AIDS Walk

Last Sunday the ninth AIDS Walk in Kelowna drew several hundred people and no dogs.

Well, actually there were several dogs, all well behaved. But dogs were not officially allowed to accompany their people on the walk. The organizers had signs up about not allowing dogs.

I was torn. I wanted to raise some money and walk, but I’m still angry at City Council for not resolving the issue of no dogs. The problem is that lots of these “charity walks,” as the Council refers to them, either begin, end, or pass through City Park or Waterfront Park, and no dogs are allowed there.

Before 2003, dogs raised money for the MS Walk, but that year the mean-spirited, small-minded people who run the city decided to enforce the by-laws. People complained to City Council, and supposedly, this was to be dealt with. But no one was made accountable for dealing with it, so here we are in the fall of 2005 with the same problem.

In the end, I decided to raise what money I could and walk. For every $100 in pledges to the AIDS Walk, I donated $10 of my own (not the pledged) money to the Okanagan Dog Owners Association.

It was a beautiful fall day, and a nice 3K walk. It would have been even better with a dog.

You Don't Need A Weatherman

This spring has been disappointing as far as the weather goes. It’s already well into June, and we’ve only had a little more than one week of hot weather. And that was in May. Since then, there's been one good day for a bike ride, and the rest of the time it’s been cold, raining, or cold and raining.

It’s a good thing I have a dog living with me, or I’d probably never get to go for a walk in the rain.

Today I got up at 6:45 and it was raining. I took the garbage out, took Sandy out to the end of the driveway for a pee, fixed myself the last of the Peet’s coffee, and sat down at the computer to start the day and wait for it to clear up. At 8:30, I was still at the computer and it had still not cleared up. Sandy sat down next to me and gave me the most reproachful look in the history of the world forever.

“Hey, Dog. It’s raining,” I pointed out.

“And?” she replied.

“And it’s cold, too.”

That was not a convincing argument. Sandy was the one wearing the fur coat.

Ten minutes later we’re outside for our walk, Sandy trying to go fast, and me stumbling along in shorts, shirt, flannel shirt over that, raincoat over that, sandals and Tilley hat. “It’s raining harder than ever, Sandy,” I complained.

She stopped. She turned. She sat. She looked at me. “You control the food. You control the door. You control the play dates. You control the walks. Are you telling me you DON’T control the weather?”

We pushed on.

“I kind of like walking in the rain, Dog.”

“Me too,” Sandy said, tail wagging.

Natural Wonders, On-Leash

There’s a new walking trail, and it’s near where we live. Next to the new recreation centre, the trail is about one km out --- and the same one km back. A road, a paved path and an unpaved path all run parallel to the tributary to Mission Creek.


Trail

Sandy and I walk there three or four times a week, even though it’s all supposed to be on-leash. I’m learning to lead; she’s learning to trust me to lead. There have been fewer “snarling ball of fury” episodes when we encounter other on-leash dogs.

Besides the dogs, we’ve seen a plenty of ducks, Canada geese, and a pair of herons. They are beautiful standing still, and magnificent in flight. They’re as tall as Sandy, with a wingspan that looks like an airplane. The red-winged blackbirds are out. There must have been a hundred of them today.

One day Sandy flushed a pheasant. It’s hard to say who was the most surprised of the three of us, but it was probably not the pheasant. Living in the grass next to the dog-walking path, you’d think it would realize dogs were going to flush it. But Sandy is no bird dog. She was shocked to see that guy take off right in front of her nose.

Today there were fish. Really big fish, at least two feet long, and thrashing. I don’t know what kind of fish they were. Maybe carp. Maybe even Kokanee; we get those in Mission Creek. Sandy was standing in the water by one bank, and there was a fish explosion on the other bank. She leapt straight up in the air, landed in the water again, and rushed up the bank.


Sandy

Once safely on dry land she tried to look casual.