Geronto-Champ

It was at last dry today and so we thought it would be a good time to make a mail run into "the Homeland". But when we got to the border there was a long, very slow line of cars and trucks inching along. I hadn't reacted quickly enough and almost immediately got locked into the line, where I idled and inched for almost 1o minutes before coming to a place in the road where I could U turn back. Who knows what security frenzy had gripped the other side, but Screw This. I doubled back a block and then headed east to Alder Mountin

This would be our sixth AlderWalk and each time (except for two pad-abouts around the entrance) we have ventured further down the trail. My concern has been how much "up" the trial the back would be and whether the Fipster could make it. The sign at the beginning said "4km" -- How far along would we make it today?

Fips started out pokey, as Rosco trotted impatiently ahead. But after a while Fips built up steam and flew down to Bridge Two...

Where there was a waterfall that interested me,

and a short ways on something very interesting to both pups

Fips was doing pretty well, but I began to notice that his right hind leg was increasingly wobbly and he ran with a bias as his spine arc'd to left. Eventually he stumbled into the ditch. I lifted him out and held him as I massaged his hips with my thumbs. This seemed to make him feel better and he took off again, somewhat straighter than before.

At 2.4 miles AlderMountin is a respectable hike. More wooded, it is not as wild and rocky as RedwoodMountin where Fips and I would climb up stoney ravines in the rain, many years agoI though back to those young pup days. Fips was so intrepid then -- alert, "tight" and full of sure footed bounce. AlderMountin is more genteel -- a softer trek for an older Fips. "Just like mountin, eh, guys?" I said

We made it down to the bottom, which wasn't that much farther -- two bridges more -- than where we had got before. But here, shaded by thickets of branches and sheltered by the encircling bluffs it was cooler and snow still lay on the ground

I kept an eye on Fips. He was doing pretty well and as the path corrected its slant and evened out, Fips seems to do a little better, picking up steam again and chasing over Bridge Four. No ... he is not a gymnastic puppy. His leg hurts, his vision is clouded, his breath shorts, but he is still intrepid... as much if not more so even than before.

After the last bridge, the trail rose up again. Fips doggedly and steadily made it to the top. But then as we headed back down, Fips began to visibly tire. I stopped to encourage him and to give him little hip massages as we went.

Fips had gamely sampered along, stopping and turning to sniff -- and sometimes "precision sniff" something invisibly fascinating. But now his scampers became fewer and he was slowing down. Still he persisted.

Back down at Level Zero we came on to more snow, which both doggies padded through, until we came to the lower level parking lot next to the creek.

By the time we got to the creekside pic nic area, Fips was visibly tired. At one point, just before the parking lot, he lost his bearing and got entangled in some twigs.

From out first exploration into this park, I knew we were close to the upper level entrance. I thought it best to head up the smooth road back to the truck, but Fips instead wanted to go up via the parallel trail. But then he started lagging.

So we headed returned to the road. It was slow going... step by step but Fips never faltered, as Rosco chased ahead, stopping every now and then to impatiently look back. A grounds-keeper was picking getting into his cart across the road. Fips spotted him, and walked on over slowly to say hello. Even now, Fips keeps his social graces. A little ways on and we reached to crest.

We made it!! The full Alder Loop. I am so proud of Fips. He is such a champ. "You're such a champ, Fips, such a champ! ...and Rosco Too" I said as I patted l'il bro on his head. Does Fips understand? Is he proud he made it? If he is proud that would mean he is also conscious of his failing strengths ... not as a present moment experienced but as a condition . I have no doubt that Fips feels joy-in-strength -- the exhiliration of the moment lived. But that pride which flows from an awareness of overcoming requires objectification and comparison. I don't doubt that Fips, who definitely understands otherness, might have a sense of overcoming others -- that is what tuggies are all about. But overcoming self is a complex and paradoxical abstraction which requires a sense of delimited or diminishing self. I am not so sure I want Fips to be proud of that, but I am.

We returned to the border. There were only a few cars in queue, as a long white car with a blue flag followed by an SUV with tinted windows sped across the highway. We crossed into the "Homeland" where I picked up my mail.

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