An afternoon gone to the dogs!

Having accepted a dog-walking gig for the winter, as I walk Torrie-the-wonder-dog and Clifford Beagle, Monday through Friday, rain or shine, we pass through residential neighborhoods, along creeks and ponds and through the forest along a system of trails connecting to the old railroad trail. Our route is two miles through neighborhoods just to reach the trail head, six miles round trip on the trail system, then two miles back through the neighborhood to reach our starting point again.

As we walk through the residential neighborhood to reach our trail head, I'm particularly enjoying the holiday decorations that are springing up in the yards this time of year.

We approach the tunnel and we're going in . . .

Torrie loves running through the tunnel first and waiting for us at the other end.

We have the option to take several other trails and decide to head down the Railroad Trail today.

We keep walking down, and down, and down . . . down the stairs . . .

We cross the street and head down to the next trail and continue to wind our way down all the hills. Just behind the Barkley Haggens, we decide to turn around to make our way back up all those hills and steps that we just came down.

We pass beautiful trees . . .

We pass the duck pond and stop a moment to watch the ducks play . . .

We check out the passage leading to the street . . .

We head toward the bridge and over the creek again . . .

Even on an overcast day, the moss is plush and looks soft in contrast to the crunchy texture of the autumn leaves and the ferns always seem green.

It's just another great afternoon, gone to the dogs!