Before and After

It never fails. Every year around February I look at Nellie and think, "Is she getting a little chubby under all that fluff?" I decrease her food a little figuring that if she is, that will take care of it. Inevitably when I get her shaved for the warm weather, I experience guilt and self recrimination because, in fact, it is only I who has gained winter weight. I wish someone would starve me and make it easy. But no......

Wait. Back up a few lines. "...shaved for warm weather..." Yes, it is a little premature. Even in St. Louis. But since I have to run with Nellie on roads to get to Forest Park, all the road sludge gets deeply embedded in her long fur. I was having to bath her too often. So she suffers to make my life easier. Very selfish of me, I admit.
But she truly does not seem to mind. She is just sooo happy to be back to running on a regular basis.

We have been driving once a week to do our longer run/frolic on trails. The east end of the Chubb Trail that includes a loop around Castlewood State Park is my second favorite trail destination. It is an easy 6-8 mile run with little elevation gain but great bluff and river views. I usually have a chance to see some wildlife and in the past have seen deer, coyote, turkey, eagles and always many hawks. It is a verdant, lush landscape starting in spring and stark and bare this time of year. Come April I will begin referring to it as the Tick Run because Nellie has picked up as many as 15 of those nasty, creepy crawlies in a single run.

I tried to get a photo of the bluffs without the offensive houses but it was impossible. This, of course, gave me something to obsess about as I ran. Will someone please tell me why masses of people feel the need to ruin any and all god-given, spectacular views by plopping their ugly, gigantic friggin houses right smack dab in the epicenter of the breathtaking scenery. Don't they realize that it is beautiful and awe-inspiring right up until that moment that they bulldoze the shit out of it to erect their odious symbols of self-congratulatory, self-grandeur? Have some humility people. Why is every one out to trump god's gift of beauty? ("Because we can", I hear as a not-too-distant echo.) What ever happened to tucking away one's abode in a discreet and organic manner? Christ, surely I can't be the only freak who feels affronted by this crap?

Okay, I'm finished. Sorry.