Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Follow-Up Monday?

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My apologies for getting this follow up post up so late, I took a mental health day on Saturday and read a book.  🙂  My follow ups typically take place on Friday, but considering we were doing the Pet Blogger Challenge, this post waited until today.

So without any further ado (why do I like typing that so much?) here we are answering some questions, highlighting some comments and in general wrapping up our week.

A Visit to Risley Park

Emma said, “Looks nice, but where was the snow?”

Jan had a similar question, “Looks like a great place to explore, but where is the snow we keep hearing about?”

We have had the flukiest weather, what happens is it gets cold, really cold, then it snows and then a couple of days later the temperatures rise and the snow goes away.

Last Friday we woke up to snow, it snowed lightly for most of the day so we had about a 2 inch covering.  Saturday the temperatures were in the 50’s and all the snow melted.

Pamela said, “We have amazing trails carved out of the gorges around here. But they’re all closed for the winter. Something about not wanting people to slide off the rocks to their deaths. Whatever. Instead, we hang out in the local graveyards and golf courses when everything is covered in snow.”

You know, I was struck by the brilliance of this comment.  I had never thought to walk in the graveyards.  Of course with a lot of my walking taking place at night, that’s probably not a good idea.  I mean, I don’t like to walk in our woods where things LIVE at night, I sure as hell don’t want to walk somewhere where things DON’T. 🙂  But I will keep it in mind for weekends.

Do any of YOU walk your dogs in graveyards?

Winter Wonderland

Caren Gittleman said, “I like “normal” snow, not the over-a-foot with below zero temps that we are having right now.”

Amen sister, it seems we like the same kind of snow.

Jan K said, “You are so right, there is nothing better and more peaceful than being out walking in a snowstorm. The other thing I love is a sunny day after a snowstorm when the trees are still covered.”

That is so pretty Jan, the thing about snow is after a few hours it gets dirty, whether its from people/animals walking in it, or from the clean up.  In our neck of the woods the window of opportunity is small.

Caption the Photo

Some of my favorite captions are here:

2 Brown Dawgs, “Candy Crack again?”

Dawn, ““So, um, since you’re into this candy mindset right now, how about getting me a treat?””

Houndstooth, ““I always feel like…somebody’s watchin’ me!”

Julie, “Can you see me now?”

Rebekah, “You will never beat level 127 of Candy Crush!”

Damn Rebekah, but some of those levels are hard!  I had one I was stuck on for at least a month.  In fact, I stopped playing for a bit because it was so frustrating.

So without further ado, (there I go again!) here is the photo with my caption.

WW 1-8-14

I see you Mama and I know what you’re doing.  But I want my dinner Mama, so step away from the candy crack.

This ‘N That Thursday

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Sheena asked, “Is that SLOBBER on her face or did she pop her bubble gum?!”

Oh it’s slobber alight.  I need to start carrying a cloth with me.

Molly the Wally said, “Pawsome slobber. I have been known to an Adam Ant many times.”

I’m almost afraid to ask, but please explain Adam Ant.

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Flea said, “Oooooo … Delilah looks all sleek and shiny and beautiful in that first photo.”

Doesn’t she though?  Sometimes when I look at her I reminded of a baby seal because she looks so sleek and shiny.  Although I’m pretty sure that baby seals are black.  Eh semantics.

I don’t have a follow-up to Friday’s Pet Blogger Challenge, but I will say this.  After reading some of the posts I seem to see a recurring theme (just like last year) which tells me that many of us are struggling with the same things.  I think it’s safe to say you will see a post about sponsors and advertisers coming up.

I also wanted to share that I’ve started a new website about adjusting my attitude to a tone of gratitude. I plan on posting there only about once a week, but the Facebook page is a daily blurb about simple things I am grateful for. It is a simple, basic site without any bells and whistles but as time allows I’ll work on tweaking it. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, I’d love to have you along for that journey as well.

A Visit to Risley Park

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Hubby and I had lots of time off over the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.  (I hope you did as well.)  Because of all the time off I was able to coerce Hubby into exploring a number of hiking areas all within a five minute drive from our house.

One of these places was a local reservoir that I refer to as Risley Pond, apparently it has been renamed Risley Park but it’s still got some nice trails that meander around the reservoir and there is a trail that leads up the mountain to a tower.

Risley Pond 6

During this particular visit we decided to stay on the lower trails and not attempt the tower paths.

Risley pond 1

Delilah of course had to be on leash, but Sampson was able to be a trail blazer.  A role he has relished from his very first hike.  He absolutely adores being outside running through the woods.

Risley Pond 2

We encountered a small group of men and teenagers who were working on building some bridges over areas where little streams run down from the mountains and feed the reservoir.  Sampson had to greet them and practically dragged Hubby through the stream, but Delilah could have cared less.  Of course it was impossible to get a photo of both dogs looking at the camera.  The small bridges are a great improvement, the last time we hiked here there were only rocks that were used as stepping stones to cross the brooks.

The trails start off on one side of the reservoir and wind their way behind it, when you come out on the other side, you need to navigate a small stream with rocks.  Delilah proved she was up for the job.

Risley Pond 3

Once we crossed the stream and climbed a small hill the reservoir was in plain view.  It had small bits of ice on the surface of the water, but Delilah didn’t care.  She wanted in!

Risley Pond 4

She saw a stick out in the water and was determined to retrieve it, but sadly dogs are not allowed in the water. 🙁  I’m not sure I would have let her in anyway because it was really cold!

Risley Pond 5

She had to be content with walking along the retaining wall which holds the reservoir back.

Many people use this park to walk, jog, snow shoe, cross country ski, fish, ice skate etc.  There are few benches scattered about the park for the fishermen, or the people who just want to sit and grab a bit of the wild beauty that exists there.

Risley Pond 7

And some dogs like it too.

Do you have a favorite park that offers all these recreational activities?  Do you have a Daring Delilah who likes to rock the boat?

A Christmas Eve Walk

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Most of the time when I walk the dogs, I walk them by myself.  Because they are both largish dogs, when I’m walking by myself I tend to stick to places I’m comfortable, which is mainly the park at the top of my street.

Christmas Eve I only had to work a half a day, and since I knew that our Christmas Day walk was going to be short, I convinced Hubby to join us and together we took the dogs to our local rail trail.

Our local rail trail is an old rail road track that has been converted into a walking path.  The rails have been pulled up, leaving a very lovely, rustic, evenly graded trail which is perfect for walking, riding a bike or snow shoeing or cross country skiing when weather permits.

Christmas Eve 4

You can literally walk from one town into another.

At different points, the trail intersects with other trails and provides miles and miles of trails.

We could access the rail trail through our park, but I had the bright idea of driving down the street to the trail access located right next to our one lane tunnel.

The trail (of course) goes OVER the tunnel, but I didn’t think of that.  Or of the climb it would take to get there.  Hubby took Sampson and I had Delilah and she was ready and willing to go.  She actually hopped up some of the stairs.

Christmas Eve1 They only look like they go to heaven, they really just go to the top of the tunnel.

So while Delilah was leading the charge, I was being dragged climbing up behind her silently beseeching my lungs, expand, collapse, expand collapse because speaking was out of the question.  As I reached the top of the stairs I distinctly heard my thighs scream at my knees, “STOP! RIGHT! NOW!”

My knees were more than willing to oblige, thankfully we were at the top, because I don’t think I could have climbed any further.

I love taking the dogs new places, it really engages their senses, which helps tire them out.

Christmas Eve 2

Right from the get, Delilah had me anxious.  She kept going over to the edge of the trail and trying to climb down. I admit some areas were very tempting and calling to be explored, but the slope was entirely too steep.

Wall

You can’t tell from the photo, but the drop is quite a ways down.

I expected there wouldn’t be a lot of folks out and about on Christmas Eve but we encountered quite a few.   Eventually I noted a walker with a dog in the distance, so we turned around and headed back.  I didn’t want to get caught in an area where I had no room to remove Delilah if the need arose.

Christmas Eve 3 Delilah took the opportunity to look down at all the cars waiting their turns to pass through the one lane tunnel.

One of the things I love about the place we are living is the variety of trails that are available to us.  Hubby and I actually took the dogs to two other places over the Christmas break which I will share another time.

Did you do anything special for your dogs over the Christmas break?  Do you have converted rail trails in your area?  What do you think of the idea?

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