Rufus & the Haunted Orchard

One of my favorite things is to take Rufus for a walk in the orchard. Our house is surrounded by cherry trees of different ages. During the day, during the winter, there is a whole forest of short skeletons, but at night it is a haunted affair.

I love that he can be off his leash and free to bound around sniffing the deer and the quail. He gets especially excited by the quail. They flutter up in chaotic flying speed, much slower than a bird ought to fly, and just gets over a fence or a ravine to get away from Rufus’s curiosity. Sometimes it is just two or three birds, but other times there are about fifty to hundreds of these ridiculous birds flapping loudly and confusing Rufus.

There are other animals too that Rufus is sniffing. Fox, mice, and coyote tracks zig-zag through the rows of trees, or at least that is how Rufus is following these tracks. It takes about half an hour to forty-five minutes to make the boundary of the orchard, but most of that is Rufus following these trails.

I don’t know what he would do if he found one of these animals. One night a buck was standing on the other side of poplar trees that form a boundary around our house, and Rufus ran right up to him. The buck was probably still young judging by its size but gave Rufus the side-eye and sauntered down the hill towards a group of doe that was foraging for acorns.

I guess the lady that lived in the house many years ago told Nicole of a night of a full moon and watching deer rooting in the moonlit snow looking for acorns. I pray that I will see this too.

It is winter and the sun sets behind the hills around three-thirty. It isn’t the actual sunset; it is just the time that our side of the hill is in shadow until nightfall. Before it disappears into the high desert, it casts long shadows through the orchard. When there are clouds and sun, it turns the bluffs over the Columbia piebald.

It has been a dry winter. We had some snow in November, and we have had some rainy days through December, but it has been dryer than most winters here. There is talk of snow next week. Most of the locals are afraid of the severity of the snow, but I am very excited to crunch around the orchard with Rufus lopping up and down through the deep snow. I also like being able to see animal tracks in the powder and seeing where the different animals go.

There is a fence line on the south-eastern boundary of the orchard. It follows a road that winds up into the orchards above us. Rufus ran up to a group of tall grass and stood there frozen with his backward paw up a little. I stopped to watch him stare into the tall grass and remain perfectly still. A dog sees, smells, and senses things that I cannot. Almost a whole minute later he dove into the tall grass and fence and three quail went in a serpentine arch into the air and across the road to the orchard over there. Rufus tried to get through the fence, but luckily could not.

Rufus gives me a lot of comfort. I love sticking my face into his fur. Every morning, the minute I start to wake up, he jumps on my chest and starts singing to me. I have to shush him, for Nicole is not ready to wake up yet, and Rufus’s singing can be alarming and jarring. After a few minutes of scratching him we get up and I let him out. He bounds around the yard after jumping up on me. He knows what happens after going outside, he gets to eat!

I love walking through the orchard with Rufus. He is so much happier out in the country than in the city with having to wear restrictive leashes, all the confusing noises, and the homeless guy at the park that would threaten him. There is just space and smells here. He is good off the leash anyway and stays near me. If I get too far ahead, he’ll pop his head up, find me with his eyes, and then bound like a bunny to me.

We always end the walk with me going out to the mailbox and getting the mail. I tell him to stay and he sits at the gate waiting for me to check the mail, and even though he can see me the whole time I walk across the gravel driveway and back, he acts like I just got home and jumps on me wagging his tail.

We wander up the hill to the house and he is excited, for he knows he’s about to get a treat. I love our orchard walks.