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August 04, 2006

Welcome to "My Office".

Working at home comes with its benefits, but it also comes with its challenges. Sometimes it's hard to focus on work when you have a cranky six-month-old and a sleep-deprived, insane-by-her-own-admission wife around as distractions.

Twice now, to ensure productivity, I have taken my trusy canine companion, Nanuq, along with a small blanket, poncho, and laptop on a walk into the woods. I've found the perfect outdoor office.

Perched on top of a south-facing slope, with one rock as a chair and bedrock as a backrest, my office "window" consists of distant Mount Macintyre and the little valley below me. With the sound of the wind in the trees and the chirping birds as my muzac, I work until my laptop battery dies. It's simultaneously productive and relaxing.

Today, Nanuq and I had a visitor drop by the office. On our walk there, something made him crazy like I'd never seen him before. He was barking at something in the trees, off the trail, but I couldn't see it, whatever it was. At first, I thought that it might be a bear, but he had never barked like that at a bear before. We left the offending spot and proceeded to the office, still some distance away.

A few minutes into my work, Nanuq perked up from his restful position and pointed at something coming up the trail we had taken to get to the office. It was a small coyote, sniffing our track. It didn't realise we were there until it was about fifty feet away and when it finally did notice, it froze, staring at us.

The coyote followed the trail, circling around us, before deciding that we shouldn't be bothered. It walked off down another trail.

Nanuq was great, standing by me and not chasing the busy-tailed coyote. He's a good companion to have around the office, even if the conversations are a little one-sided.

1 comment:

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