The first arrival of cold weather coupled with the necessity of donning winter clothing always causes me to reconsider the habit of taking a walk every day. Surely I could take a break from it, except that the Kelpies would have something to say about that, and I would miss the intimate visit with the prairie landscape that only a walk can present.
Three of my kelpies are of advanced age. When I head out for a walk, the very eldest dog, who is deaf and sleeps very soundly is likely to miss that anything is happening at all. The eldest female will join us at the door, half excited for the trek about to happen, yet every time the door swings open and the other dogs pour out of it, she holds back, sniffs and gets a feel for just how cold it is. Nine times out of ten she retreats and makes her way to the office window where she watches as we walk out of the yard. The third elder still acts like an athlete and holds his own, running at the lead of the pack every morning and again in the evening.
I have been taking walks amidst the prairie land since my youth. Even though I occasionally berate the idea of having to go for a walk in the cold, upon every return from said venture, cold weather or warm, I feel spiritually and physically satisfied that I went, as do the Kelpies. There will come a day when I do not have a dog at my side to walk with or I do not take walks anymore and perhaps because of my own advancing age I wonder more often and more often now how that will be.
