Falling Autumn

Today is the first day of Fall (or Autumn as the British call it) and boy did the season ever fall from the sky…

(If you click on this photo, you’ll see the raindrops falling all around us…and ON us!)

…in the form of rain. I’ve read reports that Seattle has had more rain in September than ever before and though I haven’t always noticed, I noticed today. In the middle of our first walk to the end of our last, we got wet.

(Again, if you look closely again, you’ll see that Rosie’s very wet…and as you can tell, none too pleased about the weather!)

Surprisingly, Gretchen didn’t make me wear my raincoat. I had idea why since she was going on and on all day about how much she loves her bright green raincoat. “It’s so nice to NOT get wet,” she told me. “This raincoat was worth every penny.” After looking at the bills, I can tell you that she paid a pretty penny for that raincoat, but as long as it makes her happy (and keeps her dry) that’s all that counts.

Our day started by picking up Woobie and then heading south to walk with Ollie. Normally, Gretchen puts a raincoat on Ollie, but when we started our walk, the skies were bright and there wasn’t even a hint of rain. Boy were we ever wrong. About halfway through, the rain splattered us and Gretchen was the only one with real protection. None of us minded, but the rain meant we could only keep the camera out for a short spurt.

It also meant we couldn’t go swimming. That’s hard for me especially when we are so close to the lake. Gretchen kept telling me it would be really cold, but frankly, I could care less. I love to swim no matter the weather. In fact, there were people swimming across the lake this morning and even though I pointed out the distant heads bobbing in the water, Gretchen held firm. “Not today, buddy, not today.”

Bummer.

Woobie hung out at our house, drying out, while Gretchen picked up Rosie for a walk. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find Rosie’s raincoat so Rosie was a bit miffed that 1) she got wet and 2) I wasn’t there to walk with her. But Gretchen explained, “Sorry Rosebud, but Rubin’s shoulder is sore from playing too hard yesterday and he needs to rest.”

Rosie was unimpressed with the explanation.

Saber and I walked Woobie home — through the park — in the rain. Again, we didn’t really care about how wet we were getting, but still Saber asked, “If we’re this wet, why don’t we go swimming?” Saber LOVES swimming as much as I do.

“No dice, big fella!” Gretchen told him. “We’re just going to take a nice long walk, okay?”

“Oh, okay,” sighed Saber and then he promptly did everything he could do to avoid getting his photo taken (like eating grass or sticks). He is kind of a goof that way.

We dropped off Woobie and then walked Saber up the hill and across the ridge to his home. I took a nice nap in our warm house after that while Gretchen made muffins and ate her lunch. I thought we were done for the day, but amazingly, we piled into the car and headed to Paige’s house. “Am I going to get to walk with Paige this afternoon?” I asked.

“Actually, Rubin,” Gretchen said with a sly smile, “I’m walking Paige and you, my wiggly friend, are going swimming and getting a massage!”

Yesterday I hurt my left shoulder a bit. I was kind of gimpy last night and Gretchen laid me out and gave me a really nice and relaxing massage. My shoulder felt better this morning, but it doesn’t feel 100% by any means. So, after the pool closed for business and we were done with work, I got to go for a swim and a massage while Gretchen walked Paige.

Sure, I missed Paige, but let me tell you, that massage and swim felt great.

While Paige LOVED the walk (she always does), she was kind of upset that I didn’t go along.

“Where’s Rubin?” Paige asked Gretchen.

“He’s swimming in the pool,” she told her.

“He LIKES swimming?” Paige isn’t very fond of the water. She’ll swim, but she’d rather go hunting or play fetch or hang out in her cool truck.

“He LOVES to swim,” Gretchen informed her.

“Well, I miss him on this walk. Maybe next time,” she said, “He could walk first and then swim?”

“Maybe, Paige, maybe next time,” Gretchen agreed.

And me? I was more than happy to be in the healing waters of Wellsprings!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin