dry, remarkably warm at seventy degrees, and autumn is upon us.  Leaves fall regularly now.  They sail twice; first from the sky, and then on the water’s strong currents; ever pushing onward and Southerly.

            I’ve been on the verge of a cold, but I always joke and tell myself, “I don’t do colds.”  I’ve gotten a couple of nights of good sleep, drank a lot of water, and clicked a few outdoor things off my “to-do” list before things freeze and the snow flies.  I’m hoping that will “hold the cold at bay.”  I figured I’d take an hour this afternoon to drive west, hike in with the dogs, and sit on the bank of one of my favorite rivers.

Kati (foreground) and Kora

            I have a lot of favorite bodies of moving water, each for different reasons.  This is one of my favorites because it’s close, and runs through as wild of country as you’ll find in Illinois.  Today the sky is as blue as it can get, as the sun begins to set over the tree tops on the opposite bank.  Shadows are beginning to extend over me.  Our smaller, two year old dog, Kora, sits tight beside me.  Sometimes she can’t get close enough.  Growls rumble in her throat as two friendly kayakers paddle by.  She is ever alert.  Our larger dog Kati, now a month off from being thirteen years old, lays off to the side.  At first she was in the mud, but I managed to coax her back into the more spongy ground.  She enjoys watching across the water, and smelling the scents upon the breeze.  Both are almost always in picture-perfect poses whether I can ever capture them with my camera or not.  They’re stately, and I like that.

            I don’t know how many more times I can bring Kati out on adventures, but I’ll continue to for as long as possible.  She’s been with me on countless of them over the years, since the days when I first started exploring Winnebago County’s natural areas.  Kora picks up where Kati leaves off.  She’s a good “pup,” and although she could be refined a bit, that will come in time when I can work more one on one with her.  Right now I hate to take her too much without Kati.  Kati still wants to be a part of the action, albeit at a slower pace, and Kora sometimes follows her more than she listens to me.  They’re good companions for the woods though, and I’m glad I have them here beside me on this beautiful, fall day.

            See you along The Way…