Well, There Goes My Motivation

It seems that I have been lacking in motivation lately, motivation for many things.  

I get home from work and try to do something productive, maybe weed the garden, clean something in the house, etc. I tell myself that later on in the evening when things cool off, I should walk.  It's good for me, good for the dogs, yada yada.

Mostly, though, by the time it is cool enough to not melt me, I am exhausted.  My back muscles are still not as strong as they could be and it is hard to walk at the end of a long day. 

Last night, I kicked myself for being so lazy, convinced myself I could do it and the dogs and I headed off for a long over due walk.

Boyd made a comment as I walked by, something about how sad it is that my sisters don't come walking any more.  It sure is SISTERS!   I could have used your help last night.

We almost made it to Duck, No Duck and I was telling myself that I would not only make it once, but that I would turn around and go as far as I could for a second round and I could turn back if I couldn't make two full times up and back.   

Next thing I know I am startled out of my positive self talk by the sound of growling, hissing, and who knows how to describe it but a horrendous trauma noise.   I look up to see my Golden Retriever jumping back from something in the tall weeds.  I can't tell what it is and I have to admit I was starting to prepare to dial 911 (aka Boyd).   After a few seconds, I see a black and white tail appear above the weeds and I realize it is only a skunk.  Immediately, my dog starts wiping her face with her paws and then rolls in the dirt.  

All of this commotion attracts the attention of the Border Collie who had been behind us sniffing out something at Frog Pond.  He comes on a full run.   I am imploring him to stop as he speeds by me to go save the day.   He manages to grab the skunk and administer his death shake.  He has killed more than one skunk in his day using this method.  This time, however, either the skunk was too larger or he was too overcome with the green spray on his face, because he dropped the skunk.   The skunk did seem dazed and it took it a minute to leave the scene, but leave it did.   At this point, Buddy is frantically looking for a way to get the stuff off his face.  He rolls in the weeds and then does something that he never does, he went under the fence and jumped into Duck, No Duck.  Duck, No Duck is nothing more than a stagnant cesspool of water that sometimes does and sometimes doesn't have duck sitting on it.  Buddy never crosses the fence boundary, but he did this time.  He eventually came back to our side and followed Jasmine and I who were already making tracks to the river.   Buddy would walk about 10 steps and drop suddenly in the dirt and roll.  He repeated this over and over until we were close enough to the river that he left us behind and high-tailed it in for a bath.

This is what he looked like after his swim and muddy roll in the dirt on the bank.

 Jasmine was basically clean and not too smelly.  It's the same story every time.  She finds and stirs up the skunk, Buddy comes in and gets the worse end of the deal.  His choice though.  Stinky dog!

So much for convincing myself that walking is good for my health.