Christopher Lubinski: Neighborhood Encounters

     One of my favorite activities to do while home is to walk my dog around the neighborhood. Since I live out in a much more secluded area of Stafford County my walks tend to be very quiet and peaceful. By not living in the more busier and noisy suburban areas in the city it allows me to enjoy nature without any of the disturbances that come with a more crowded residential area.

    Even though my neighborhood is large, not many people live here. There's roughly about twenty families who live here, most of which are retired FBI, military, or people who commute to D.C. The houses here are also quite spaced out and many are covered by the forest that surrounds the neighborhood. This makes walking my dog feel as though I was out in the middle of the wilderness with barely any human interaction outside of the occasional neighbor doing yardwork.

    Because my neighborhood is so closely in touch with the wilderness it leaves room for many environmental interactions while walking. Often times creatures such as deer and rabbits are very common encounters while on walks, but I'll also encounter more elusive creatures such as raccoons, opossums, and even a skunk once. Without noise pollution created by more suburban and rural areas, it is much easier to hear the natural sounds of nature. There is a creek that flows by a section of elevated road in our community, if it were not for the absence of noise pollution nobody would have ever known that there was a creek that flowed at the bottom of the hill. Because while walking by, especially after a rainy or snowy day, you could hear the flowing of the creek right beneath the guard rails that line the road.

    My dog, Scout, who is an Australian Shepard/Border Colie mix loves to be close with nature. Because of the heightened intelligence he gains from being both Border Collie and Australian Shepard (though  I do put his intellect into question often) he is also very inquisitive of the nature that surrounds the neighborhood and loves to explore its wilderness. He loves encountering all of the smells and sounds while going on walks. He even enjoys watching other animals that we encounter especially with deer. He would rather sit and stare at the animals doing their own thing than give chase, unless that critter was a squirrel, in which case he would try and chase after it.