It’s not that I don’t like mornings. Mornings are full of promise. The sky is pinky gold and birds chirp out praises to the new day while the rest of the world waits in expectant silence.
It’s getting up that I don’t care for, and it doesn’t really matter when that getting up takes place. But once I am up, I am ready to meet the day… with an attitude ranging from unbridled joy to pleasant resignation.
However, there is not a whole lot that can make 6 am dog walks the week after Daylight Savings Time begins pleasant—unbridled joy is ludicrously out of the question—and all that is left is a sort of foggy, and slightly sullen, resignation.
It is dark.
The dog glares at me. I return the favor.
Monday’s balmy 54 degrees helped a little. Tuesday’s cold rain that slithered down my neck made it worse. Today it was just cold.
About 40 Dog Poo bags
Another thing that helps a little is this neat little trick I learned… how to fold plastic grocery store bags into little football shapes which store easily and slide neatly into pockets. (There is a nice tutorial here.)
As every dog walker knows, you cannot go walking your dog down the city streets without one or two bags to clean up any messes she leaves behind. Well, actually you can, as evidenced by the piles of puppy-poo left in my front lawn—but we hate those people.
There is a lot to be said for not having to yank an about-to-be-reused plastic grocery bag out of the bag storage thing at 6 in the morning and have it fluttering along as you walk, making sounds that, in the dark, are slightly disturbing to you—to say nothing of terrorizing a high-strung Golden Retriever. Or stuffing it into a pocket, only to have it bring with it a scattering of dog treats, hair ties, and old receipts when you pull it out again. And it is always nice to know that the bag you are about to pick up dog poop with is whole and hole-free.
Like I said, there is not much that can make a cold, dark-and-early dog walk pleasant… but there are quite a few things that can make it more unpleasant. And dog poop all over your fingers is at the very top of the list.
So I’m going to check my stash of folded bags, ignore the fact that it’s supposed to be snowing in the morning, and remember that daylight will be soon be rejoining us on our morning walks.
