Snow on Top

This week I am pet sitting for long term clients of my service. I inherited this job from the person who I replaced because the family lives so close to me. They have a dog and some cats, and like many of the long term clients the sitters have seen these critters age or more. They had recently lost a cat when I picked up the job.

Winter temperatures still rule this week. I noticed yesterday morning that the dog came out a little stiffly, moving cautiously in the cold air until his legs had found their traditional spring. By the second visit of the day the two of us were a match. He took his time to stretch out and I hobbled after him, limping from some darn fool thing I had stretched in my right foot while cleaning stalls and lugging buckets at the barn.

This morning, the dog and I made a perfect tableau for the day. There are still bits of snow under the shrubbery along the fence, and pockets of fluffy new snow in hollows on the lawn. After I had tossed the ball for a while, he and I sat in the sun and listened to the sounds from the nearby yards. I saw that the winter has left behind much more white around his eyes and muzzle than he had last summer. My own white hair would have completed the picture for anyone observing us.

Even the cats, who often run into corners and confound my feeding them in the preferred location, seem to be more mellow. The most hesitant of them has accepted more handling from me this week than before. Perhaps they are feeling their age, or maybe I have quietly drifted into a state of older age that they recognize.