A Walk in the Woods // Prince

   I've had a pretty confusing and busy week.  Busy because we created a new school schedule to see how much time I really have and I discovered that I really have none.  Confusing because the weather has been back and forth, up and down; everything from sunny and 75 to rainy, snowy, 20's.  And I had a boy tell me he likes me.  (Whole 'nother story on that, sister.)

Last week, words were coming easily to me.  I had a pretty good control on my emotions and moods, and poems were just popping up everywhere.  But this week threw me for a loop.  Words disappeared, I was having feeling that I couldn't process and I was struggling to make sense of it all.  I'm a "make-sense" type of person.  I like math.  I like sorting things and solving things and fixing things.  I like being in control and able to put everything in it's proper place.  But unfortunately life doesn't work that way most of the time (read: at all.)  And I was unable to even process my feelings.

So I took a walk.  With my dog.  And a notebook.

And I just thought.  And prayed.  I opened up my thoughts, laid them out, and talked them back into place.  Having an excited pooch beside me with a tail wagging a mile a minute helped some too.

And then I went back to get my camera because it was too beautiful to let go to waste.  And I came back with another dog, two siblings, and two cats.

It was wonderful. 

I'll admit I didn't get everything as nice and neat as I would have wanted it.  The second trip around was nosier; more chaotic.  But it also reminded me that sometimes the most beautiful things are nosier and more chaotic.  And that's okay.

Taken on a high speed setting to get the mid-air look and edited with the help of the coolest Jedi-brother ever.

Cutest dog/girl/dog combo EVER!

*Also notice that cats photo-bombed both of these above pictures. XD

Aaaand, just because, I'm going to rave about my dog.  Because he is the BEST ever.

 This is Prince.

Adorable, right?

He is part Whippet (Small grayhound), part retriever something, the rest who-knows-what

and 100% Awesome.

This dog is like, my soul-mate.  He and I are basically identical (besides the fact that, ya know, I'm a female human and he is a male dog....But I digress)

He is the sweetest thing ever. He will always cuddle up with you, wag his tail when you come in, and he follows me around everywhere.  Like, seriously, we are always in the same room.  I'm at my desk; he is sleeping behind me.  I go to the bathroom; he lays outside the door.  I go outside (with out him) and he sits at the screen door and watches me.  He sits in my lap. (Biggest lap dog ever, but I don't care.)  We got him from a rescue when he was still too young to be away from his mother (he was dropped off alone, we still don't know how it happened) so he and I bonded.  Like, basically wielded together.

He is so willing to please. I spent a lot of time training him when I was little (we got him when I was 9) and he was always willing to please.  I spent hooouuurrrrss out there with him.  And it has totally paid off.  I don't command him any more; I talk to him.  When I take him for a walk, I don't say "Heel" or "Slow" or "Sit."  I say, "Walk with me, bud"  or "Hey, wait up" or "Take a rest."  Seriously, I do.  And he looks over his shoulder at me and wags his tail and gets the message.  I talk to him, not command him.

He is a great listener.  Okay, I know all animals technically are because they can't talk back or interrupt, but he does.  He looks you in the eye and rests his chin on your hand and reacts to my emotions.  He knows.

He is a gentleman.  Seriously, this dog is more of a gentleman than some teenage boys I know.  Say, for instance, that I'm in my room and the door is shut.  He will sit down, knock with his paw, and then wait.  When  you come and open the door he will stay seated looking up at you until you say something like, "Come on in."  I am serious!  He has done it since he was a puppy and no one taught him that.  If you drop food on the ground, he will wait for our other dog to eat what she wants and then after she leaves he will go up there and see what's left.  He will not fight over food. (For this reason I've learned to save him some until Lucy leaves!)

He is the most adorable thing to ever grace the universe.  Don't believe me?  Ha.  Take a look at the following 2 pictures.  One of him the day we got him, and one I took just 2 days ago.

WAS HE NOT THE CUTEST PUPPY EVER?!

LOOK INTO THOSE DEEP BROWN EYES, PEOPLE!!  *dies from adorableness*

But, he is also a stress ball like me, and a little scared of anything that he thinks might be dangerous, like me, so he can be really nervous sometimes too.  But he is still adorable:

I hate to laugh but it is just too funny. Look at the fear in those eyes. XD (For the record the scary thing at this moment was that we had him sit on a slab of cement that was about an inch high. haha)

Annnd, because Julia said I should, here is a picture of 9-year-old me holding him the day we got him.  You are not allowed to laugh XD

Weeeeel, this post was a lot longer and more side-tracked than I had imagined.  Oh well.

Have a lovely day,
Jess

ps. Sense I never got back around to responding to comments; the salt in the picture on my last post was for the humidifier. XD