I did something today that I realized about halfway through was really, really dumb. I took the puppy for a walk at Asylum Lake without:
The awesome thing (and the thing I'm actually proud of myself for), is that I didn't get lost, and I'm a total idiot when it comes to directions and knowing where I am in relation to...the rest of the world, basically, at any certain time. The key, I found, was to remind myself that the lake is on my left when we go in to the preserve, so it should be on my right when we go back to the car. I forced myself to make a mental note that on the way back I was to "turn right at the giant rusty posts" so I didn't get confused at one of the crossroads in the trails. I may have also let the dog decide which way we should go at another crossroads that tends to confuse me. (Hey, I have a shitty sense of direction and a history of getting lost in places that I really should not have gotten lost, and the puppy has a sense of smell 1,000 times stronger than mine and the ability to track almost anything anywhere.* Who would you let tell you which way to go?)
*Seriously...drop a tiny crumb of food (or a cat treat) on a carpet somewhere...even if you pick it up right away, he'll still be able to smell it hours later and will spend a good 5 minutes licking the carpet where it once was, simply because the smell is so strong to him. I almost want to stage the search and rescue of a neighborhood child, just to see how well he does. Or make TheMister give him an item of my clothing to scent after I've hidden somewhere and then make him find me...
Hmm...I think I might have just come up with a fun weekend activity for us to try sometime!
WOW, I am officially a BIG DORK.
Tell your friends!
- telling anyone where I was going,
- having anything besides the dog and a really strong sense of self-preservation to defend myself with, had there been any scary people hanging out in the nature preserve, just lying in wait for a chick and her dog to assault,
- having a charged cell phone either on me or in the car, or
- carrying anything on me to identify my body if I a) got lost in the woods, b) lost consciousness somehow and/or c) died.
The awesome thing (and the thing I'm actually proud of myself for), is that I didn't get lost, and I'm a total idiot when it comes to directions and knowing where I am in relation to...the rest of the world, basically, at any certain time. The key, I found, was to remind myself that the lake is on my left when we go in to the preserve, so it should be on my right when we go back to the car. I forced myself to make a mental note that on the way back I was to "turn right at the giant rusty posts" so I didn't get confused at one of the crossroads in the trails. I may have also let the dog decide which way we should go at another crossroads that tends to confuse me. (Hey, I have a shitty sense of direction and a history of getting lost in places that I really should not have gotten lost, and the puppy has a sense of smell 1,000 times stronger than mine and the ability to track almost anything anywhere.* Who would you let tell you which way to go?)
*Seriously...drop a tiny crumb of food (or a cat treat) on a carpet somewhere...even if you pick it up right away, he'll still be able to smell it hours later and will spend a good 5 minutes licking the carpet where it once was, simply because the smell is so strong to him. I almost want to stage the search and rescue of a neighborhood child, just to see how well he does. Or make TheMister give him an item of my clothing to scent after I've hidden somewhere and then make him find me...
Hmm...I think I might have just come up with a fun weekend activity for us to try sometime!
WOW, I am officially a BIG DORK.
Tell your friends!
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