September 22, 2009

patches of shadeYou’ve Got to Have Shade

The first day of fall and it’s 88 degrees. You’ve got to be kidding me! Not that I don’t like the sun, I do, but 88 degrees is hot and frankly, I’ve had enough of hot for awhile.

That’s why today has been all about the shade. When Gretchen came home from teaching with Ollie in tow, we all looked at her and said, “Take us to a shady park!” and that’s just what we did.

We walked along the lake — Quillette, Ollie, and I –and then moseyed on up through Frink Park where we leisurely spent our time smelling where the wild things are.

ollie shadeQ shade

Along the way we met a very big dog ironically named BIG. Ollie and I got to meet him, but Quillette was all huffy (most likely from the heat) so Gretchen kept her at bay.

meeting Big

I’m not sure why he was called Big because he’s really not that much bigger than me, but he was cool and after a sniff, went on his way down the trail. So did we.

ollie smilea cool drink

As you can see, Ollie stuck close to Gretchen probably because she had a pocket full of treats, though I did get him to indulge in a cool muddy drink along the way.

Ah, that tasted so good on this hot day!

After we dropped Ollie off at his house, Quillette and I rested at our house while Gretchen walked Rosie. Rosie’s like me. She doesn’t like this heat very much, so Gretchen headed straight to the shade of the park, attached Rosie to the long line and let her run, run, run!

romp timeon the run

Soon enough, she got hot and looked to Gretchen from some treats!

tired puptreat time?

The finished their time together with a walk around the park and then Rosie got a cool, cold drink of water at her house. I bet that tasted good!

Next up was Bella and she got a nice long walk along the ridge. In fact, she got to visit Lillianna at Dog Mania where Gretchen needed to stock up on doggie bags (you know the kind!). Bella LOVED meeting Lillianna and her little dog Tikka, who gave Bella a lesson in manners.

After their visit, they headed over to Bradner Gardens for a photo shoot and a romp on the long line.

bradner posecitydrop

As you can see, there were some beautiful blue skies out there today. It made for a nice backdrop for Bella’s portrait.

And then she played and played and played avoiding the hornet’s nest the sign in the garden warned about!

fetch timecome back here

But not avoiding the camera…she bumped into it a number of times in her enthusiasm!

close upsky and tongue

Bella did really well today, Gretchen says, with her leash work and her heeling. She’s definitely growing up and I bet the heat of the day made her a little less rambunctious. I sure felt that way.

After Gretchen dropped Bella off, she picked up Saber and walked him to our house, but frankly, I was too hot to play. Not Saber. He was all over my toys and bugging me to play with him. I was not in the mood. Neither was Quillette, but he kept trying!

my tugplay with me

will you play?howling

As you can see in the last photo (though you can’t hear and that’s really what you need to do to really understand the moment), Saber is howling at me. The first time he barked (the other day) I thought for sure a strange dog had entered our yard. It was such a deep, manly and throaty bark I was certain a big, bad dog had come to eat us up. But guess who it was? Yep, Saber. A 4 month old puppy with a bark like Bull Mastiff! So in this last photo, he’s using that Bull Mastiff bark and trying to get me to play. As you can see, I was having none of it much to his dismay!

So he hung his head and moved away and tried a softer approach!

playing alonedistant begging

This next photo is my favorite. While he’s got those sad eyes in the previous one and he’s watching me from afar in the last one, in this photo he’s getting a little miffed and you can see the ridge of anger on his back — his hackles raised — desperate to play with me!

I think not

As you can see, I gave him my special snarl telling him to back off, but then I gave in and we with the red tug while Quillette looked on.

tug toywatching

oh botherfriends

We walked Saber home down through the park and then rested in front of the fan before heading out to pick up Wilson. Quillette decided to stay home. “It’s too hot,” she said and for her that’s so true. I mean, just look at her think coat!

Because it was so hot, Gretchen took us to the lake and for that, I must thank her profusely. It was exactly the day for a swim in the lake!

wilson swimrelief

Wilson and I both swam after balls thrown way out in the lake. I’ll admit it, Wilson is a stronger swimmer than I, but sometimes things got a little confusing.

where's mine?over there

Wilson is so ball focused that sometimes he’d swim out after my ball. Gretchen would have to point out my ball, though today, Wilson got to it first only he had his ball in his mouth as well. As far as I’m concerned, that means I’m done so I swam to shore while Wilson tried to get the second ball in his mouth. Gretchen didn’t think it was going to happen so she took everything out of her pockets, ripped off her shoes and socks, and started to go in after Wilson and the two balls only guess what Wilson did for the first time? He got both balls in his mouth! Amazing!  Unfortunately, Gretchen couldn’t get a photo of it because, well, she was up to her shorts in the lake without her camera.

strong boysplish splash

happy dogunderwater dog

wet relief

By the time Wilson got to his house,  I was dry. Wilson was still wet. Lucky him. We went back to our house where I spread out in front of the fan and prayed that the sun would find another place to shine besides on me. Don’t think it’s going to happen, but soon, soon.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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