Every Rose Has Its Thorns, or Earth Day Takes a Bite Outta Me

I don't think I've mentioned it in the blog before now, although I've meant to for a couple weeks.

I've been teaching Bucket to run with me while I ride my bike. He's been doing remarkably well, and it's been really nice to get him some good exercise finally. He's much more quiet when he's pooped. Plus, I really enjoy riding my bike, and my dream is to be able to have him ride trails with me. It's a longshot, but as well as he's been doing on the road, I no longer think it's impossible.

This morning, however, I could tell something was off. He just wasn't paying attention. Granted, he normally has the attention span of a gnat, but it's something. I should have taken that observation to the thoughtful part of my brain and turned it into something intelligent, like a beeline for the house. Instead, I figured it was just a passing bout of ADD and that we'd be fine.

Here's the result of that lack of using my better judgement:
I also have a nice bit of road rash on my right elbow, and my right hip is going to have a fantastic bruise.

The worst part about all of this is that I have NO IDEA what distracted him and caused him to suddenly stop in the middle of a run. I am very diligent about watching out for people, cats, dogs, birds, plastic bags, oddly shaped rocks, and shadows that might grab his attention. There was nothing. My best guess is that another dog had stopped to leave his mark and Bucket, never one to be outdone, felt the urge to "overwrite" said mark. Normally I can just pull him through this type of distraction with a sharp "Leave It", but this one was so abrupt that I never had a chance.

Poor Delilah, who only ever gets a short walk on account of her gimpy knees, could only bounce around and look confused as I bypassed her and her longing looks and headed straight for the sink and the hydrogen peroxide. I've gotten myself washed off and rinsed down and the stinging has commenced in a purposeful way. I've commandeered the ice packs and downed a fistful of ibuprofen, but I think Delilah's walk and any subsequent hard labor I had planned for the day have just taken a backseat to me wallowing in pain.

And, by the way...Happy Earth Day! I've given of myself to the Earth today (literally!); what are you going to do?