-The White Stripes, 'Seven Nation Army'
The first thing I did when I got home for Thanksgiving break was walk our fence lines. I wanted to get reacquainted with our land.
Things looked good; the grass is still green beneath the fallen leaves, but I didn't see nearly as many animal tracks as I'd expected. I did find a cluster of violets in a grove near the corner of our property, which must look amazing in the summertime. There was a tire on the creek bank, washed up there by a recent flood. Maybe these are all trivial things, but I feel more centered when I'm all square with our property.
Later, I went running. It's just been so long since I've spent quality time with the plains. The combination of rolling prairie and gravel roads sometimes makes for a tough run, but I love pushing myself up a hill and suddenly finding myself at the top of it.
The neighbor dogs bug me pretty frequently (especially the German shepherd-chow mix who lives next to the substation), but today a couple followed me who were actually really pleasant. One was like a larger version of Sandy from Annie, and the other looked like she might have been a small black lab mix. They ran out to meet me, and chased the German shepherd-chow mix away. Then they stuck with me the rest of the way, tripping over each other in their eagerness to run with me.
We ran on flat land for a ways, and then we turned downhill. When we got to a certain creek, I knew it was time for us to turn around. As I ran back up the hill to the corner, the wind picked up. My massive hoodie was like a parachute, and I pulled my arms in as close to my body as I could. Lowering my head, I saw that the dogs had huge smiles on their faces. They were loping along just ahead of me, pacing me. I realized that I was grinning too.
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