One last big one before I'm down for the count

Isn't this beautiful? This is one of the horse farms that's adjacent to the farm on which we live. Today I walked to this view.

I've only mentioned it in passing because I don't want to talk about anything too personal on this site but, because I have off from work, I've scheduled knee surgery for tomorrow. Fun, eh? I'm not going to dwell on it, however, in my mind or on this site.

So today I decided to take one last Big Walk with George while I'm still able.

When I moved here about 10 years ago, I could run and hike with the best of them. Today, not so much.

The trails were also much clearer 10 years ago, too. Today, cart roads that used to run through the woods are covered with fallen trees and it's more difficult to get around. The trails close by our home are well-maintained, however, and I pretty much stick to these.

So today, I went on a trail I haven't been for several years, just to see how far I could go. I still don't have the capability to put captions under my photos, so please bear with me.

I used to be able to walk in the cleared area between the woods edge and the fenced paddocks you see here, but these days, the wild rose bushes have taken over and you can't get through. So I climbed over the fence and walked inside the field.

The very top photo was taken inside the field and I wasn't planning on staying too long because once the horses find out you're in there, they're gonna come a-runnin' to see what's up. And you never know what will happen then, but I think I could hold my own with them. It's my dog I worry about and what he'll do. He's still a youngster. The fence looks huge from this angle, doesn't it?

I come to the ditch with the washed out cement pipe. This used to be an embankment 10 years ago and it was covered with earth and grass. When Hurricane Floyd came through about 7 years ago, it washed it almost completely out. It's disinegrated even more since then. The water level is low, though, so I crossed the ditch today (and got one of my boots completely covered with mud). But it'll dry.

I climbed another fence and ended up in a horse paddock and took it to the far edge. Here is where there used to be a lovely cart road that ran for about 1/4 mile through overhanging trees and when you got to the end, there was a hill and a sitting place. I used to come here all the time. But today, years later, the beautiful trees have fallen over the cart road and it was an obstacle path and I eventually gave up.

This is also the place where I sprained my ankle badly about 6 years ago, 2 miles from my house. That was a tough walk home. So I'm really careful here today. George is getting a little tired, as evidenced by his tongue!

He's also found some muck to splash in and in this last picture, he's completely covered from his belly down. He's in heaven. Look at how happy he is.

I don't want to be the one to tell him that I can't walk with him for a little while. He'll find out soon enough, though.