i think I am getting stoopider as I spend more time with little girls and babies and talk littlegirlbabytalk.   Everything becomes cute and smiley and sunshiney, things are anthropomorphised and make happy squeals, bags are filled with unicorns and silliness and lullabies…conversations devolve, higher-brain functions cease, political alliances fade away, the shoulders of giants droop as they reach for soft blankies.   I become Lennie Small.

Naturally, this applies to Kila too.   For years she was “The Sweetest Dog“, which during busy times and hands full of children became “Sweetness“, which during busier times and hands fuller of children was abbreviated to “Swedish“.   It makes sense to me, and to Kila.   She knows when I say “hi Swedish” I’m really asking her if she is ready to go out for a run.   Or when I say “hi Fuzzy” and call her fuzzalicious cause it rhymes with swedish that we are singing our own nursery rhymes.

A few weeks ago, after riding past it for years, I spotted an unsecured hose and spigot in the grassy play area below the church at the end of our neighborhood.   Its been a boon to summer dog rides, enabling us to top off the dog after her first frantic mile of sprinting.   Water is everywhere in suburbia, if you look carefully, and trespass responsibly.   From there we’ll sometimes spin the bike trailer over to get G at her daycare, or more often ride into the desert behind the fire station.

Last night Kila spotted what I think was a harris hawk sitting on top of a No Parking sign at the pavement’s end.   She stared up at it, it stared down at her, she raised her hair, it raised its wings.   This lasted maybe 5 seconds, which was about 4 seconds longer than I’d have expected.   Even small raptors look pretty big when you are spitting distance from them.

We wandered and ambled about the desert while she nubby-nosed into all the things that needed nosing.   Rides home have of late offered a new adventure: I work on riding the curb of the sidewalk while holding the leash and usually a decent buzz.   Its hard on me to practice one handed and with a constant tug to the left or the right, its hard on Kila to set a cadence when my loss of balance leads to her getting yanked from the side.   But its been working for us, what better way to practice than under adverse conditions?   I think weighting forward onto the nose is the trick to recovering when I start to wobble.   It was working when I was riding the railroad ties at Rancho – no leash and pull to the side, but a good buzz and grassy volcanic rock made it about an even trade.

Runzeheunding always offers something new, something familiar, and something special.