Monday, September 19, 2005

Walkabout

Just awalkin' the dog

I feel a need to get on the board here. Just curious... Are any of y'all prone to going walkabout or make a habit of taking a walk? The dog owners among us, at least the less rural ones, might be more likely to have some standard time and route for daily walks.

If you do take walks, aside from the health aspects, what do you like most about walking? This is a relatively recent development for me after many years of ignoring it. I made a habit of occasionally wandering around or specifically taking long walks through wherever I happened to be in my earlier days, but ignored this in my more "stable" or sedentary years. I've just recently restarted (the past three years).

As for me, I enjoy reconnecting with the passing and changing seasons. The odors, the sounds, differences in daylight, weather, etc. I also enjoy playing a bit of "recon", noticing changes in the neighborhood and like to make a point of being outside in the dark and just listening and observing who and what comes and goes. One might, for example, never know there were skunks around unless one wanders outside at night.

Like I said, just curious about which of us are fans of walkabouts.

1 comment:

Rick Ballard said...

I'm fortunate to be able to perform what little work I do from the comfort of my home. Part of that good fortune is to be able to take walks whenever the urge strikes. On the unfortunate side is the fact that the foliage change on palm trees is really unremarkable. Same for the eucalyptus. Deciduous trees in this area don't do very well, the changing of the color of their leaves is not necessarily a harbinger of a change of seasons.

I find that I've been walking more over this past summer than ever before. My wife and I made a commitment to more exercise last spring and we've actually been able to keep it. It's become a habit rather than a chore and an opportunity to converse without interruption. A small but at times delightful pleasure. We don't see much in the way of wildlife on our walks, living on a levee system precludes the existence of the type of habitat that supports wildlife. We do have the pleasure of watching the marine mammals from the back deck as they assiduouly construct homes by destroying some of the older docks. And we do get to watch the natural cycle of predator/prey played out nearly every day as the stripers herd baitfish into a cove while the seabirds gather to garner their fair share. Occasionally a sea lion will wander in from the salt water to snack on the stripers.

I suppose the most exciting occurrence on our walks in the past year has been to watch For Sale signs appear and diappear with amazing frequency. In a sense, it's like watching your 401K account used to be like for some people in the mid to late '90's. It's amazing how a rising market can make a person feel intelligent.