Adirondack LettersNo.13: A Dog Story. Hints of Balsam and Pine: Nature Reflections in a minor key from our quiet corner of the Adirondacks. For Fourpeaks Guests and anyone who ever dreamed about a wilderness getaway. CLICK & GO! (On this page.) Adirondack Letter No.13: "A Dog Story." More stuff in An Adirondack Miscellany. (On the next page.) The Zen of Dog Walking. List and Links to all the Adirondack Letters in this series. 
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to get on our mailing listAnd receive occasional Adirondack Letters like this. "A Dog Story" Adirondack Letter No.13 Subject: A Dog Story Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 23:22:06 From: < YourAdirondackGuide@4peaks.com > To: < youremailname@youremail.address > To: Fourpeaks Visitors At: < youremailname@youremail.address > Dear Fourpeaks Visitor, We started walking together just a year ago when George was brand new. April our open space lights up with sun and the urge to explore is irresistable. He's on lead and I decide to follow his insistent tugging--a sort of experiment in letting go my own way. He turns decisively to Wolf. Tracks from winter travel are long pools of water by the storm fallen oaks we harvested last year. Brown leaves float on top or lay waterlogged on the bottom already beginning to soften and merge with the elements. He follows the road. Where it rises up, the strewn branches, stubble and stones are warm and dry. I sense the joy as, head down, alone in his world of doggy smells, he excitedly tracks a new scent. It strikes me how his kind of information is entirely absent from my sensing, which is visual and tactile--the still air, soft earth underfoot, the welcome light and tentative warmth of the early Spring sun. He stops at First View. The old side trail makes a fair beginning but soon ends in a tangle of forest debris. Nearby at a small rise in the forest years ago I made a cedar bench for contemplation. Between two pines set close together through an accident of growth it was a perfect spot for experiencing natural beauty in a minor key. Scraggly juniper and cedar thicket by an unspectacular rock formation. The distant view was mostly just tree tops with a speck of Clements above and then all sky. It was a prospect I could never share with others. I'll bring the saw one day and open the way again. Farther up the fragile soil gives out and snow melt runs over the bare granite. It shines black with tufts of green moss between. Water finds the channel we dug accross the new road and spills over the rock retaining wall. Just below it collects in a natural spring. It's pure enough I let him drink. At Wolf he jumps onto the deck unsure of himself on the high structure. Whiteface is all snow the upper third. The tip of Stewart shows beyond our Ebenezer and Rattlesnake close by. The big flat top of Clements is clear. Farther along Jay Mountain is part hidden by trees. Sun begins to lower over the Lookout to the West. The view is framed by just a few big Eastern pine we left for effect. He's wrapped his lead around my chair and whimpers at me to move on. He finds the old horse trail for the way down. Too rough even for jeep travel today we hauled Wolf building materials up it with a farm tractor in '73. We pass the open ledge where it took smart driving and luck to get over. He gets tangled in deadfall and wraps the lead around a tree several times before we hit the woods road by Back Field and The Cabin at the end. Next day I make a special effort again to indicate no preference of my own, keeping the lead slack at all times whatever the effort it takes. After a half hour I realize we've not gone more than a hundred yards from home. At one point the scent takes him on an erratic zig zag. One moment he slows and stops. Another he's off in a rush and I have to move hard to follow and keep the lead from pulling. I urge him to Back Field through the woods and over the little stone bridge. When I look ahead at Farmhouse Field two white tails are traveling through. Head down at the ground he has no notion of this. He's skittish crossing the open brook, hesitating and back- tracking, and I lose balance and step in over my boot. When first I learned the Buddhist story, Taming the Wild Ox, and viewed the ancient drawings of Kaku-an, I rather thought my own zen-mind was more like a dog. Curious--sniffing here and there in the most godawful places. Clever perhaps--but often oblivious of what is clearly to be seen around. Relieving itself without embarassment. Highly dependent. But trust it to get home. A faithful friend. For more about this CLICK for "Taming the Wild Ox." Have a pet? CLICK for "The Zen of Dog Walking," something to think about when you next walk your dog. And visit George at his Doggy Home Page. He loves to play. Thanks for reading this. If you've ever been a guest here, go to http://4peaks.com/fgift.htm for an attractive offer to visit us again. If you've never been-- check our up-to-date Availability Calendar http://4peaks.com/femail0.htm and make some time. There's a lovely quiet season coming up. Till then please visit On-Line: http://4peaks.com/ "Explore our 700-acre rest and play-ground." http://4peaks.com/fcamp.htm Upscale Camps in a Hidden Valley. http://4peaks.com/fotrails.htm Walks with views & Beauty spots. http://4peaks.com/fgstbndx.htm Photo Guest Book--Meet our guests! http://4peaks.com/fk5stay.htm NEW! "Stay Awhile In Style" Your Adirondack Host, Martin Schwalbaum Member Whiteface Mountain Visitors Bureau Member Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau ************************************************************* This is No.13 of a really occasional Letter, "Hints of Balsam and Pine from our Corner of the Adirondacks," for Fourpeaks guests or anyone who ever inquired about a Fourpeaks Vacation/Getaway. To get off this list reply with "REMOVE" in the subject heading. *************************************************************
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to get on our mailing listAnd receive occasional Adirondack Letters like this.  An Adirondack Miscellany Newspaper and Magazine articles, Books and lots more. January 1998 Ice storm of the Century Devastates Northcountry. May 1998 Town of Jay Happy 200th Birthday Party at the 1829 Southmayd Stone House June 1998 Natives and Outsiders at the Jay Old Covered Bridge. July 1777 Jane McCrae Murdered by Indians in Ft. Edward NY Adirondack Great Camps: Adventures in the Wilderness. Miss P, the famous www.Internet web purrcat, interviews Tramp, our Fourpeaks barking cocker. Ironman USA comes to Fourpeaks. Chickadees In Winter Flying Critters on your Adirondack Vacation. Adirondack Letters: "Hints of Balsam and Pine from our corner of the Adirondacks." AuSable River Swimming: Where the Pools Are Never Crowded, And Water Slides Are Nature's Own (New York Times) A new novel about Fourpeaks: Moss Krupnick's Daughters of Utopia, 196 pages, $9.98 For your Adirondack experience--"Stay Awhile In Style!" Plattsburgh-Republican November 2002. NATURE WITHIN REACH: Luxury Camping. (July 2004, Southwest Airlines SPIRIT (In-flight Magazine.) Annual Jay Yard Sale. (First Sale August 19, 2006.) Glamping. (Glamorous Camping.) (Jan-Feb, Nov-Dec 2008, Women's Adventure Magazine.) .  Are you in this picture? Fourpeaks hosts now welcome paying guests to a 700-acre rest and playground for vacations in the Adirondack Great Camp tradition. Couples appreciate Fourpeaks secluded settings. Outdoor loving families have fun exploring our accessible wilderness. Folks with dogs enjoy the open spaces to run their pets. A private nature rereat. For a vacation away from it all. Are you in this picture? CLICK HERE to find out! [More about this at Frequently Asked Questions.]  Inquire about a Fourpeaks Adirondack Vacation/Getaway. (Easy Inquiry Form.)
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