Fussy the Dog's Grand Day Out!

Hurry, let's go there is no time to waste!

          On September 13^th we took Fussy out for more of her birthday celebration to Fullersburg Woods and Graue Mill. Turning 13 years old is a big deal when you are a dog. Fussy loves going to forest preserves and it had been quite a long time since she had been to these two particular places.

          Because of Fussy's arthritis in her hock and a little bit of a hip issue I like to keep her in shape by taking her for a walk around our neighborhood. The only problem with that is the scenery gets old and boring for not only me but for Fussy as well. I was a bit concerned about how well she would be able to walk on a forest preserve path, most places have rugged dirt paths. Fullersburg Woods and Graue Mill were picked for their nicely packed trails and paved paths, not to mention that Fullersburg has a restroom with modern pluming for us humans.

You humans stop to much for photos. Let's keep going!

          We got ourselves and Fussy packed into the car and off we went! Fussy knew that car ride meant something exciting was happening and she also knows that when we pack stuff for a trip it is to some place really good. She was so excited on the trip up there I thought for sure she would be to tired to walk far once there.

No time to sit and enjoy the view humans, we gotta keep going.

If you are going to stop and take pictures I'll run in circles while I wait for you.

          Time to disembark the vehicle and head off into the woods. I loaded up my little back pack with some supplies that Fussy and ourselves might need while on the trail. I pulled out the water and offered it to Fussy, she glanced at it, turned her back to it and proceed to pull on the leash. In Fussy language that was "Forget your water human, let's get going!" It was great to know that she was feeling very spry and alert for this walk. Not only was her mind feeling rejuvenated by the sight of the woods so was her body. Our walks at home aren't for very long trips because after awhile Fussy's back end gets wobbly, but I could see that wasn't going to happen on this walk, at least no time soon.

There was no stopping her!

 

          So the walk began. For pretty much all of the walk all we saw (and could take pictures of) was Fussy's fuzzy rear end! She was smiles the whole trip, it was awesome seeing her enjoy herself. 

Nope, still no stopping her.

          We were a little far from the car that had our water so we stopped at a water pump so Fussy could get a drink. This pump was slightly different then the ones I've used in the past. Instead of the water just shooting out to the faucet up at the top the water first emerges into a little drinking bowl which then heads down a pipe and shoots out at the bottom. It took a bit of hand pumping before the water started to flow and a little encouragement before Fussy attempt to drink. At the bottom of the pipe that the water was flowing out before head back down into the earth had small leak that dripped out the bottom of the elbow of the pipe. Fussy started to drink from the flowing water but craned her head to the bottom to the elbow of pipe to lap up the drips of water. She is so silly! We laughed our butts off over her antics before hitting the dusty trail.

          This time for this trip we decided to not walk all the way over from Fullersburg Woods to Graue Mill, so we headed back to the car. Sadly this time of year all the waterfowl seems to have been elsewhere instead of on the creek that runs along Fullersburg Woods and Graue Mill.

          We headed on over to the mill to watch the water wheel turning. The spray of water coming off it was great to feel on our faces after such a long hike. I placed Fussy up on the wall next to the wheel for a little photo shoot.

          After some walking around the outside of the mill we headed off down the paved pathway. However, it wasn't long after that we finally decided to stop Fussy as we could see that her body was starting to get tired. Like a kid, she did her best to try to tell us that she wasn't tired and wanted to keep walking. On the walk back to the car I could see that we made the right decision to head back. Back at the car Fussy sat in the grass, rested a bit, and drank some water. It had been a spectacular day but like all good things they must come to an end, so off we headed for home.

          Back home for a well deserved meal Fussy eat and promptly fell asleep. She slept a good long time and even did some running in her sleep. I think the chances were very good that she had been dreaming of her trip and was back running along its trails.

No really, I can keep walking! Well....this grass is comfortable.