SLOW STARTIN'

(MAY 31, 2010) We got to the park early this morning to beat the heat of the day. In fact it was so early that Sadie just kind of dragged out of the car, not jumping out with her usual vim and vigor. As we entered the woods, she just sat down, looking at me, as if she wanted a cookie (dog biscuit). I said, "It's too early for one now, girl," but she just sat there. I said, "Come, girl." She reluctantly pulled herself up and started walking. I said, "You are a little SLOW STARTIN' today, aren't you girl." She continued this slow pace for a while on the trail.

As we came to the dam below Dan Daniel Park, I saw a fisherman, and I spoke. He spoke back, and I asked, "Caught anything,yet?" He said, "No. It's a little SLOW STARTIN' this morning." I wished him luck, and we ventured forth.

Since it was a holiday, there seemed to be more people than usual on the Riverwalk. We were a little SLOW GOIN' as we came to individuals and started talking.

Along the trail we did notice that the birds were a little SLOW STARTIN'. The swallows were peeking out of their houses, the goldfinch, oriole, and cedar waxwing, birds I don't take pictures of often, were all being very photogenic this morning and moving slowly, and the bumblebees seemed to not hurry as they swarmed the flowers.

As Sadie, in her SLOW STARTIN' stance, was stalking a white moth on a bush, I noticed a number of granddaddy longlegs crawling their slow paced acrobats on leaves above her head. Some bugs were SLOW STARTIN' as they hung out on a leaf en masse for a long time shortly after the sun came out. These red and black bugs show up in great numbers during this time of year.

As we approached the dark woods, more fishermen had their poles in the river. They all seemed to have the expression of "SLOW STARTIN'" on their faces. As I stopped to take some pictures of a bird, one of the fishermen saw me and asked, "You want to take a picture of a fish?" I looked at him, and at his feet was a 3-4 foot catfish. He and a fellow fisherman held up the fish, and I took some pictures. It looked like the SLOW STARTIN' time was over, and things were taking off nicely on this Memorial Day morning.

It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.