Up and down the hill

It was dark when we started this walk.  The moon was high and stars were out and the pups and I were a little spooked. We had been walking closer to daylight. Or we had walked with DH. We were on our own this day and more aware, or thought we were.

A block from the park we flushed a big yellow alley cat out of the grass alongside the woods. [Some might call it a mountain lion, but it was a cat.] The startled dogs lunged after him and pulled me along behind for more than a few steps. The cat ran into the woods and we could see him in a small clearing, watching us watching him.

We continued our walk when another creature came lumbering up out of the creek. This was our second sighting of a skunk this summer (actually the second in a week) I could have skipped seeing any skunks. And seeing them in the almost daylight worries me. They are nocturnal animals. I thought of recent stories of rabid skunks... There was no reason for this animal to be out, but then it was not quite light/not quite dark.

We stopped and waited. The skunk walked almost to the street before he saw or smelled us. He stopped too. Then he turned, lifted his tail (but did not spray), and headed back into the ditch.

We hustled further down the park's entrance road, but quickly realized we were all alone. We don't enter the park in the dark alone.

We turned around and, making sure Mr. Skunk had not returned, headed home.

The last of the sights of the morning was a new runner. He jogged slowly down the steep hill, then turned and powered up the hill. He repeated this exercise over, and over, and over, and over.

We walked on the other side of the street to avoid interfering with his training. Upon reaching the top of the hill, we continued on our way. We walk for exercise and to achieve our destination...and once reaching the summit of the hill, we see no need to "do it again."

But we will, ultimately "do it again" - in the morning.



And our count?

14 cars
1 yellow cat
1 skunk
1 empty park
1 runner - running up and down the steep hill