Charley and I had a very interesting morning. We got up (she woke me) to go to the parking lot that we play in in the morning before workers come to work. We’ve got to be there by 5:15 to get a decent amount of play in. People start getting there at 6.

What was weird is this morning before we left I smelled fire. It almost seemed as if it was campfire but I wasn’t too alarmed because no fire alarms were going off in the apartment complex, so for a minute I thought it might have been a forest fire from afar that I hadn’t heard of yet and we were just smelling the effects of it.

We went to leave out the back door when all of a sudden I saw these flames licking the side of the apartment building next to ours in the alleyway. Charley got a bit nervous as we were walking around the corner when I saw this mattress totally on fire. It was right next to the dumpster and right under somebody’s balcony. I called the fire department and was amazed nobody had called it in yet. It literally was blazing and if the building hadn’t been concrete on the outside it would’ve gone up as well.

Anyway the firemen came and extinguished it, and so all that is left is a few springs and a big black scar on the outside of the building.

After that we continue to our parking lot where we engage in a little work out that she seemed to plan out many moons ago. I will throw her throwing disc and in return she will hold it in her mouth and wait for me to throw the ball to her where she volleys it off the disc in her mouth. I’ve since gotten this old tennis racket where I can volley it back to her or catch it as it rolls away. It’s quite cute on her part but a lot of running on my part, which she seems to enjoy.

Since we are in a business parking lot that is vacant until people get there until 6 I realize we have a short amount of time to play. They do have these security guards that occasionally come out but for the most part they just wave at us and continue on their way. That happened this morning and so that was pretty cool.

We continue up to the University where there are a lot of bunnies that are just napping on the lawn that Charley feels she needs to wake them up. She will chase if they run, but she will never try to catch one or display any type of aggression towards them so I figure it is all in good clean fun. It was time for them to get up anyway, for the sunrise was just beginning.

After that we went to where the labyrinth is, which is this forested area that has this man-made labyrinth in the middle of trees and shrubbery and flowers and benches to sit on. I sat down on one of the benches and started listening to the first chirps of the day. It was really cool because I got to hear the birds wake up and how they talk to each other. There would be one chirp there, only to be answered by another chirp in the opposite tree. Then another chirp from a different bird would happen, and slowly every tree started coming to life, chirping away.

There is also the campus police that come by but they did the same thing as the other security officer. Just waved, said hello and went on their way. Not that we were doing anything bad, but I did just happen to not have her on her leash. Big no-no.

When we got back home I went to charge my phone and realized that I did not have it on me. The last time I had it was at the University sitting on the bench listening to the birds sing. I freaked out. I don’t think I’ve made it as quick as I did back to the bird spot. But lying right there on the bench I’d been sitting on, it was there. The feeling I got when I was walking up to that bench and looking to see if it was there and realizing it was was absolutely golden. Absolutely.

After that I had told myself if my phone was there I was going to try one of those scooters that people drive around town. I didn’t want to walk back home after running back there.

I ended up getting on one and it was quite interesting. They go really fast and there is a sense of being out of control. But I managed to make it back. You have to use the bar code thing to make it start and then it will start up. Put one foot on, the other push, and off you go. And they start billing you. It cost 4 dollars to get back home on that which I thought was ridiculous. It’s about a mile. Oh well. It was an experience I hadn’t had and wanted to for a long time.

That was my lovely morning. Went from the burning bed to chirping birds to lost and found phone, and riding home on a scooter.

It’s amazing what the day brings and I believe every day can be a whole chapter in a book if looked at the right way. That was just the morning I wrote about. Who knows what the afternoon will look like. Charley and I are going for a walk now.