The Sting

Hello, friends!  Hope your week is starting off well.  We have reached the middle of the Summer season here in Michigan and are now working our way toward Fall.  As the days get shorter, I try to focus on the good things still to come in our much-too-short Summer season here.  The temperatures have been in the 80s with fairly high humidity still, and while I'd prefer a little less humid weather, I'm not complaining!  Any day I can wear shorts and flip-flops is a good day in my world!

Over the last couple of weeks, the girls and I have spent some time out exploring some new areas closer to home.  We haven't had a chance to take any big Summer adventures, and the same walking route around our neighborhood is getting a lot less interesting to us all, so I'm using my new-found interest in geocaching to locate some new parks and trails in the Lansing area to get us out exploring.  It's definitely brought us some interesting adventures!

Maddie has had weekly appointments at the Vet for her Adequan injections over the last few weeks, so we have used these trips to Mason to spend some time on the Hayhoe trail.  We bring Peaches along so that all of our friends at Patterson's can give both girls some love, and then after Maddie's appointment is done, we head out on the trail which is just a short distance away.   Not only have we found some new areas to explore, but we also had a chance to stop and appreciate the Veteran's Memorial in downtown Mason.  I've driven by this many times, but never stopped.  What a cool memorial!

On Thursday, we headed out to explore the trails near the MSU Federal Credit Union main branch  These trails are nicely paved, but not well known, so they don't get very busy.  For me, those are great places to explore with the dogs. 

We brought Bentley along for our adventure on this night and we had no idea what was in store for us.  We parked the Jeep and headed down the trail toward our first geocache of the day.  Peaches was happily bounding through the grass on the sides of the trail, Bentley happily walking along in front of me on the trail, and Maddie plodding along at my side.  As we neared our first cache, we had to go off the trail to find it.  Peaches leapt joyfully forward in the tall grass, leaping and then rolling, two of her favorite things to do.  I was watching my footing and helping Maddie along, while trying to convince Bentley it was okay to leave the trail, when I noticed Peaches leap into the air to catch a bug and then furiously begin to shake her head.  She dropped to roll on the ground again, and that is when I noticed another bug flying toward me...and I realized it wasn't a bug at all, but a wasp! 

In her enthusiasm, Peaches had landed on and disturbed a wasps nest and they were slowly beginning to come out after us.  I quickly started to back out of the grass, and was stung in my side.  I was dragging the girls out of there as quickly as I could, but Peaches was stung a couple more times, and with each sting, she just wanted to roll in the grass to make it stop hurting!  But somehow I convinced her she needed to get up and out of there.

Meanwhile, poor Maddie had been stung, then got tangled in her leash, and fell over.  She was writhing in the grass, near the edge of the path, but struggling to stand on her own.  Finally I was able to calm her down a bit, get her untangled, and get her standing, but when we started to walk, she was wobbly on her feet and fell over.  I began to panic, wondering if she was having an allergic reaction to her stings and, not knowing what else to do, I picked her up (all 67.8 pounds of her!) and began to carry her over my shoulder toward the Jeep.  At this point, I was unable to pick up leashes for Bentley and Peaches, but I was so proud of the two of them as they stayed close by, right in front of me on the path as I continued to walk toward the Jeep.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was probably less than 100 yards, I reached a bench were I could put Maddie down and check to see how she was doing.  Thankfully she was able to stand and walk on her own again, and although she was still panting pretty heavily and her heart was racing, I determined that she wasn't having an allergic reaction, but instead, most likely, had just had a good scare and worked herself up when she got tangled.  So after a short break, we were all back on the path walking back toward the Jeep so that I could get everyone a drink and decide what we would do next. 

While Maddie had given me quite the scare, after a little rest and a drink, she seemed to be back to her normal self, and so we decided to continue our walk-heading in a different direction! 

The rest of our walk was enjoyable and uneventful, and we all had a great time spending some time together.  I was even able to get everyone to pose for a picture for me!  After a crazy and eventful trip, we headed home tired and happy!

On Sunday, we were back out on the North Country Trail working toward our 100 miles for the year.

We visited the section of the trail just outside of Battle Creek at Kimball Pines.  This part of the trail was new for us and I was happy to be out getting some time on the trail with the girls.  The weather was hotter than I expected, and this part of the trail wasn't very well shaded, so we had to cut our hike a little short because it was just too hot for Maddie.  So after 1.4 miles, we were back in the Jeep with the air conditioning cranked to help Maddie cool down. 

Next we headed to Historic Bridges Park, just a short drive from Kimball Pines.  After a little rest and some time to cool down in the air conditioning, I thought we could get in a little more time on the trail, but first the girls took some time to splash around in the river.

We enjoyed a slow and relaxing one mile walk around Historic Bridges Park and one last splash in the River before heading home.  It had been a nice relaxing day out and about with the girls.  It was just the kind of Sunday I needed!

I think Maddie was pretty happy with the day as well!  After a fun week of exploring, there's nothing better than spending a little quiet time in the sun in your own backyard on a Sunday afternoon!