Patience and Sticks...

A friend of mine is babysitting a puppy for the next week. In an effort to tire out the puppy, she asked us to come up and play with him. The puppy wasn't sure it wanted to play at first, he was a little overwhelmed...




Then he scooted for other cover. The cover is ah, old and ancient and tottered away to go lie in a quiet part of the yard away from whippersnappers using him as a shelter.



But then he realized that Simon did want to play and wasn't going to eat him, so he attached himself to Simon.


Literally attached. Simon has way too much patience, haha. Poor Simon.

Still chewing!

But it was okay, since we'd gone out earlier and played on the backtrail in mud puddles and filth. Best part of being Cardis, is that they're fairly wash and wear!

Mmmm, water! Caleb was like, wow, this is like the pool only flowing into my face! Awesome!

Of course, then Simon found a stick... But then Caleb's avarice rose, and he too wanted that stick. Not to fetch though... to chew apart. Simon knows that's all Caleb does with sticks and he wasn't about to surrender his game of fetch to chompy Mc Destruction!
Needless to say, the stick is uh, no longer with us. ;) Simon found another stick though, so it turned out all right in the end.

Mud and daisies...

Went for a riding lesson yesterday, the first time since I hurt my back. My horse has been a pill lately, but I borrowed the instructors horse and had a great ride, and so far, so good, the back is holding.

Afterwards, the boys and I headed out on the backtrail for a walk...

Simon sniffs the daisies...



Now, there's a spot where the beavers used to keep this pond nice and dammed. Now, they're gone as of this winter. :/ I have a feeling perhaps the coyotes got them, the darn things are everywhere, like roaches. It's funny, I did a lot of wild canid rescue 20 years ago, and rarely did we see coyotes in our area. Now, I literally hear them every night at the barn, howling. The Corgis don't get to go out on the trail past afternoon anywhere where there's not open area and I can see something coming for a good distance.

Well, without the beavers, the water's been pouring out the side. Last time I rode my horse down there, it was a pain to get through, this cut canyon that my mare had to crab carefully across. She's good at that, even if what she really wanted to do when we reached the middle was lie down and roll around in the water. She loves water. We settled for her pawing and splashing and putting her lips down to make motorboat noises.

However, I went back there with the dogs yesterday to see how it was doing, and see if perhaps it was safe enough to get my Arab across. Well, the traffic from the new trail access has cut the banks down flat. Where I expected the boys to be carried across, oh no, they ran right down and into the water. Party party!



Of course, then... Caleb wasn't paying attention as we moved on and fell off of the bank of the pond right into the water. Sploosh, right into the mud and the filth. I was really hoping he'd figure his way out of it, since I really didn't want to go mud-diving. He did, but came out solid black and plastered in mud so thick he looked like a mutant otter. Oh, that was fun. ;) Thank goodness for leather seats in the car. Note to self, remember towels next time.

22/52 "Dubious"

Simon and I don't like wasps. The wasps want to move in on the back deck. Both of us have decided that the prudent thing to do was uh, scram to the other deck, and finish our snack over there. ;)

Unfortunately, they've uh, also taken over the old grill on the other deck. Then again, it's better than the time they built a nest in my car's gas cap. I got to the station, went to fill it up, and literally slammed it shut, had the gas line back on the pump, and was in the front seat of my car hyperventilating before the wasps even knew what had just happened. What was even more hilarious, I had to call a friend who was an exterminator who gave me a hard time about the "wasp" in the gas cap.

... needless to say, he opened the car up, leapt back, and the next thing I saw was him putting on a full bee suit and pulling out the wand o' death to kill them. Yeah, I told him it was a NEST. *grin*

Pawspective... (22/52)

Simon and I did a quick shoot down on our dock, and this shot was the one that I used for this week's photo. He didn't feel like sitting and posing that day for me, and finally I just let him do what he wanted... he was right, it was a better shot. I think I might just give up and hand him the camera.



Meanwhile, then on Friday Caleb and I were at Yakima. This was the first time that I handled him myself both days. My back is a little sore but not bad, thank goodness... and we did okay. Meaning ol' one eye me did not drop Caleb on his head on the table, and Caleb wasn't a whirling dervish of happiness. ;) Baby steps. Nothing for us this weekend, but that's okay -- I'm happy with him just focusing and listening and actually thinking bait might be tasty for once.

However, the drive there is so beautiful. Sadly, it was pouring on the way home; I'd been dying to get a shot of Caleb against the sagebrush and sky... but I'll settle for this one. He was so tired after the show that he was half asleep as I set him up there, and he still looks a little rumply from the rain earlier and being wet in the ring and then squished between the seat of Dayl's van, haha.

Man, he is really growing up all of a sudden. I still think 'goofball puppy. Now he's er... well, still a goofball. ;)