Signs of Spring

Those of you who have one will agree and those of you who don't will just have to take my word for it.  A little dog is a foolproof way to discover the signs of spring.

Normally, Kuro lies abed in the morning, knowing that first walk won't come until I've finished coffee, paper and breakfast.

Kuro keeps one eye open just in case I head for the door early.

Yesterday when I stepped out onto the deck at first light, Kuro was right there, nose lifted, sampling the morning breeze for scents of spring.

Later, during our midday walk, he was busy checking out the smells of other dogs who had earlier passed his way, but he also investigated some small bits of color in the otherwise green carpet.

Small daisies hard at work soaking up some sun.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a dog nose. there are smells of all kinds, each telling a story or raising a question begging investigation, wafting along with the breeze. 

I would be

[I had almost completed this post on my phone when I stopped to answer an incoming call. When I returned to Blogger to complete the post and post it for publication, this is all I found. I've tried everything I know to find the rest. I worry that my readers will have to put up with an occasional broken post while I'm in the hinterlands. In order to complete this post I'm moving to my laptop. I'll investigate the problem more later.]

I would be overwhelmed to suddenly smell all the things that a dog does. Depending on the breed, dog's noses are hundreds or thousands of times more sensitive than our human noses. Of course, it takes a lot more gray cells to process this information also. Estimates range upwards of 40 times greater than ours proportionally.

Of course, I guess a dog would be similarly overwhelmed if it could suddenly see the full range of colors that humans see. Most authorities say dogs see basically shades of yellow, blue and gray. Quite a change if they could see the full rainbow and rich tones we see. But their eyes also see better in dim light and are better at detecting motion.

Back to our spring walk. Near the northwest corner of the park, Kuro began to pull toward a small rise. When we topped it, even my poor nose could smell what was attracting his attention.

The bright yellow and strong smell of skunk cabbage are a sure sign of spring.

Kuro likes the smell and I like the colors and shape.

In addition to helping me discover the signs of spring, Kuro encourages me to get my daily allocation of walking time. I feel better for that and I know Kuro appreciates it.