The saltmarsh smells good.
– October 11, 2017 Toby –
I love when Joanna takes me to the salt marsh. She doesn’t often let me run off the leash, but she frees me once we get away from the main trail. The side trail circles out into the bay and there’s a log we like to stop at next to a big patch of pickleweed, which is fun to run through when there is no water as it lays on the ground and reminds me of an open field at the park.
One day when the water was up and I ran out where the trail through the marsh would usually be, it got creepy. It felt like long thin fingers brushing my body. Now I usually like having fingers give me a good rub a dub, but this was different as I could not see anything and no matter where I went, the fingers grabbed so I bolted for the shore and a good shake.
Joanna just laughed and we walked along the water, past some kids riding their bikes and then these older guys who were sitting around watching things that buzzed in the sky. Joanna was looking up, but the smells were too good for me to care.
We finally reached the beach and it got kind of weird. Instead of sand, broken shells covered the ground. Especially at the waters edge where the waves piled them up and made things crunchy underpaw. Joanna tossed something that landed next to me. The shells moved and I pounced, but nothing there. We both shared a laugh. I popped over the berm down to the water and gave chase to a flock of birds that fluttered as they lifted up and away from me.
