A quiet day after three days of Christmas celebration is magical in its own way. I opened a new book to read. enjoyed a coffee. Accepted an invitation to go on a walk with my brother.
The morning had a light breeze out of the west and with a cold morning it bit into our faces. It had snowed the night before. Perfect to notice new tracks.
Our first observation was fresh tire tracks. We were quick to conclude that some one had driven in some time that morning. Knowing that was not true we realized that it was from the last family to leave the party. They would have left after most of the snow had fallen.
later on our walk we noticed a set of dog tracks on the side of the rural gravel road. From the depth and angle of the prints the dog had been running. The spacing and pairing also matched an animal running with front paws and rear working in pairs. Every set of four prints had a swish mark. We guessed the tail was coming down as the rear legs coiled for the next stride. The strange thing was a continuous line running along the tracks following parallel about two inches away.
Our answer came when a van approached from behind and passed. A neighbor drove slowly as a dog ran beside. A long rope was a leash to the dog from the open window. We laughed when we realized that the dog was allowed to run free beside the van. The trailing rope created the parallel line.
A good tracking day for sure.
