Let Me Sum Up

I have a bunch of short hikes to write up from recent weekends. Lilo and I have traipsed through the Belknaps and Ossipees with a shifting array of much-appreciated friends (and their dogs!).

We’ve had moody weather…

Round Pond in chiaroscuro.

…that turned into blue skies and fluffy white clouds.

A viewpoint below the summit of Mack, our last peak to complete the Belknap Range. The wind was icy, but the view was worth lingering over even so. One of our hiking buddies and I had apparently swapped dogs for this picture — that’s me on the far right, and Lilo on the left next to our pal.

We’ve enjoyed all sorts of company, anticipated and not…

We expected to meet one human friend for this Shaw/Blacksnout/Tate loop but ended up with two — and some favorite four-legged buddies, too!

…and moments of quiet solitude even in the midst of a delightfully chatty group hike.

Admiring the Whites from the summit of Shaw.

We’ve tasted winter…

Surprising snow atop Major on Thanksgiving morning — and just enough ice to make those rocks slippery, although too little for microspikes to usefully bite.

…and been reminded that hugs and hot tea will get us through just about any chill.

Making herself comfy in her other favorite person’s lap doing a Piper/Whiteface hike yesterday.

And all of this has been just wonderful. I really wish I’d taken the time to lovingly detail it out while it was happening instead of cramming it into one post while I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself because young Titus had himself quite a weekend.

The highlight was when he escaped his car crate — in which he has hung out for many, many uneventful — hours while unattended and climbed all throughout the Jeep, which is definitely not a vet-approved activity for 3.5 weeks post-TPLO. But there were some lowlights, too, and as a result he’s been pretty sore yesterday and today. Not sore enough for me to think that he did something catastrophic to the surgical site! He’s walking well and not sensitive to touch, etc. And he’s better today than he was yesterday. But he’s offloading the leg when standing more than his baseline since those first days post-op and I just — am tired, you guys. I’m tired of the way that, every time things seem to be looking up for us, something like this happens. I want him to be okay and I want it now. Which I realize is unrealistic. But tonight, I do not care.

And now I’ll go back to reading beside his crate and making plans to hike something bigger next weekend to remind myself that I can.