How a 30 minute walk upon the frozen tundra of Wisconsin with a Golden Retriever and an MP3 Player refreshed my mind.
Each morning I try to take my 2 ½ year old Golden Retriever, Ziggy, out for a walk, he’s just as much my personal trainer as I am his – we both need the exercise. Dogs are good for people; there are at least a dozen good reasons why we call them ‘man’s best friend’. This morning it was 9 degrees above zero, now I’m a northern girl, but 9 is not my favorite walking temperature, however, Ziggy looks forward to these morning jaunts around the neighborhood with unrestrained enthusiasm and anticipation. If I don’t put my boots on as soon as I’m done in the shower and dressed, he patiently sits and stares at me. If I don’t respond quick enough, he begins to use a recently developed, hilarious method of communicating his desires in a most convincing way; it seems that he thinks the only way we’ll pay attention to him is if he talks to us, so he starts this moaning and mumbling that sounds like talking because he moves his mouth like he is talking! He does this when he wants to eat, too! It kinda sounds like this “Ahrmmm ahrrmm oummsiiiiiddde ahrmmm nnnoww mmmmm!” We simply cannot resist!
So, 9 degrees or not (it could be and has been a lot colder), I get my boots on, grab a warm jacket and my new 1 GB cheapy MP3 Player (which works just as good as an iPod) and we’re off. At least it’s not windy and it’s bright and sunny. Ziggy struts along like he, and not the Beagle, just won the Westminster Dog Show. He sniffs here and there, being careful not to slip on the ice, he avoids it entirely and creates a path in the deep snow instead. He’s just so happy. I try my luck walking on the frozen sidewalks and occasionally follow Ziggy’s path when it seems safer.
They don’t call Wisconsin and Lambeau Field the frozen tundra for nothing, you know! It really is frozen, there’s about 1-2 inches of ice on the sidewalk and this year about 2-3 feet of snow in everyone’s yard! You can see where people have tried to scrape the ice and where they’ve used a metal ice scraper on the sidewalks to break the surface of the ice. That’ll leave a mark! Oh, it’ll probably go away in a few weeks. With all the snow in our yard and on our roof, our house looks like a big marshmallow. Crazy!
As I continue walking, watching Ziggy’s exuberance, and listening to my MP3 player that I’ve just stocked with some old favorites, I begin to hear Louie Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World”……
There is much to be thankful for here in the land of frozen tundra, and as I’m walking along I begin to think of some of those things. On a cold winter morning in late February, besides the people most close to me, and of course Ziggy, I am thankful for these things:
· The sun is shining
· It’s not too windy
· Snowblowers
· The city snowplowers who plow the streets
· The city planners who decided the snowplowers should remove excess snow mountains from every corner in the city for the purpose of reducing accidents and increased visibility
· The people in warmer climates down south and out west who produce fresh fruits and vegetables for us northerners
That’s what I was thinking about this morning on our 30 minute walk upon the frozen tundra. What a wonderful world.
Louie Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are also on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin’.. how do you do?
They’re really sayin’......I love you.
Despite much evidence to the contrary, it really is a wonderful world.
