nighttime musings
D.W.Q.M.: "Hey, you're giving me the willies." (from the Second Doctor story, the Abominable Snowmen.)
Alot of fun stuff happened in Minnesota, and I want to share them here. However, readers who have been with me since the beginning know how that goes. LOL. I'll make my usual statement now-over the next week or so, I'll try to post some of the stories I have. Ha! ;)
Actually, I was inspired to write one now. I like to walk, especially in the evenings, after work. Well, today it was pouring rain, I mean REALLY pouring out-it was raining so much that the KSL oval looking like a raging river. (ok, maybe not THAT bad, but still-it was rainin' hard.) No walk after work tonight! Well, around 10, I noticed that the rain had let up, possibly even stopped. I thought-'hey, I'll go on a walk now.' Then my brain kicked in and said, 'NO, DUMMY! You're not in Shafer anymore!!!!' Especially after hearing the story of someone who was held up not to long ago along one of my walking routes-late at night.
The development that my sister lives in is a pretty safe place to walk at night. Several nights I'd go out for a walk after the kids were in bed, sometimes after the late night news as well. One night, around 9, I decided to go for a walk. Jon and my nephew, Kyle, were watching tv-so I called out to them that I was going on a walk so they'd know where I'd be. As I was about to leave the house, Jon called out, 'Watch out for timberwolves!' No, he wasn't joking-he was serious. Remember-last summer one of my sister's neighbors woke up to find a bear in their backyard, and they live right across from the woods. There had also been reports of cougars crossing into St. Croix (a mere seven miles from my sister's place), so he said I should keep an eye out for them too...just in case. I turned around and grabbed my flashlight. (not that that would really help, but I felt a little safer walking with it.)
So I started out on my walk. All of a sudden, a Siberian Huskie silently comes up from behind me and stops in front of me and starts to growl and bark a little. I froze completely as my brain seemingly took it's time to register that this was a dog and NOT a wolf standing in front of me. Hey, it was dark and I had just been told to watch out for timberwolves. As I tried to move forward, she would move to block me. Not wanting to argue with an unfamiliar dog, I decided to turn around and head back to the house. She followed me and stopped two houses away, and ran up the driveway when she saw that I was heading up to my sister's door. I stepped in the entryway and called up to the guys, 'hey, anyone you know have a Siberian Huskie?' Kyle immeadiately said that his friend Ben did. So Kyle came out with me to see if it was indeed Ben's dog, Sheba.
As we were walking, Kyle was debating calling out for her. I told him not to, because she had come up from behind me, and I hadn't been making any noise-perhaps she'd do the same as we were walking. To avoid being out all night for a dog not our own, I suggested to Kyle that we walk around the block and see if we can find her (keeping in mind that their block is significantly longer than your average city block). We were nearly home when she came up from behind us-the same manner as she did with me. (although this time she didn't growl or bark) We slowly walked up our driveway and she stopped at the house next door and looked at us. She slowly started to come towards us, so I told Kyle to grab Brutis's leash, but to only put it on her if she came up to him and let him do it. He jingled the leash and she walked up to him-so he hooked her up and we brought her back home, much to the relief of her owners. :)
I think we're lucky she recognized Kyle, and probably recogized the house as where Kyle lived. Reflecting on that, I keep remembering a story from my favorite Little House book, Little House in the Big Woods, when Laura's aunt and uncle and cousins came to their cabin for Christmas. As the kids were trying to fall asleep one night, they overheard Laura's aunt telling of the story about how the family dog had seemingly gone crazy one snowy winter night. Her uncle had been away, and her aunt needed to get water from the well-everytime she tried to go outside, their dog jumped in front of her and growled. She wasn't sure what to do, so she decided to wait until morning to try again. This time their dog acted normal and trotted along beside her. When she got to the well, she noticed panther tracks all around it. When Sheba had come up from behind me, she wouldn't let me go any farther-only back the way I came. She recognized Kyle as a friend, and where he lived. Did she see me leave the same house, and determine that I must be okay too, and didn't want me to go any farther because of what might have been waiting for me farther along the road? Guess I'll never know.
Alot of fun stuff happened in Minnesota, and I want to share them here. However, readers who have been with me since the beginning know how that goes. LOL. I'll make my usual statement now-over the next week or so, I'll try to post some of the stories I have. Ha! ;)
Actually, I was inspired to write one now. I like to walk, especially in the evenings, after work. Well, today it was pouring rain, I mean REALLY pouring out-it was raining so much that the KSL oval looking like a raging river. (ok, maybe not THAT bad, but still-it was rainin' hard.) No walk after work tonight! Well, around 10, I noticed that the rain had let up, possibly even stopped. I thought-'hey, I'll go on a walk now.' Then my brain kicked in and said, 'NO, DUMMY! You're not in Shafer anymore!!!!' Especially after hearing the story of someone who was held up not to long ago along one of my walking routes-late at night.
The development that my sister lives in is a pretty safe place to walk at night. Several nights I'd go out for a walk after the kids were in bed, sometimes after the late night news as well. One night, around 9, I decided to go for a walk. Jon and my nephew, Kyle, were watching tv-so I called out to them that I was going on a walk so they'd know where I'd be. As I was about to leave the house, Jon called out, 'Watch out for timberwolves!' No, he wasn't joking-he was serious. Remember-last summer one of my sister's neighbors woke up to find a bear in their backyard, and they live right across from the woods. There had also been reports of cougars crossing into St. Croix (a mere seven miles from my sister's place), so he said I should keep an eye out for them too...just in case. I turned around and grabbed my flashlight. (not that that would really help, but I felt a little safer walking with it.)
So I started out on my walk. All of a sudden, a Siberian Huskie silently comes up from behind me and stops in front of me and starts to growl and bark a little. I froze completely as my brain seemingly took it's time to register that this was a dog and NOT a wolf standing in front of me. Hey, it was dark and I had just been told to watch out for timberwolves. As I tried to move forward, she would move to block me. Not wanting to argue with an unfamiliar dog, I decided to turn around and head back to the house. She followed me and stopped two houses away, and ran up the driveway when she saw that I was heading up to my sister's door. I stepped in the entryway and called up to the guys, 'hey, anyone you know have a Siberian Huskie?' Kyle immeadiately said that his friend Ben did. So Kyle came out with me to see if it was indeed Ben's dog, Sheba.
As we were walking, Kyle was debating calling out for her. I told him not to, because she had come up from behind me, and I hadn't been making any noise-perhaps she'd do the same as we were walking. To avoid being out all night for a dog not our own, I suggested to Kyle that we walk around the block and see if we can find her (keeping in mind that their block is significantly longer than your average city block). We were nearly home when she came up from behind us-the same manner as she did with me. (although this time she didn't growl or bark) We slowly walked up our driveway and she stopped at the house next door and looked at us. She slowly started to come towards us, so I told Kyle to grab Brutis's leash, but to only put it on her if she came up to him and let him do it. He jingled the leash and she walked up to him-so he hooked her up and we brought her back home, much to the relief of her owners. :)
I think we're lucky she recognized Kyle, and probably recogized the house as where Kyle lived. Reflecting on that, I keep remembering a story from my favorite Little House book, Little House in the Big Woods, when Laura's aunt and uncle and cousins came to their cabin for Christmas. As the kids were trying to fall asleep one night, they overheard Laura's aunt telling of the story about how the family dog had seemingly gone crazy one snowy winter night. Her uncle had been away, and her aunt needed to get water from the well-everytime she tried to go outside, their dog jumped in front of her and growled. She wasn't sure what to do, so she decided to wait until morning to try again. This time their dog acted normal and trotted along beside her. When she got to the well, she noticed panther tracks all around it. When Sheba had come up from behind me, she wouldn't let me go any farther-only back the way I came. She recognized Kyle as a friend, and where he lived. Did she see me leave the same house, and determine that I must be okay too, and didn't want me to go any farther because of what might have been waiting for me farther along the road? Guess I'll never know.
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