The Weekend.

Here is Hannah Belle face on.

After weeks of living in crates and cage things in noisy situations, Hannah has found her new life in a quiet household with Charlie.

At night I allow her on the loveseat with Charlie and I so we can do a bit of cuddling time. Hannah doesn't burrow into the blankets but splays out like she is on a beach in the Bahamas. 

Charlie has his half of the couch and Hannah has to stay on her side. I am allowed to sit in the middle.

This photo shows you the size difference of them at this time. I imagine that Hannah will grow tall and be slender like Rat Terriers [and whatever her 'mix' is]. She adores Charlie and he is actually showing interest in her. 

He waits at her crate door to greet her after a nap and then show her where to do the potty stuff. She watches and follows.

I've always believed in having an older dog teach the younger dog things. 

Manners are the first things I have been teaching. 

Hannah will even sit for a 4 year old child when I show the child how to do it without words. 

Amazing what pups can learn in tiny little sessions that are consistent.

I don't mean for this to turn into a 'training' blog, but this is what captures my interest at the moment. I don't follow any particular 'method'. I have methods that were taught to me 40+ years ago plus life lessons with hound dawgs. I've used the same 'methods' of consistency with both my equine and dogs.

Charlie? He had to be the hardest dog I've ever had to work with. He was the first dog I had that had such a mind of his own. He could turn his ears off and totally ignore me. I found his secret to attention was 'food'. 

Consistency and nibblets of food work so well with both Charlie and Hannah. 

It isn't all training and for a pup, work only lasts for 5 minutes at a time. 

I let Charlie do the hard stuff. 

He shows her where to potty, he comes on the run for recall which teaches her to return quickly also.

I have found that while travelling in the car, Charlie is quieter with Hannah in the crate next to his car seat. 

She should eventually get her own car seat so they can see each other. I've downloaded an app called BringFido. This app was suggested by my oldest son to find places that would allow the 3 of us to travel and stay over night together. 

[Though under what is currently happening, we may be camping in a pasture overnight to have our wilderness experiences together.... and that is okay with me.]

After all, I need to learn how to set up a tent and do a camp out. Why not do it with my pups in our pasture for the first couple of times?

Saturday Hannah Belle met her pupsitter for Easter Weekend when I go visit my eldest son and get to see my beautiful youngest grand daughter. 

Charlie continues to show Hannah the ropes. 

And then this weekend my youngest son came to visit.

Charlie shined while calming my grandson.

Hannah showed considerable love and attentiveness to the gals.

My doubts about adopting a dog disappeared. Hannah took to everyone. She was calm and non-reactive. She took everything in stride.

She also fell for Elena who showed a great interest in caring for Hannah while I worked with my son, Jer, on cutting down trees around the crushed garage or on a hike. Elena fed Hannah, pottied Hannah, and kept watch over her in the yard while I was working.

Thank you so much Elena. You showed a special perception at knowing when Hannah needed feeding, pottying, and petting! Awesome!

I have to also credit Charlie for his incredible attitude. 

I quipped at one point that I should have named Hannah the Queen of Chaos. She and Charlie handled the kids and all of the competing commands they gave the dogs with grace. They just did their thing which is be kind to the kids.

I have Million Dollar Doggies.

Jer and I cut down the box elders that have grown around the crushed garage. The plan is to clean things up and have Frank take down the old beat up building. This area will be cleaned up and graded. 

We have a plan and are working on it.

The kids are gone. Charlie, Hannah Belle, and I are chillin' on the loveseat.

What a busy weekend.

I can be so stupid!

It started out like any other day. 

 I did a bunch of 'stuff' after chores and then decided to take Charlie for a nice little walk down to the creek to see what the warmer temps did to spots in the creek bottom.

I took along a Lego build in a plastic container. I had some ideas that jumped into my head but hadn't figured out what I was going to do yet.

I'd just built a Mythical Creature called Qilin that is a so beautiful in its colors that I felt I needed to have it and display it. It is from a Lego kids' animated series called Monkey Kid. I did look up the series and made it through one 30 minute show. I wanted to see what it was about. Very easy. Good vs. Bad. Good always wins in the end.

Hmmm. I would like to say...why doesn't that happen in real life?

Only in Fantasy?

Anyway, I digress. I took my Mythical Creature [I like its name Qilin, I won't change that] down  to our icy creek. 

In my head the brilliant colors vs the ice would be beautiful.
It was.

I love my Lego creatures. I like dragons and mythical creatures, always have. 

I also had a Wizard and a Tetradactyl in my tote. The wizard will enter into the Princess Sara stories somehow, I just haven't thought of it yet.

I came up with this. The magic here is that the Tetradactyl has a wire attached to it which I stuck in the tree so it looks as if it is flying.

I would hesitate with that beast flying towards me, but the wizard must have it under control. I believe he is going to ride it!

Charlie and I did our rounds of the creek and stopped by the ice wall before heading up over the hill to the ridge and back home. I gave Charlie a lot of dog time to sniff and explore.

A happy dog is a dog whose owner takes time for them to enjoy themselves also.

The ice wall over the past week it has expanded quite a bit with the melting during the day from above and the freezing at night and cooler temps on a shaded hill over the cold stream.

That was the end of our morning walk, we crossed the field on the ridge and went home.

I had things to do like fold laundry, change the sheets, do some book work, and make some calls. I fixed a 'well' balanced lunch of eggs, bacon, strawberries, and oranges. 

Charlie was enjoying the warm weather on our south facing porch when I decided to make a 'walk' out of getting the mail on the ridge. 

I put on my light weight coveralls and grabbed my little backpack. I put my cell phone in a sleeve at the backpack and immediately thought. 

That is a stupid place to put it. 

OHHH, I'll be so careful!

Famous last words.

I picked up my mail and a book I ordered. 

More about this book after I do some work in it. I can see that it will be helpful to me.

Soooo. As I stuck the package into my backpack, once again I thought, that is a very stupid place to put that phone. Surely though, I can be careful, it is just a walk down the gravel road.

I walked about 50 feet from the mailbox and spotted an empty can of beer on the edge of the woods. An idea popped into my head and I decided to push my way through the brambles and pick it up.

I grabbed it and walked along the opposite edge of the road and set my idea up. 

[I use these two characters in a series of toy photos. They collect metals they find.]

Balancing the little guy was quite a feat. However after a few trials and errors, I got what I wanted. These guys are always in a grubby type setting and the dirty snow was absolutely perfect.

We walked on.

Charlie chased a 'possum which ran over to a pile of wood where it flopped to the ground. Charlie poked it with his nose and the 'possum never moved. I went to grab my cellphone to take a photo.

Um.

It was gone. IT. WAS. GONE!!!!

So I retraced all of my steps over and over and over again. For a 1/2 mile walk, I managed to do 2.5 miles to the search. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find it. The phone was still recording my steps so it was somewhere nearby. 

I went home and charged up my old phone and then Googled *Find my phone* Google showed me where it was located on a map. I went up and looked. 

NOPE.

Then I went back home and clicked on *ring the phone* or some such thing. I jumped in the car and drove to the general area and turned the car off.

I could hear my phone! I have a chicken ring which is loud and obnoxious. It lead me right to my phone which was exactly where I missed it in the briars just past where I picked up the beer can.

What lesson did I learn? Put the phone in a secure place! 

What an idiot.

Valley Boy

 The temps finally came up Sunday but the winds were wicked. Charlie had been bugging me, so we got out for a walk along the neighbor's field. We could walk along the forest edge and get some protection from the wind.

Charlie stops to inspect the Log Skidder. There is a lot of waste with this logging operation. The wood they leave behind could warm thousands of homes. 
The Skidder was quiet and Charlie decided to go up and give the tire a bit of his doggy business. 

We dropped down into a very steep 'ravine' or what we call a dry run. It is like a narrow ravine shaped from years of run off. This particular one has a spring have way down its 1/2 mile length. In the winter the water seeps from the spring and freezes in layers over the boulders and mosses.

Charlie knows where I want to go and he keeps an eye out for anything and everything.

The ice from the tiny spring appears to be blue green. It could be from the 'gumbo clay' that it passes through.
I seriously don't know what gumbo clay is, but it is greyish green and can be molded when wet and falls apart when dried.

We explore, we take some cellphone shots and we head up the steep side of the hill. The climb out is 248 feet of elevation change. I do it each winter a few times because I find the blue/green ice so fascinating to see.

We did it once more. Into PeeWee's Valley to the blue/green ice and out. Below is a mini video looking back at what we climbed out of.

This is a shot from 10 years ago when Morris [my Jack Russell] and I explored it for the first time. Yes, the shot is terrible, it was from my old point and shoot camera and it is what it is.
However it shows how much this ravine fills with ice over the winter.

The ice is easily 4 feet deep.

Our tradition continues.

Time

Time stops for no one

The year closes like a gate behind me,
its rusted hinges shrieking the last of their weight.

Ahead, a path of frost begins to shimmer,
each step melting a small circle of dawn.

Hope timidly rises there,
partly lifting a burden I’d been carrying,
the sky grows brighter with each step towards the sunrise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I realize that I cannot stay in the past and hover there. However I will also hold tight to each and every memory I possibly can. My heart demands it.

Charlie and I decided to brave the twisted sand/salt/slush/ and ice caked roads to go out to Duck Egg and blow off a week's worth of misery and illness.

Charlie knows the drill, he bounds away to look back at me as if to say "Ma, we have the whole place to ourselves." His eyes sparkle and he bounces as he runs. 

He runs up to the water crossing and leaps over it. 

[this is not supposed to be on the trail, but it seems the Springville creek had some help with water rerouting from some beavers]

The sky is gun metal grey, the winds are blowing on the ridge and all I hear is the water rushing under the footbridge ahead. Charlie waits on the bridge.

His joy is infectious.

The world drops away as the dog and I explore. He stuffs his head into clumps of grass and from the tail action, I can tell he is hunting vicious voles or mice.

His look tells me that IF he were not there to protect me, I'd be overrun by voles of the most frightening kind.

And this is how our quiet walk in the steep valley proceeds. My dog and protector saving me with every action he takes. [4 seconds]

He makes sure that every footbridge is safe for his lady. He surveys that area to make sure there are no giant Voles or Mice lying in wait.

This is his duty and he takes it seriously. 

We arrive at the ponds and marvel at the winter world of Duck Egg. We listen to the Springville creek roar behind us and rain begins to fall.

We've gone a mile on a rather flat trail and I motion that it is time to turn around. We hike back and I realize that I am not out of breath, and I feel good. The dry hack still shows up. But. But.

We are back.

When I get to the car and plop Charlie in his car seat he curls up his wet body on his blanket.

Before I pull out of the parking area, I realize that I've missed Charlie's birthday. My little champion is beginning his 8th year of exploration with me.

I'm grateful. 

Here is to more wonderous adventures with my finest sidekick.

A few things...

I got through another winterizing chore by having 608 Plumbing [and heating] come out and check out my LP wall heater and Mini Split. 

Dan the Heating Man came out and immediately gave his condolences. He and Rich had great discussions while Dan had worked on our wall unit a couple of years ago and when he came back to install the Mini Split. Dan is very kind and personable. 

He isn't just a heating dude. He is a concerned and empathetic tech.

Everything checked out with the LP heater and he found no leaks in the pipes or anywhere there shouldn't be.

It was worth the price [not much] for him to put my mind at ease for this winter's heat.

Olive texted me that she made some homemade chili and bread if I'd come and have lunch with her and her little boy Orson.  

I felt restless when I got home so Charlie and I went for a color --> leaf peeping walk in the neighbor's forest. I could see colors but getting to those trees was a challenge because of the logging.

This was the view from our land.

The overcast sky and slight drizzle made the colors seem more brilliant. We crossed the meadow and eventually made some headway into the logged area.

Some of the brilliant trees were impossible to get to or photograph because of all the downed stuff on the ground and hang ups of tree tops.

I did manage to get some nice shots. 

These three were in the rain.

I did get to see one of the brilliant red trees and the sun poked out briefly when I shot this one.

I eventually found the old trail which used to be absolutely stunning in the fall. I took a photo.

I can't wait to take a shot of this spot again in the winter with a fresh snowfall. It will be interesting to see how it changes. You can see through this forest now to another section of the hillside about a quarter mile away that hasn't been logged yet.

However, here is a shot from 2 years ago in approximately the same spot. The forest was so thick, you cannot see past the trail bend.

The forest regrowth could take up to 30 to 50 years to replace some of the trees. With the onslaught of invasive species of trees and weeds, it may never attain this beauty again. 

Careful and considerate logging would have provided a better result for the future of the forest. Anyway, that is my opinion.

It was still a beautiful walk and I think winter will bring more adventures as long as the loggers have moved on to the next section. 

To give you an idea of how large this section of land is, one of my walks that takes me in a large circle and back to my land is a 3 mile hike through two valleys.

My last note for this Friday.

Charlie and I went on another adventure to the Subaru Dealership. We had an issue and noise with my Outback which needed to be checked out.

When I turned in my keys with Charlie on leash at the service desk, the service people recognized Charlie and hollered out....

CHARLIE!!!!

then asked my name so they could look up my reason for being there.

I don't want to brag, but dang it, this little dog is SO personable that no one forgets him!

Charlie received a gift from the manager. It is called a Suba-Chew Dog Toy. Charlie was so smitten with it! 

it is supposed to look like an Outback, but Charlie quickly made it look 

like a horrid wreck had occurred.

There is a funny story about my visit to the dealership. The issue was taken care of which was covered under the warranty we'd purchased in 2018.

I'd hate to say it, but Subaru has treated me like royalty for the past 10 years that I've dealt with them.