Not walking the path

So this morning I am walking stoopid dawg through the heavily wooded cross country trail and Lo and behold we were thwarted.
This freaking HUUUGE tree was blocking our path. It was very windy Friday and this big ole dead wood tree just gave it up.If a tree falls in the forest... What was especially odd was that the root ball was practically non-existent. It was like a morel mushroom, just a big dirty Q-tip. No straggly roots or anything. As we got closer and realized that while Bree's ancestor's were good with horses-- there was no way we were going to get enough steam to hurdle over this obstacle. No English jumper in the vicinity. We were stuck on our boring little hoof-less feet. I really did want to lean up into the stirrups and encourage SOMEBODY to jump over it. It would have been picturesque. Dejectedly, we looked for a route around the fallen giant. All of the bark had long ago been stripped from the trunk and it was actually all whitened dry rot. After sniffing and digging and generally examining this new thing, when we tried to clamber (yes..clamber) over it Bree's nails were shredding the old fiber. It was quite an unusual moment. Normally the most exciting thing on the path is a frozen dead cat or a snippy squirrel. I hope "they" don't clear it out too soon. I need more excitement in my daily routine.