The Hike

Things Have Been Happening, but I haven't found the time to post!

I was offline for 3 days because Ellie, cute little 9 week old Ellie, figured out on my first day back to work that she could scale the side of her expen like it was freaking Mount Everest and launch herself over the top. My mother did me a favor and stopped by to let the dogs out, and Ellie greeted her at the door. We don't know how long she was out (I had left for work 4 hours previously), but she only piddled in one teeny spot and the house wasn't destroyed. Except she decided to chew on my DSL cable, lol. She did a lot better than Kane would ever have done. (And  I'm still not sure how he'd do if I didn't crate him; that may be an experiment for another day.) Ellie can, however, hold it in her crate for four hours, so I've been crating her and running home on my lunch. Yay for amazing puppy bladder control!

On one of those three days, I put Ellie in her crate for a nap and took Kane on a hike for some bonding time. I actually typed this portion of the post up the other day, and then Blogger decided to Hate, and I lost all of it. I've been too irritated/bummed out to re-type it all up and add all the pictures (110!!) again ... So here goes The Hike 2.0.

There is a small nature preserve that runs behind my house; it's surrounded by suburbia, but it's got some nice trails and it's a good, quick and dirty spot to take Kane when he needs to burn some energy off-leash. Kane loves to hike off-leash. It's the easiest way to get him to flash a dopey pit bull smile. He'll often run off ahead to sniff before running back, as if to say "Jeez, you're slow, can't you go any faster?", before zooming off again. If he goes down a path that's muddy or that I don't want to go on, I call him back with a This Way! and he zooms back to me.

This is the "official" start of the trail, about a block down from me. Usually, I'll cut through my backyard and pick up a trail in the preserve and start there. Because I am lazy, and it's a hassle to leash him up for a block. ;-)

These flowers are in bloom now, and they're everywhere. They've got a very fragrant scent that you can smell before you see them.

The first fork in the path. We took the path to the right ...

.... before discovering that it was swampy beyond the dip there. Kane started trying to bring me a tree branch souvenir until I called him off it.

And then I realized I was missing a photo opportunity and let him go back to it. :-)

Can you spot the dog in the grass?

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kane. I like to imagine him as a mature adult dog, delighting in the summer sun. And then I quickly remember he's the goofiest dog I've ever met and that he's actually about to snack on some healthy greens.

Off to the left of where Kane is sniffing is a hide-out some kid made.

 

Running through this mud puddle was the highlight of the hike for him. :-) It's a good thing he loves playing the hose, because that's what he got when we got home.

Post-mud rolling around.

A deer trail runs through here.

Kane was delighted to find this lake in the forest--and the ducks swimming around in it. He was a good boy though, and came back when I called (and when he realized he wasn't catching the ducks).

From the right ....

... straight ahead (I'm standing on the fallen tree) ...

... and the left again.

Kane decided to try walking on the tree for himself. I high-tailed it off the tree, at that point, because knowing him, he'd knock me into the lake. Ew.

The end of the first nature preserve leads out to an elementary school. I have to cut through a couple streets  to reach the next preserve.

... Which starts with this view.

This preserve extends all the way past that other hill into the trees.

Dog tracks over human tracks over deer tracks.

The view straight ahead (houses are just outside of the frame on the right) ....

... to the left ....

... further ...

... and further ....

... and further ....

.... and furthest.