Jingle Bells

This is not a great photo, but it tells a fun and memorable event for me.  The weather for December has been mild, in the 40’s and no snow.  That means I can bundle up and still take the dog out on bike rides.  You need to know that the dog runs along side of me with a short leash.  He goes pretty well around 7 miles per hour unless distracted by some animal and then he wants to pull in whatever direction the animal is. I need to jerk and pull on the leash to get him back on track.  We have several different places we like to ride.  Today I went on the neighborhood run.  This route takes us around the middle school you see above.  The driveways to the middle school are on the left side of the school and behind the school (in front of the houses you see in the picture.)  As you can see, a number of geese usually hang out around here.  Sometimes there are a few geese and sometimes a lot.  You can see they have a nice large area to roam around plus across the street which is on the right side out of the picture, there is a pond they like to go over to.  Therefore, they roam back and forth across the road. 

On our ride this day, we were going by the houses near the pond on the right.  I could see the geese which were not strung out as is in this picture, but they were across the road behind the school.  We turned in on that road to go around the school as is our usual route.  Some of the geese started to calmly waddle off the road and onto the grass BUT there is always ONE goose that panics and sets off the rest.  I could see a goose to the front left of us flap his wings and I knew, oh dear, here goes.  Sure enough geese on the road in front of us and both sides of us flew up in the air.  This time it was an amazing sensation because geese all around us flew up and off in the direction we were heading.  With that Sebastian had to lead the chase and so here we go from 7 miles an hour to 10 miles per hour.  I had to squeeze on my brake slightly and say “Whoa.”  But the sensation I felt was like we were going to be lifted off the ground, just as the geese were lifting off the ground and flying by us and in front of us.  For a moment I knew what it must feel like to drive Santa’s sleigh.

At that same moment the song “Jingle Bells” popped into my mind….Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh.  So I burst out laughing in song, “Dashing through the snow on a one dog open bike, over the road I go, laughing all the way…ha, ha, ha.”

It was truly a moment I wish I could have had on video.  I guess the video will always be in my mind…a fun unforgettable moment.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.