Walking -After Midnight

Call me crazy -and yes, I'll probably answer right away.

Call me crazy when I tell you I just got back in the house after taking Sammy out for an after midnight stroll and I'll probably tell you it's a most restful time of the evening to take a walk.

Especially in the wintertime because it really is beautiful quite often at that hour -with the ground covered in snow, sometimes the snow is still falling then too and all around it is very quiet, very peaceful and quite lovely to see with only the light of a little flashlight to guide your way and the skies often lit up with stars shining so pretty then too.

The other night when Sam and I went out for our nighttime stroll -it was a bit earlier in the evening that time, maybe only 9 or 10 p.m., but it was snowing that night -a very soft snowfall and as the light from my flashlight was moving around across the road, the yards, the fields, the snow looked like tiny stars on the ground as it glistened and sparkled.

Only one night this year -so far -was it really bitter cold as the rest of our late-night walks, which by contrast, were actually relatively warmish. I know, discussing cold in the dead of winter and comparing the cold each evening as being bitter cold one night but "warmish" on all the others, makes no sense I suppose to others, but it does to me as I'm the one out there strolling around, all bundled up from long johns on under my jeans to my heavy winter jacket, a warm knitted hat, at least one scarf, sometimes two, and of course, finger gloves topped with my thick handmade mittens over them! So with all those layers of clothing on, for the cold to actually permeate me on one night, then that night was really, really cold! (Probably was sub-zero that night I think.)

Even Sam has gotten accustomed to walking in the snow again -although for quite a while since the snow season began back in December here, he would not go off the road and wade into the snow in people's yards or in the field down the road from here -where he usually likes to go to take care of his "business." But now, he's becoming a bit more adventuresome and does go off the beaten track a bit a lot of the time.

Tonight, down where the wooded area at the edge of town begins, I saw some tracks leading up into the wood that I think probably are deer tracks. Too large for a dog and way too small and of a different pattern too so I know they weren't from a bear wandering around half-asleep from a long winter's nap.

In one particular area by the field, he spied a whole bunch of tracks, all together -almost like something was rolling and running both in that area and I thought he was going to go ballistic trying to sniff each and every single track he came upon there! His nose was burrowing down into the tracks as he was trying -I think -to identify what source had left the pristine snow all messed up in that region!

And, when we got back home and in the house, he stood quietly while I took off my gloves and mittens, my scarves and then, reached down to unfasten the hook of his lead to his collar. But, as soon as I did that, he went tearing out to the kitchen, then to the living room and bounced from the recliner over to the sofa, then the loveseat -bouncing around on each piece of furniture and looking all around the room at the same time.

I know what he was looking for though. His eyes were searching for his buddies -the two indoor cats -Pearl and Tavie -as he loves to come in from a walk, whether it's a daylight walk or a late nite stroll -and romp around the house with the cats. Kind of like he's showing off his acrobatic skills to his feline friends.

And, speaking of one of his feline friends, little Miss Tavie -the baby of the cats who live with us (and who pretty much rule the house too) -is going into heat right now. Not a good thing to have happen when she is scheduled to have some surgery to take away that problem from her forever for next Monday especially when you also happen to have a big old TomCat -FluffNuts -who wanders in and out of the house and suddenly decided Sunday night that he really likes Tavie -especially right now!!!

I saw him making some moves towards her and quickly jumped up and got him shooed away in time but then about 5 minutes later, I heard some noise and saw there he was, after her again and that time, I almost didn't get there in time. Fortunately, I did though and as I was moving towards him to push him aside, I was yelling at him too, which brought Sam to attention as he came running out to see what was going on and when he realized it was something to do with me trying to chase FluffNuts away from Tavie, Sammy went into action then too. He began barking at FluffNuts and then, took off, chasing the TomCat away too! As if to give FluffNuts a warning that he best stay away from Sam's little friend!

Sometimes, the actions of these two cats and Sam totally amaze as well as amuse me. Sometimes too, I think Sam is of the mistaken thought that he is a cat and not a dog because he does so love to play with both the indoor cats much of the time and he lets them -especially Tavie -torment him too.

So now that Sam is lying here by my feet, sleeping quite peacefully already from his little exercise, and I will need to be up in the morning to see that the kids get dressed and on their respective bus or van and off to school, I think I will concede to going to bed a tad earlier than my normal bedtime hour -or the witching hours some of my friends and neighbors here think I keep!

It's spitting a tiny bit of snow now but doubtful it will be enough to make a hill of beans difference on the roads by morning so probably there will no be any school delays to give me a little extra sleep that way. Not to worry though, I'll probably make up for that with a little nap after the kids leave -which will probably be rudely interrupted by the telephone ringing because it always seems to happen that way!

Damned telephone anyway! Or some people who apparently have esp and know exactly when I have just fallen asleep to decide to call me!!!