LAROSE FOREST

And now ... something pleasant. I drove Terri to Larose Forest Tuesday afternoon. When we got near the forest, she became VERY excited and started crazy frenzied barking "Oh boy! oh boy! I smell woods! I wanna run in the woods!" (or something like that). I poured water into her bowl and left it by a tire and let her wander around as there was only one other car parked in the lot.

Shortly after, a white car arrived but instead of parking, the driver drove around slowly, going uphill beside the road and around again slowly; stopped a distance away, drove around and finally parked. A man and his young son got out. He said that his son thought Terri was a wolf. Ha ha ha! Other owners of Belgian shepherds have heard that one before. The boy came over and petted Terri happily; then they proceeded to run around together. Terri loved having somebody chase her.

Terri and I walked along the dog sledding trails which were surprisingly dry and not slippery, despite the recent rains and fallen leaves. It was a perfect day for such a walk -- comfortable for a cozy sweater and jeans. I didn't need the jacket that I brought "just in case". Terri had fun playing with the many sticks she found along the trail. There were signs up warning not to allow your dog to chase deer. Terri has an excellent recall so I wasn't concerned she would cause trouble. It certainly isn't fair to deer to make them run in fear of wolf-like animals; they could injure themselves running fast amongst the trees and above-ground roots and branches.

Before heading home, my curiosity sent me driving through some roads in the forest and I was rewarded with sights of sunlit leaves amongst shaded branches.

Somebody is logging tall pines not far from the parking lot. The log piles appear to be made up of only the oldest, tallest pines in that part of the forest. Just past the logging area is a small pond with a sign stating: Nesting site for turtles. Respect. Do not disturb. I hope the logging operations don't disturb the turtles if they are still in the area.

There is a "Mush Larose" page at Facebook for people interested in participating in various sledding, skijoring, dog/biking activities.