Some mornings I awake to the sound of birds, some the sound of my alarm but rarely to the sound of panting or pawing. My dogs have long since given up trying to rouse me from my often brief comatic episodes with my bed. The only thing that gets me up is the nagging knowledge that my yard will be dug for days unknown if they don’t get a run before I drag my corpse off to work. Until they learn how to make coffee, we have an impasse.
Drifting into the park at the beasts behest, I’m a part-time participant in a morning melee of walkers with a range of reasons why they’re out with their mutts. It’s an eclectic crew that can
swell to 10 or so people and 16+ dogs. As someone once remarked, “if not for our dogs, we’d probably have never hung out otherwise”. We’re all varied in breeds and backgrounds and there’s
something interesting in every person, our bond with our dogs leads us together.
Having 2 high energy mongrels that demand 2 walks a day, on weekends I find myself trying to mix things up for the 3 of us so we don’t wear a hole in
the park. Sometimes we’ve got mates we catch up with, others it’s as random as time and Melbourne weather will allow. We’ve been to many stops along the Great Ocean Rd, the You-Yangs, Hanging
Rock, Ballarat and beyond, we love the scent of new scenery. There’s such a vast playground, we’re compelled to explore it, experience it and understand it.
It’s for this very reason, I’d like to bend your ear with insights into the three things that drive us in this world; dogs, the environment and people. Over the coming months (years if we curry your favour) I’ll be distributing a newsletter aimed to educate, entertain and inform you across these 3 tenets. It’ll be topical, preferably in a spray bottle, insightful and oft inciteful, you’ll laugh, you’ll try.
You might even find it within yourself to begin your own journey inspired by the people we intend to profile, the organisations we’ll engage and the change we intend to engender in ourselves.
At the very least, you’ll find a nemesis for your online alter ego.
Speaking of which, I’ll be blogging regularly via the website to ensure my alter ego has a yard for rec time. I’ll never be able to say enough in a newsletter without people nodding off, so the blog should appeal to anyone with insomnia and those “on the spectrum”.
Before we begin this journey, I only ask that you keep an open mind, as much as I will try myself. I know so little of this world and hope you enjoy some of the things we’ll learn together.
Some will challenge, some will enlighten, but we all have the choice to accept or deny whatever we choose to form our own opinions.
I’m no expert, just a curious soul on the hunt for the best things to make this world a better place for us all.
Join me, share this with your friends and let’s see what’s out there.