11.13.14 You Could Smell The Pungent Sap and Pine Needles

Our footsteps were silent, as the earth gave beneath us; seasons upon years of leaves and pine needles creating a luscious rich humus below the paths and the forest floor


Far enough in, I let go his leash from his harness, smiling as he laughed back at me, happy young dog-style , and loped away with delicious delight


I turned off the path toward the Reservoir , catching a glance behind me to ensure no one else had come yet, though it was early.
Many times he immersed himself in any available waters; when he doesn't, the land and water and reflection are enough to bring you to your knees.
And this is a place that , once the water freezes over, will no longer be a safe dog waking place for a young one such as he. 

Sometimes we go round the waters , then cut our own path through the woods , so that a young Shepherd can avoid bikes and rowdy groups of humans and things of that sort.
But it being early still , we cut back toward the main path, and followed it, leaf strewn, up the hill .

He'd watched me struggle for some time, another day , to liberate some poor tree from an old corrugated round of rusted metal that once was the drainpipe beneath the paths.
When they replaced them with plastic, they left the huge things lying about , and some dingdong pulled one round a tree, hampering its growth, cutting into it's growing sides .
Now that ragged rusted pipe , maybe 4'x5', lay curled on its side, away from trees. 

Still, we needed to carefully step down each incline toward a passing stream, and examine the drainpipes. Til he felt more at ease. Such is the way of vigilant Shepherds

Then the streams were each a source of fun and cool clean drinking water, as it should be.

Just too bad when they replaced the rotting drainpipes, that they left all these dangerous jagged old pipes about in an otherwise pristine forest .
Up round the bend we went, the entire path indented. By rains? Flooding, come spring ? He grabbed a huge branch to lift and pull , and I took the opportunity to capture him, attach him to the leash, and turn us about.
Far above us all was a half moon, faint, lingering over the Pine Forest.

You could smell the pungent sap and pine needles, old dead and golden upon the ground, and green, fragrant and vibrant upon the trees. In Pine forests there live unique microbes that we inhale as we walk by, that are beneficial to our respiratory 

systems.

Similar to the mitochondria that are a part of us upon birth; yet long long ago were independent creatures , now part of how we manufacture energy, and manage cellular repair. 

Nearing the road by a farmer's field, I caught sight once more of the Pines, reflected in the clear waters, ready and waiting. 

Ice first appeared upon my birdbath this morning, and I sense that snow is not far behind.