That fool would be me and the dog would be Apollo (shown at left). My back did not need to be walked (or pulled by a 90+ pound Rottweiler), but Apollo desperately needed the exercise. I woke up stiff and still sore, but not as bad as yesterday, during which I spent most of the afternoon and evening either in a recliner or in bed. I am eternally grateful to Terry for multiple applications of Icy Hot to the affected lower back area, which seems to have helped relieve the pain a bit. Once I’d had a few minutes (well, let’s be honest, more like two hours) to wake up, stretch and compose two blog posts, I had just settled down to continue reading an ebook on my Nook Color, when Apollo looked at me expectantly. I sighed, slipped on my jeans, tied on my walking shoes, slipped on my sunglasses, grabbed my cell phone and his leash and we headed out the door.
I decided to make this walk very short (especially compared to last Sunday’s hour and a quarter walk). I thought a tour of the local flora, especially the lilac bushes, would be perfect for a pleasant Sunday morning stroll. We walked in a slow loop from Olive, north along First Street, east along Nina Street, back south along Second Street, back west on Olive to First Terrace. Along the way we saw more lilace bushes, lots of tulips in a rainbow of different colors, some phlox and several flowering trees, including red buds and apple trees.
Apollo only caused my back grief once. As we approached First Street Terrace eastbound on Nina Street, a guy was walking a Spitz or Husky, slightly smaller in size than Apollo. Naturally, Apollo wanted to meet this new canine friend, but my back just couldn’t deal with the added stress of restraining all of Apollo’s determined energy. I forced him to sit and held his collar with my right hand while keeping a firm grip on the shortened leash in my left. He whined for a couple of minutes, as did the other dog, while they continued moving westbound on Nina. Apollo behaved better than he did last Sunday, but still needs some work on his obedience training.
We made it back home in about a half an hour. Apollo got his exercise. I got to see some spring flowers. For the rest of the day, this April fool is doing nothing but reading.
