Things I Know I Know

Here are the things I like about tracking:

• I get to be outdoors
• I get to be outdoors with my dog
• Every week I make advances in human-animal communication that researchers can only dream of
• Every week I fail at human-animal communication in ways that researchers can only dream of
• Tracking is a thinking girl's game. The dog never fails. Weather and language and your own mistakes all pile up against you. Some dogs, sometimes, might say 'to hell with it,' but that, at least, is pretty clear. Everything else is just a problem to be solved.

Iowa State is looking for people to participate in a study on outdoor exercise. What they want to know (what they say they want to know, which may not be at all the same as what they actually want to know) is when and where you walk or run. Do you prefer places with trees? It's the design school that's doing it so I suppose trees have to come up somewhere.

Here's what I like:

In parks--no bikes or at least a minimum number of bikes none of which are trying to pretend they are mad racing bikes and the only things on the trail; not too many people; not too much traffic noise (though some traffic noise can be allowed to substitute for fewer people and no fast bikes); water and quiet shady places to sit are also very nice. Good long trails that have lots of options--one mile, three mile, five mile walks should all be possible.

In town: a good walk for a fair distance with minimum crossing of major streets. Trees. Garbage cans, water fountains, places to sit and watch the world pass by. Friendly people are a plus, but apparently you can't just ship those in. In winter, I like people who do not shovel their sidewalks when there's a layer of ice underneath the snow.