Today's one of the coldest day's we've had so far this season. It was only 19° when we got up this morning, and doesn't really feel much warmer out there now. Plus we got a smattering of snow. It'll probably vanish if we get any sun at all, even as cold as it is, but the sun is hiding today.
Rocky and I took a much shorter walk than usual this morning. I bundled up as much as I could, even wore an extra layer of clothing. Rocky just went as he was. But he probably still was warmer than I was. Though, really, I was bundled up enough that I didn't feel the cold as much as I might have. Other than my head. I couldn't find my hat. I wore my neckwarmer all the way up over the top of my head, which helped keep my ears from freezing, but an extra layer would have helped me feel warmer.
It wouldn't have helped, though, to keep my glasses from freezing to my face. I wore my sunglasses, since even with the sun hiding, the snow made things bright out there. But it wasn't too long into the walk before the bridge of the glasses felt like a bar of ice across the bridge of my nose. Ugh.
Even so, I was considering taking the 1.8 walk we usually did. I didn't really want to, since besides the cold, the snow had turned icy in spots. I was taking things very slow (to Rocky's impatience), since I tended to be afraid that I'd suddenly slip and fall. Since I haven't been able to get our pace even up to 3 miles per hour on good days, we were probably walking less than a mile an hour. Another day or so, even without things warming up, should get rid of most of the ice/snow.
But at one of the first places where we had a choice of a longer/shorter walk, Rocky suddenly started limping, hopping along, not putting one of his feet down on the ground. I let him lie down for a moment, and he cleaned the bottom of his feet, after which he bounded off again. So I decided to take the shorter walk. But still, twice more the dog had to stop and clean his feet with his teeth. Makes me glad I'm not a dog. I wouldn't want to have to chew on gravelly snow/ice. If it weren't for getting ice between his toes, I bet Rocky would have been glad to stay out there even longer, though I think even he was glad to get home and out of the cold for a bit.
Showing posts with label walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walk. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Monday, January 09, 2012
Rocky vs. Santa
When Rocky and I go on our long walks in the mornings, we tend to go the same route, but I sometimes vary it, especially if I got us walking late that morning. Not Rocky's fault, of course, he keeps telling me that we need to get going from about half an hour before we normally get ready to go. Apparently when Jonathan and the kids get ready to go, it somehow means that he needs to go, too. Even though he knows we don't start getting ready to leave until after the boy goes.
While we were going out before Christmas, there were lots of houses decorated for Christmas. For the most part Rocky ignored the decorations, I don't think he gave much signs that he even saw them. There were lots of houses that had half-sized Santas, Mrs. Clauses, and elves on the lawn, lots of houses with half-sized Nativity scenes. He didn't turn an eye on any of them. But shortly before Christmas, we took one of our shorter alternative routes, and passed a house with a live-sized Santa statue standing on the porch. He was wearing red Chiefs sweats rather than the traditional Santa suits, but was instantly recognizable. But not by Rocky, apparently. He took one look at that statue, and started growling and barking at it suspiciously, and kept an eye on it until it was completely out of sight. Since he's usually friendly with anyone we might meet out on our walks, about all I can figure is that to Rocky, the statue *looked* like a normal human, but didn't *smell* at all like one. It didn't look particularly lifelike to me, but from what I can tell, dogs don't see as well as we do. That's more than made up for by their sense of smell, of course.
So, as near as I can figure, though the statue was clearly fake to me, for Rocky, it fell smack-dab in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. It was rather funny, seeing him react that way.
In subsequent days, I took him down that street often. Like I figured, the next time we went that way, he kept a suspicious eye on the statue, and on following days didn't notice it at all.
While we were going out before Christmas, there were lots of houses decorated for Christmas. For the most part Rocky ignored the decorations, I don't think he gave much signs that he even saw them. There were lots of houses that had half-sized Santas, Mrs. Clauses, and elves on the lawn, lots of houses with half-sized Nativity scenes. He didn't turn an eye on any of them. But shortly before Christmas, we took one of our shorter alternative routes, and passed a house with a live-sized Santa statue standing on the porch. He was wearing red Chiefs sweats rather than the traditional Santa suits, but was instantly recognizable. But not by Rocky, apparently. He took one look at that statue, and started growling and barking at it suspiciously, and kept an eye on it until it was completely out of sight. Since he's usually friendly with anyone we might meet out on our walks, about all I can figure is that to Rocky, the statue *looked* like a normal human, but didn't *smell* at all like one. It didn't look particularly lifelike to me, but from what I can tell, dogs don't see as well as we do. That's more than made up for by their sense of smell, of course.
So, as near as I can figure, though the statue was clearly fake to me, for Rocky, it fell smack-dab in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. It was rather funny, seeing him react that way.
In subsequent days, I took him down that street often. Like I figured, the next time we went that way, he kept a suspicious eye on the statue, and on following days didn't notice it at all.
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