Just Go... Gone to the dogs

Teslin is my son's dog. She is somewhat of a miracle as she suffered a potentially life ending incident a few years ago and spent time in a dog ICU. The vets saved her life and she continues to be the little wonder dog we have all grown so fond of. 

Charlie understands Tes's rather aloof attitude towards him. He is fine with her ignoring his presence. He learned that she was an elder to be respected and not to get in her private dog space.

He could learn a few things from his elderly friend though. Like...don't walk out onto the road!

Saturday's plan was to take the dogs to Petrified Springs Park and take a walk then visit the Biergarten where we could relax with a pint and the dogs could be with us.

Charlie got to meet a LOT of other dogs. And those dogs did not offer to chew his head off or even growl at him. He was in doggy heaven. So many folks also stopped to ask about him. Tes remained her wonderful aloof self and ignored most people and their pets.

My son would politely let folks know that Tes was "A Grumpy Dog."

I was surprised at all of the attention Charlie got. Of course he had gotten a new Bling Collar and a Bow Tie to wear on his Big Day Out.

At the Biergarten, Charlie eventually got mobbed by little girls. [Yes they asked politely if they could pet Charlie!]

To say that Charlie was in heaven is an understatement. He wiggled and behaved SO well! I am glad he had all of that experience at the Nursing Home when he was so young. 

When returning my mug, I stopped and conversed with a couple that had a huge Black Great Dane. That dog had more manners than most people I've ever met.

I think this might speak volumes without any words....

I think it is obvious where my son's heart is. 

Now don't think I don't like cats! I grew up with cats as pets so yes, I do love those aloof creatures that let you know when it is okay to pet them. Tes is like that. She is catlike in her movements and attitude. 

My son says he will do a DNA test on her as he is curious as to what mixed breeds are in her heritage.

Charlie?

He was happy to get home after another day of meandering about the state but in a more direct way. 

He went 'to bed' when we got home and crashed until the next morning.

Our trip was fun. And even Rich enjoyed the time I was away. 

A weekend break

Charlie had his first L...O...N...G car trip. At first he was nervous and did a lot of whining.
Charlie doesn't like bumpy roads. He stands up in his car seat and peers at the road and then me as if I could change the bouncing he feels.

He gets concerned over stop and go traffic too. He placed his feet on the console between us and tried to get as near to me as he could. I wasn't very nice, I pushed him back into his seat. He does have a harness and is tethered into his seat but apparently IF he really wants to he can stretch out of it.

Otherwise he was the perfect little traveler. He just gave me sleepy eyes once in a while and would 'navigate' for a bit then lay back down.

We got to my son's house and Charlie got reacquainted with Teslin. He is quick to understand that she doesn't want to play and would rather ignore him. He is fine with that.

Fun things we did:
Ikea. I loved that store and found a fake fur pillow cover for Charlie as a gift.
Rich loved the seat cushions I got!

Eating out at the Noble and meeting Amber. What a fun person!

Saturday was just as great.
I'll just let the photos do the talking....

Charlie met this young German Shephard named Shark. She is Amber's young dog who is full of boundless energy.
Charlie was pretty sure that Shark was going to eat him. Shark wanted to play with Charlie and Charlie wasn't too sure about that.

I think if Shark and Charlie had a few days to get used to each other, they'd get along just fine. Charlie loves to play but has never played with someone like Shark who is very vocal. After all, it took Charlie and Teslin about 3 days to get their pecking order figured out.

However by the time I took this photo of the fireplace, all dogs were sleepy and calm.

I had a perfect get away weekend.

Equine!

Well, I finished clipping the manes of the mules. Tah Dah!

Sundance is dealing with strange items resting on her ears. Yesterday we just spent an hour dealing with plastic pipes on her head, straps of leather, a cardboard tube that she thought was neat to blow into and make noise.
She takes a bridle just fine, but isn't quite comfortable with hands and objects touching the base of her ears.
I didn't force clippers on her, but used scissors instead, we will eventually work up to the clippers.

She was calm and cool yesterday and not the panicked mule that I'd had the day before. We revisited some of the things I'd done in the fall. She recalled all of that work.
I need to make time every day now.

Lil' Richard has been trimming and fertilizing the 'lane'. I dislike mowing it so I thought I'd use him to trim along the fence and the hillside. It is working out well. I have to rake his deposits out, but it works out quite nicely for the both of us.

Fred, who is now about 35 years old enjoyed some time with me in the yard after his grooming and clipping yesterday. He is still doing well for his age, but has slowed down and his hips and back are showing age as well as the grey hair on his once very mahogany colored face.

He is not one mule who likes getting caught, but he was pretty compliant yesterday.

Teslin is still here and she enjoys her time out in the yard. She tends to 'think' about wandering off once in a while. Yesterday afternoon she surprised me by playing with Sven for a few minutes.

Mica got her mane roached last night also. She was her usual quiet self. But the trim makes her long ears and neck stand out much nicer.

She has taken Fred's place as the Novice Rider's learning mule. She is much taller than Fred, but is in some ways more compliant than he was.

After supper I caught up Siera and took her out for a sunset spin.

I had forgotten how comfortable my hand made saddle was. It always felt too heavy to put on her before. Um. I guess working out has really helped with that. It wasn't much of an effort to put it on last night.

And we watched the neighbor plant corn.

It was a great equine day!

Mixed Bag

A horrible shot of Charlie, but evidence that now the two dogs are tolerant of each other.
Charlie was a bit put out by Teslin taking over that side of the couch. He preferred it when she would lay in her cozy little bed or go upstairs. She has quit going upstairs now and prefers our company.

She has decided that Charlie's food is better and has gained a pretty good appetite. Teslin will come and stare at me when she wants dry food. She has free feed food in her own bowl. That is fine with me. When Miss Picky eater is hungry and she gets food.
Both dogs went with me on a long walk yesterday. Mistake. Don't let Tes off leash, she has a way of deciding to take her own way and wander. My son said she isn't deaf, but she is when I call her.
So she was put on a leash and our hike was rerouted towards home. Coming through the meadow ... I had to carry Charlie. The grasses were so thick and hip tall on me.
Note to self. Stay out of the tall stuff with the dogs.

I took an afternoon to start to clean all of the saddles and gear. I sat on the porch Sunday with the dogs and cleaned 5 saddles and oiled britchens.
After pulling a tire off the zero turn mower, I took it in for repairs and then spent the evening trying another first.

Rich has always roached our mules' manes. So I decided to use the clippers this year as I'd used scissors last year with okay results, but it took forever.

So there is Sunshine with her Shaggy Messy mane.

Clipped! And I did her ears too. She looks much better. I used an old set of clippers on her. I asked Rich why he had quit using them. He said something about not cutting or some such thing. I thought I'd find it's manual and well...

Holy cow! I fixed them, cleaned the blades, oiled it, and then used the clippers on Sunshine! I even watched videos on YouTube to see if there was an easier way to clip. I followed a video and it worked out better.

Siera was a cakewalk. I used the large clippers on her. I'd taken them apart and cleaned and oiled them also. See? I am learning!

 Messy...

Stunning!

Last night I caught up the youngest mule. Rich said she hated clippers. I put her on the tree and turned on the quiet clippers. Sundance lost her mind. I know Rich had twitched her in the past to do it. But I am in no hurry. I left Sundance tied to the 'Naughty Tree' while I put everything away.
I was going to have to calm her down and we'd take our time regarding clipping.

Sundance and I went to the round pen and worked for a while. She decided that the goat in his pen was a mule-eating transmorgifying monster of some sort. Eventually she walked over and stared at Sven who just talked to her through his pen.

Sundance thought he was okay to look at. But I was still the enemy and I was NOT going to touch her at all. This was my own fault for not properly dealing with her clipper issue. But at the same time, it opens up a door for us to work together. She was doing so well last fall and it fell apart last night.

I worked with her and as soon as she turned, dropped her head, and walked to me with a kind look in her eye...I praised her and then took her back to the pasture after a short time grazing in the yard.
I let her loose in the pasture and she decided to glue herself to me.

I think I was forgiven. Her sister, Sunshine thought she'd like to get caught again.

Soon.

I think I am glad I didn't do a vegetable garden this year. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time working with Sundance. My goal is to have her under saddle this summer at some point.

Here is where we were last year when I had to end our lessons in the round pen.

~~ This is where the large square hay bales are stored for the winter. I dislike having to use this space but hopefully I'll work something out soon enough.

Geology and hiking at the Kenosha Sand Dunes

We visited the Kenosha Dunes on our second day together.  I don't think most people think of Kenosha as having some very interesting areas to hike and look at.
But this is at least the second time I've been to the Kenosha Dunes and hiked it.

After last week's wicked storms, the winds and water eroded portions of the shoreline dunes and we explored them.

Ed pointed out the lines in the dunes which would mark changes in the lakeshore. I could be explaining it wrong but according to this sign the dunes were created with the glacial drift and the constant motion of littoral drift.

Okay I think that is about as much as I am going to even try to explain. Although I did find a photo which might help show it.

First we hiked the dunes.

And since the snow was glare solid ice on top, we 'slid' the dunes...

Then we got to where the shore waves during the storm had eroded the dunes.

Ed started explaining the layers of sands we were seeing and I was glad that we'd gone because even though I would have noticed the layers on my own, I may not have wanted to learn more about them if he hadn't been there.

Enhanced photo for detail

So perhaps these layers that go in separate directions were caused by shifts in winds.  The darker materials are different kinds of sediments.  We even found a very thin layer of very similar sized pebbles.

This was really cool.  And it was even more interesting to have someone along who could explain it.

This section had material that was similar to that of a peat bog in it.  We found ancient trees that had been revealed by the erosion of the waves and the winds.

Teslin however was herself and showed off her abilities to act like royalty.

To her it was a good day to be a dog and enjoy the beach and fresh air.

To me it was a great day to hike and explore with my son and his wife.

And last but not least, the incredible ice formations from over-spray or from the wind and the waves on the 29th.  There were some amazing displays of ice and trees.

The only sad thing is that I am too far away from this place to go on a whim to get some great ice shots.

Gone to the dogs..

Here it is.
November.

I do like this time of the year.  It is cool but not bitter cold.
I can hike and not have to deal with flying insects, although ticks are still an issue.

This weekend my son and his wife came to visit.  Of course their dog, Teslin came along too.  Morris and Teslin have known each other since they were both puppies.

Photo above dated: December 16, 2006.

You can say that these two learned the ropes together.

And happily they have grown older and still play well together only they not quite as lively as they used to be.

During our hike Morris decided to go one way on the log and Teslin decided to go the other way.

No one fell and all was good.

We hiked down into a secluded dry run or if you prefer a ravine to explore.

We did some rock climbing and just enjoyed exploring. We uncovered quite a few cow bones from when the owners of this land still had cattle.

At some time one must have fallen into the ravine.

We searched around in the leaves and came up with quite a few to line up on the log.

Our dogs enjoyed it immensely.  They ran, sniffed, climbed logs, and simply were dogs.  No leashes, only their master's voices to keep them in sight.

It isn't often that I get avid hikers to go with me and this was a special treat.
That included all the special ribbing I got later from MY son!

He and his wife are always ready and willing to go on an 'adventure' with me.

We usually find something interesting on our hikes and no two trips to the forest are ever quite the same.

It had been probably about 2 years or more since I climbed up this rocky ravine from the valley.  I'd totally forgotten about the little spring and pond I'd discovered in the spring of 2009.

Teslin later provided us with entertainment as she pursued light reflections on the wall in the kitchen as Morris looked on ... rather unimpressed and slightly curious.

The weekend drew to a close and 'the kids' left.

I watched their car go up the driveway and ... yes, well...I started missing them as did my husband.

Morris however, after such a whirlwind week took no time in claiming his new fleece blanket on the couch next to one of his hedgehogs.

To say he was exhausted would be an understatement.

So our huge busy week has ended.
Time for us to rest a bit.

Apparently the weatherman has stated that we are in for a quick chill down this week.
That ought to prove interesting along the creek.

The water will splash over the rocks and make incredible ice formations.

Didn't I say that I really liked November?