Fall dog walking

We're regulars at Harmony Valley Conservation Area, the unofficial off-leash park in Oshawa. The dogs absolutely love it there, and so do we. It has fantastic trails, streams, and beautiful forests and fields to walk through and there are always lots of other dogs and their owners. Dogs their size need lots of room to run and it provides just that. The other night I went sans Dave and decided to snap a few pictures.

One of the side benefits of going is that it makes us more aware of the seasons changing. I really think that too often we spend too much time inside, or going from house to car to building so that we're insulated from the world around us.


We've of course noticed it getting much cooler in the evenings (but apparently not cool enough to get rid of the mosquitoes yet!), but it's much more than that. The summer brought lots of dragonflies, fireflies, flying grasshoppers, and other insects, along the trails. In the evenings of late those have all but disappeared, and instead we are greeted with the sounds of geese honking overhead, bats swooping insects out of the air and us having to save numerous toads from an unpleasant and goobery fate by keeping the dogs moving (leeeeave ittt!). The ambient noise there is now punctuated by the song of the crickets, and, because they're sighthounds, when they see the crickets jump they love trying to snap them out of the air. I can't say they've been too successful, luckily for the crickets, but it's fun to watch.