Summer On The Property Has Arrived

You never know exactly what weather you'll have at the end of May in Iowa, but this past week has been hot and humid. That's why I took the dogs for an off-leash walk first thing in the morning - I could wear long pants, spray for bigs, and get pictures with sun and shadows in places I normally don't. 

Ok, that's part of the reason we went early that morning. The other part was that we went outside and the boys decided they wanted to take off to the other side of the small pond and chase things. They decided on the timing of the event, not me.

Cooper has been over here before, but not off leash. He was stretching his big-boy freedom by chasing frogs and squashing crawfish mud towers. The reflections on the still water that morning distracted me numerous times, but not enough that he actually made it all the way into the water.

The Diesel dog, on the other hand, has no such reservations. He's mostly black lab, so when the water calls, he must go. But also being a lab, he can shake the water off in a matter of minutes,

Cooper, even with his short little Dachshund legs, is almost as fast as Diesel. It's so much fun to watch his face light up when he sees you and come barreling at you at top speed. Usually he goes right on past out of reach, but that's beside the point.

The big pond is breathtaking in the morning. The water is often crystal clear, so the reflection is absolutely perfect. This only works in summer - it's too brown with no leaves in winter and spring, and the trees change colors at different times and rates in fall. The next three months will look just like this in varying shades of green.

It's especially breathtaking when two black blurs go by. A big black blur, then a little black blur right behind him. This happened, repeatedly. Wherever Diesel goes, Cooper goes. Even at top speed, which is amazing with short little legs.

Eventually it got a little too warm to be comfortable, so we left the beaver den end of the big pond and trekked back to the house. Diesel needs to know exactly where I am at any given moment, so he looked back frequently to make sure we were headed in the same direction. We were.

And then we all crashed. They wouldn't even let me dry them off - so I spread the towel on the floor and let them do it themselves. Not long after this picture, they were curled up together, sound asleep. I wasn't far behind them. Enjoying the beauty of God's handiwork is exhausting, apparently.