The perks of having Art semi-retired....Or NOT

I am not trying to complain or whine. Really. It is nice to have Art home more. He is working only 3 days a week right now. The economy has really slowed down around here, and the guys have been sharing time at his work. We sold the business a few months ago, and Art has been working as an estimator for the new boss. Means we only get paid for 3 days, but that is another entry.
Art is loving it.

This new schedule gives us time to do more stuff together... and we love being together.

Today we decided to take a walk.

The point of this blog entry is to share with you what it is like to take a walk with Art.
We are such opposites.
He loves the outdoors, he can see animals, birds, and stuff that normal people never see when they are looking. I usually can't see what he is pointing to when he is telling me to "look, look", and I hate it when he then asks, "did you see it?" because more than likely I didn't.


After 40 years together I have to say that every walk we take usually goes something like this one...

"Lets go for a walk at Cherry Creek," said Art. "Its a nice day, a little windy, a little cold, but it will be fun."

"Hmmm, okay, but I am tired so lets keep it kinda short, " I said. I usually always say something like this. Mainly because I know that a walk with Art probably means using more energy and strength than I have at the time.

"No problem, baby leg (one of Art's pet names for me. I think he made it up.)"

Off we go. There is a path at Cherry Creek that has lots of different directions and lengths, so we had lots of choices.You know, like we could go long or short, or up or down, or fast or slow, or complaining or not
complaining. It was all up to the walkers.

I gave him one last reminder as we got out of the car,

" Art lets not go the way we did last time, I'm tired today, and I have new shoes on, Okay?", I said.

"Oh, we will go a different way then."

Our usual pattern is for Art to take the lead, and I travel about 10 steps behind .
He can be a fast walker,but he has learned that it is better to let me hobble along at my own pace, while he slows it down a pace or two otherwise he will loose me.

After about 1/4 mile, Art points to our right , " Look see them?"

I looked to our right, but I didn't see anything. Suddenly up popped 4 little heads. The deer quickly stood up , and they leeringly backed away as we moved on slowly down the path.


Hmm, how did he see those, I thought.

We continued on.

Another 1/2 mile and Art points to the ground, "Oh, look see the the coyote poop?"
"How would you know that is coyote poop?" I asked.
"Look close and you can see the fur of a rabbit or a mouse in it."

Whatever I thought, I'm sure I'm not going to look for the fur in poop on the ground. I stepped over the little pile and moved on without giving the poop another look.

At this point the bench up ahead of us was looking pretty good to me, but there was no sense stopping my momentum since we had to be almost back to the truck. I will admit that I wasn't sure how close we were, but he had to have heard me say I wanted to take a SHORT walk.

If we were on a mountain walk this would be about the time that Art would say, "Don't worry we just have to go over the next ridge and we will be there." and he would take my hand and start dragging me up the hill both of us knowing that he would say the same thing when we got to the next ridge.

Here is where I have to tell you that my feet and knees are not what they used to be , and with the cold air and new shoes I was getting real achey. I knew that complaining at this point would not be helpful because it would only take energy and I would need that to get back to the truck.

And here is were I could say that we walked another 10miles to the truck, or
that the truck was no where to be found.
Either way this is were I lost it.

I won't tell you what I shouted, but I will tell you that Art replied very calmly, "I told you we would go a different way. It just happened to be farther, but its okay. You can do it. "

I realized that I had no choice but to do it, and I could do it nice or not.
I hate to admit that I choose NOT. So the whole time I was complaining ( that is a nice way of putting it)
I felt bad cause Art was so cute.

He was walking backwards facing me, and cheering me on the whole way, except for when he said,
" Ahh, come on sweetie pie, you would complain if I hung you with a new rope."
Ha, HA, Ha, HA, funny huh?" he asked.

SERIOUSLY.... now was not the time. No way would I let him see me laugh.
But I had to laugh at least on the inside.
I can not tell you how thrilled I was to finally see the truck in the distance.

Every walk we take I always make it back, and Art always tells me he knew I could do it.
But this is why after 40 years I know that no matter what he says to get me out there that this is how it will end up in some way, shape or form.

Yep Art's new schedule is giving us more time to do stuff together.... and today we took a walk.