Dreary, wet December day

The picture says it all.  We got soaked on our (short) first walk; had a relatively nice, longer walk (our usual first walk route) around lunch time; got soaked again just now.  Still waiting for my socks to dry, two coats hanging in the bathroom, dripping.  Found my old Lands End Squall hat, and it is just the thing for this weather.  Even has ear flaps.  Almost matches my Squall jacket (they're a couple of years different in vintage).  Which I realized is over 20 years old.  Still works good.

All out of bird seed, have to make a bird seed run this week when I go out for groceries.  They've been super hungry, it's been kind of colder than usual for this time of year. 

Hope we get to see the full moon on Thursday, but it will probably still be raining, or maybe snowing, depending on the temperature.  Right now we're in the mid-50s, so rain, if that holds. 

There was a whole herd of deer next door the other evening, before the rain.  I guess someone put out pumpkins for them to eat.  Now what's left of the pumpkins is covered in blown leaves - the lawn peeps here use blowers, not rakes.  Very few poeple do their own, and even those use blowers. The pile of leaves behind my fence is up to my waist. 

They blew next door, and put a lot of leaves under my fence and into my back yard, which I had just raked.  I grabbed a guy and yelled at him, so he blew them back out of my yard, but also cleared away the leaves I intentionally left in the bed in the corner of the yard.  For the birds and other critters who need a spot to hide.  So I went out the other evening, also before the rain, and re-imported enough leaves to cover the back corner.  I prefer to leave the beds natural.  I can clean up any excess in the spring.

Did I mention the noise of the blowers gives me a headache?  I like raking.  I'm just sorry I have to use a metal rake now, I wasn't able to find a bamboo one, like I used to have.

At least we may finally be done with the lawn equipment noise for the season.  One can only hope. 

I really should be shredding

It's that time of year.  Another season worth of files can be shredded.  But if I do that, it will make a lot of noise.  And at the moment, doggo is sleeping, and I don't want to wake him up.  We just did a 3 mile hike at Thompson Park, including a section of ups and downs on the Reservoir Loop that we haven't done before, and another trail that got me a little bit lost, on the way back.

All that to say, doggo is tired.  So am I, but if I take a nap now, it will be hard to get to sleep tonite.  Besides, doggo is sprawled across my part of the bed.

So.  We met this little guy on the trail today.  He had just found something tasty to eat, and wasn't interested in moving aside to let the big scary dog and his attached human go by.  Eventually he moved enough for me to get doggo to walk on by, but he really wanted to get up close and personal with the little guy.  I reminded doggo about the "no hunting" signs that are all over the park.

It's mostly leafless now, but...with all the leaves on the ground, it's somewhat harder to follow the trails, as it isn't always apparent where the trail is as opposed to the not-trail.

Some areas get wind-cleared, but then in other places, it's up to doggo's nose to tell us where to go.  Lucky for me, he has a good nose.

I figured we'd go to Thompson today, because this week has afternoon high tides at the beach, which reduces the amount of places available to walk.  We were at Sea Bright yesterday, and noticed there has been a lot of beach erosion on the ocean side, and a big flooded area at the corner where I used to live, which NEVER flooded while I lived there.  I'm not taking either as a good sign.  The place where my Mom lives just rebuilt their bulkhead on the river, last year, which is lucky.  There's pretty much no beach on the river side anymore (there used to be a nice one), and I think the parking lot and eventually the building would be threatened by the higher waters in the not so distant future.  The bulkhead will put off the inevitable for a few years, at least.  Mom is 93, and she's not moving.  So I hope it all holds off a while yet.

Last time we were at Sandy Hook, one day last week, we got to explore an area new to us, where we had previously turned back due in part to a higher tide, and a plethora of birders, who are horrified that anyone would dare to take a dog out in nature.  So I got a pic of some Brant Geese, but I think the pic is more notable for the texture of the water than for the geese.  Wild geese (ie, not Canadas) seem to be camera shy.  (also keeping in mind I'm doing all this with a dog attached to one arm)

My recent favorite, tho, was this guy giving us a WTF look.

He had a bunch of friends nearby, so we prudently decided to go another way.

Gets exciting around here, some days.

Too busy lately. Or something.

Probably or something.  I've been out all over the place, taking lots of pictures, but just not in a mood to write and post or any of that share kind of thing.  Lots going on, not all of it good, but this, too, shall pass.

However, here I am now, and I'm going to go back to a day in October (the 26th, to be precise), when I figured we'd go to Pablo's Park for a short walk, and no, I didn't need to drag the camera, it's really overkill for the little park, and we're there all the time, yadda, yadda.

So what happens, I end up getting some really super pics on my phone, which, as long as I don't try to do anything with too much small detail or too zoomed in, really does ok pics, for a phone. 

We haven't had very much of what I'd call "fall color" around here.  And things like the ginkgo trees didn't even bother to turn golden, they just all of a sudden dropped ALL their leaves, still bright green, on the same day.  So it's kind of been a bust of a fall, imo. 

I don't have any mountains near here.  And our weather has been weird, to put it mildly.  It even snowed two days ago - Monday we had 65 and sunny, Tuesday it was low 30s and snow.  No accumulation, but plenty of shock and dismay.

But, going back to October 26, Pablo's Park.  Here you go.  The park has a pond in it, I think it's called Derry's Pond (there's a marker with the name on it, on the bank at one end).  The park used to, back in the days when I was a kid, be a Christmas tree farm, a fact I learned one day from a woman who I met walking there, back when Pablo was still with me.  She told me that when she was a kid, and we are around the same age, in the winter the pond would freeze over, and there would be ice skating.  Kind of like Kearny Park, up in north Jersey, where I grew up.

So I guess the pond isn't very deep, but it has frogs and turtles and snakes, all doing the pond kind of thing.  I'm good with that.  Pablo being a warm weather doggo, we never got there in the deep of winter to see if anyone still skates on it.  Of course, it hasn't been awfully cold to actually freeze much over, in recent years.  So who knows?

My point, tho, is that the shallowness of the pond makes the water look black, which in turn makes it act as a big mirror.  Which is the best part, aside from the turtles.  So here are my four favorite pics from that walk without a camera, and pretty much the best fall color I found this year.  Hope you like!

We've been all over the place lately

Since we're no longer going to the dog park, due to certain people being rather nasty ugly to us, we've been exploring other places.  One of them is Thompson Park, in Lincroft.  It's big, and in the course of several visits, we've not even covered half of it yet.  I keep hoping we might get over to the other side of the reservoir, but it's a really long hike over uneven terrain, and frankly, it's going to have to wait for cooler weather. 

That being said, here's the closer side of the reservoir.

Kinda scenic.  The trail is kind of fun, too, lots of ups and downs, tho we did get into a section I don't think I want to do again, too narrow and slippery and close to the cliff edge.  With the added feature of a couple of rather large trees to climb over, since they are laying across the path.  No problem for doggo, but I have short legs.

There are other, not so challenging trails, too.  This one is nice, makes me think of old mansions and stuff like that.

And actually, the whole park used to be the grounds of an estate, I suppose belonging to the Thompson family, hence the name.  This is what the visitor center looks like, and I suspect it used to be the house on the property.  Having a dog with me, I can't really march into the building and ask about the history.  One of these days, I'll have to look it up online.  Meanwhile, I'm busy trying to learn the park, so we don't get as lost as we did the first time we went there.

We see a lot of deer in the park, of course depending on how large the human population is at any given moment.  Doggo likes to lunge at deer.  My shoulders do not appreciate that.  We're working on reducing the lunging, but it's not an easy thing.

And some of the trails are kind of narrow, in places, just one dog wide. 

He's up for almost anything, as long as he doesn't have to get wet.  This is cool with me, last thing I need is a wet, smelly dog in my car on the way home.

And of course we always carry a bottle of water and his collapsible water bowl with us.  If I know how long a hike we're having, I'll leave it in the car, and we enjoy a water break before heading for home.  One thing I've learned about the parks around here, they generally don't have fountains.  The nice thing in Thompson Park is they have trash receptacles at reasonable intervals, so you don't wind up lugging bags of poop too far.

For the Birds

Bird pics today.  I'm figuring out how to get doggo to stop long enough for me to get a couple of pictures, now and again.  Believe me, it's not easy.  And I'm having to straighten my horizons again, something I mostly got over back in the olden days (several cameras ago).

But.  We went to Sandy Hook, now that it's local summer, and no fees, and dogs are mostly ok (not on ocean beaches till Sept 15, tho, so we stayed bayside).  First time for bandit.  These are walks I did a lot with his predecessors.

One of his mad dog lunges kind of sprained my left thumb, so it my typing looks shaky, that's probably not got anything to do with anything.  But it's kind of swollen, and sore.  Yes, I put ice on it, and took some advil-substitute little blue pills (tiny sized, for old folk who can't swallow big things anymore).

And actually, my typing is coming out sort of garbled anyhow today, so I'm not doing anything official or work-like or important to people other than myself.  Which was happening before the sprained thumb, so.  Day off was declared early.  Five miles walked was also declared early, but what the heck.

So.  Birds.

Bird up a tree.  Yellow beak, so I think it's a Great Egret.

Next, Turkey Buzzard.  I had a discussion with a couple who said they are from the Netherlands, on holiday, who said they had seen black buzzards, but this one has a sort of red head, so I'm going with Turkey Buzzard.  He wasn't thrilled to be having his pic taken, and so turned his back on me.

This one, I believe, is a Snowy Egret.  Black beak.  I wasn't able to see his or her feet, since it was standing in water.  But the black beaked ones have bright yellow feet.

And finally, the Black Burrower.  This seems to be a very local type, but I see it a lot.

Oh, wait!  You mean that's not a bird???  Hmmm.

He kind of liked the beach, but again refused to go in the water.  I like that. 

And if I can get him a bit better controlled in these escapades, I can get better pics, I hope.  There's room for improvement.  It's also a kind of hazy day, so I can't be credited entirely for the not prime pics, this time.  And, come to think of it, it's hard to get close to the birds with the dog attached to me.  They like to fly away when they perceive the threat, whereas I apparently am not as big a threat, without him.  But still.  It's something we'll be working on, as time goes on.

Promises, promises

I said I'd post something, so here we are.

Over the weekend, my kids and granddog were up from VA to help kill off some of the landscape - a weed-tree that was banging on my house, and another, bigger weed-tree that was banging on my power and internet lines.  Much success on #1, mostly success on #2.  #2 still needs some close to the earth trim out, but I can't do it now, we just fell out of this month's time period when it's ok and legal to dispose of yard waste.  I can't afford to have the town yard waste nazis fine me for putting debris out on the wrong part of the month.

We won't even discuss the chunk of #2 that is entwined in my internet line, and may come down at some future date thru force of decay and gravity.  It's way too high for anything I own to be able to reach it.

Anyhow, we also did the obligatory taking out of grandma (my mother) to dinner, which was nice.  Nice restaurant, decent food, and a good view.  And we got to feed the ducks at her place, before going to dinner.  Win-win.

More importantly, it was the first ever meeting of Bandit and my granddog, Kaylee.  They got a bit rough, Kaylee is getting older (she's 8 yo), and Bandit is just a puppy, so his idea of playing is somewhat different than hers.  But with a lot of refereeing by the humans, they figured out how to get along, and actually posed for a couple of pictures.

They both like sticks.  This is a particular stick, which isn't actually a stick, it is a root that my son dug out from under my patio a few years ago, which I've saved because Kaylee always enjoyed banging into people's kneecaps with it.  They shared nicely, I think.

And later, back in the kitchen, they both patiently did good sits while they waited for treats.

Kaylee is about double the size of Bandit.  Maybe plus a bit, as she gets older and doesn't race around as much as she used to do.

After they left, Bandit spent the rest of the day searching for her.  He didn't want her to go home.  But once "car ride" is mentioned, she's all for it, and can't wait to get in and go. 

He also got some training in, with Anna.  She's really good at it.  He now knows "paw" really well, which he never got before.  He'll turn into a civilized doggo at some point in time.  I hope soon.

Been busy lately

Everything has been flying by, the last couple of weeks, no time or patience to post.  But we're getting around, from place to place, visiting more parks and people, and trying to not go to the dog park so much, because frankly, some of the people there make me crazy.  Tho I have to say, the regulars are for the most part very nice, and some days it feels like a safe space.

Not so, today.  So we didn't stay long, and instead went to Pablo's park, which has finally dried out enough that I didn't come home with mud caked all the way to my ankles.  We met 5 dogs there, and Bandit jumped on two of them, was indifferent to two others, and made friends with the smallest of them all, along with its little kids.

No turtles today, but plenty of tiny frogs.  None of which stayed still long enuf for me to get pics.

Path in Pablo's park:

It's peaceful, when there aren't kids on bikes blasting thru. 

On Friday last week, we also had a bad day at the dog park, so we left after a very short time, and took a later trip out to Hartshorne Woods, which is at the top (and bottom, technically) of a large promontory that over looks the shore, and has an old gun battery at the top (18 ft canons, they're impressive, and could apparently shoot an awfully long distance).  We started at the top, and went about halfway down, mainly because of my lack of confidence in being able to get back up the hill (this varies from day to day, depending on how I feel, and the temp/humidity combo).  We (mostly) used the paved walkways, which does make it somewhat easier (maybe).  Until you get down to the river, tho, there's not much scenery other than trees, but just as you're leaving the battery, you get this view down the hill, overlooking the ocean.

 Clouds, sky, ocean, in that order, top to bottom.  It's WAY far down.  Bandit isn't into getting wet, so it's just as well we didn't go all the way down.  And all you get at the bottom is river, the ocean is on the other side of the Sea Bright/Sandy Hook peninsula.

We also one day did the other side of Thompson Park, away from the mass of people, and it was nice.  We even were surprised by a deer, which with Bandit is one of those shoulder-popping experiences, as he launched himself after the deer, nevermind being on leash.  At least he went forward this time, so he didn't spin and land me on my tush.

Yes, all the parks kind of look alike, but they each have different smells, which is, I think, why we go to more than one. 

On my wish list, I want to start Hartshorne at the bottom, where the trails climb up to the battery.  Tried it once with Pablo, and it quickly got too steep for him.  Then, when we tried to go down that side from the top, he got scared of the woods.  That's the side away from the water.  It's a big park.

That's probably the best thing about Monmouth County.  They've got good parks.

Doppelganger

At the dog park this morning.  Me and mini me.  Mini me is Bandit.  The bigger one is a full German Shepherd.  Perfect together, they had a great romp.

And no, as far as I know, Bandit is not a GSD.  Maybe just a single gene, to give him the stand up ears. 

Beach day, sorta

I'm not one to sit on a beach.  They give me headaches - too much sun.

But doggo needs to get some beach experience.  Not so simple, in NJ in the summer.  Beaches are mostly off limits to doggos in the summer, here.  That never made much sense to me, so don't ask.

However.  My neighbor told me about a beach on the bay that allows doggos anytime.  It's not a huge beach, and it's not the easiest place on earth to get to from here, especially when you take into account all the road work that's going on right now.  More detours than normal roads.  Very scenic, yes.  But annoying, and lots of extra traffic.

The place is called Popamora Point, and it's in Highlands, right at the south end of the Henry Hudson Trail.  Small beach, and like a lot of bay beaches, kind of strewn with rocks and shells and sea glass (!!! but mostly green), so not the softest sandy circumstances.  Still, nice breeze, and gentle waves lapping on the shore, all the beachy things you look for.  Even some shade, which I noticed because of a tank top on someone at the dog park the other day that said "nobody likes a shady beach."

Since doggo hasn't had any previous beach- water edge experience, we tried it.  First, he wouldn't go anywhere near the water.  Then, when he saw other dogs in the water, he got closer.  What ensued really required a second person to do a video....he barked at the waves, charging at them, till they came towards him, at which point he backed away furiously.  If I hadn't needed to hang onto his leash, I might have done a video.  Alas, I only have two hands, and he's very strong.  And I was laughing too hard to hold a camera still, anyhow.

And no, he didn't end up going into the water.  Maybe another time.

Then we took a walk up the Henry Hudson Trail.  It's nice.  It has sea smells.  Like rocks and salt water and leftover crab shells and stuff like that.  Smelly stuff that dogs love.  And the land side of the trail has a sort of drainage indentation where the water lands when it comes off the hill above, before joining the bay.  Which doggo assures me contains all sorts of living creatures, like frogs!  I didn't see any frogs.   But he actually set foot, or feet, into that water, chasing his imagination, and having a nice cool drink.  Considering we had almost 4 inches of rain yesterday, I'm pretty sure it's mostly clean rainwater.

This is from the trail, at the north (or west) end of the beach.  Directions are odd in this part of the world.  It's the water.

Looking south (or east) from the trail.  It continues along the water like this, for a couple/few miles.  At some point, it turns inland a tad, to pass behind the huge marina in Atlantic Highlands.  We tried walking it once from that end, but the part behind the marina is deathly boring and not cool (temperature or otherwise), so we gave up.  It was a hot day that time, and today isn't particularly hot.

Nice thing is, there's some shade on the trail.  And the water ditch, which is apparently tasty if you're a dog.

There's a huge hill along the trail - or rather, the trail is at the foot of a huge hill.  Huge houses at the top of the hill, stuff I could never dream of affording.  Nevermind the probability that at some time in the not so distant future, those houses stand a good chance of landing at the bottom of the hill, due to the climate things that are going on.

Be that as it may, one house stood out to me, enough so I got a picture of it.  I particularly like the method for getting down from the house to the trail, and thence the beach....kind of medieval.  Let down the drawbridge....

Right.  The last flight of steps can be raised or lowered via a set of pulley type mechanisms.  Pretty ingenious.  Scary (for me) if you're at the top.  It's a long way down.

Next time, I may try climbing these steps to see where they come from....they look like a public thing, rather than a private house access.  Pretty, in any case.  But I'm curious.  I just didn't quite have the energy to climb them today.

Doggo thought about it too, and declined.  So there's more exploring yet to do.  Which is always a good thing, especially on trails that don't loop.  And next time, I'm taking the real camera.  The phone isn't as good as they claim it to be.

Old homestead

Not mine, of course.  My house is nothing special, and in fact, is rather blah.

This is a house near here, old, and not terribly well maintained.  As far as I can tell, only a very lovely older gentleman lives there, anymore.  I could only wish to be able to afford to buy the place, when he is done with it.  Little chance of that, it will go for a lot more money than I could ever dream of.  And will be knocked down, and the acreage sold off, and a whole passel of McMansions built in its place.  I hope I'm no longer here when that happens.

Anyhow, the front entrance:

And part of the patio out the back:

The patio is multi-level. and I think there's a creek at the bottom, tho I can't get close enough to tell for sure.

It could be a nice place to do an opera.  But that won't happen.  It's a cultural wasteland around here.

Sundries from a hot week

Too hot to trot, IMO.  However, doggo is ready for anything.  As usual.  So today we spent 3 hours at the dog park, catching up on his wrestling and socializing, and I got caught up with the people I usually see there, and did some free counseling.  Interesting, the things people will talk about at the dog park.

In the hot hot time of the last few days, we stayed close to home.  Wonder doggo had a couple of notable moments....

Saturday evening, when it was starting to cool down enuf to walk, we went out for a stroll.  He saw a neighbor coming out of her house to get into her car, going somewhere or other.  Usually he barks at such things.  This time he said, "hurrooo."  Walk was temporarily suspended while I laughed my butt off.

One day last week, we were sitting in the back yard trying to not over exert me, when some sort of emergency vehicle went by with siren on.  I didn't bother to get up to see what it was, but Bandit ran to the fence and, for the first time ever, howled.  Funny thing was, he matched pitch with the siren.  I know professional singers who can't match pitch to save themselves.

And Sunday, we accidentally let a fly into the house.  That provided several hours of amusement of the search and destroy sort.  And Bandit honed his obstacle course, moving furniture so he could get around (or over, or under) in his pursuit.  I'm not sure if he actually caught the fly, but I haven't seen it since about 1 pm Sunday.  And I know I didn't get it, even tho I'm a master fly swatter.

And when he's tired....

The doggo has a way with pillows.  Usually he pushes them onto the floor, but this is HIS pillow, so I suppose it's sacred or something.

Stuff and stuff

Sad day today, one of the singers who worked with On Site Opera has died from cancer.  It's hard to know what to do or say, I only met him the one time we had him create a role in a new opera.  He was a lovely man, with a great voice and character.  I didn't know he had cancer till last week. 

So no, I can't "own" it.  But I still feel the loss, and can only imagine how his family must feel.  So probably best to keep my mouth shut, right?

This is #4 for me in 2019.  Two clients, one former client, and now one of our singers.  Our singers are family. 

Which I suppose is why some part of me wants to own this, but it's not mine.

Going back to the birds, as an antidote.

Carolina Wren, I think.  That's what Merlin thinks, too.  Little guy with a big voice....yeah, there I go.  I'll call him the Bob Wren, as a memorial.

Wildlife and stuff

Aside from the dog, who is tame and normal one day and wild the next, we've had some encounters with real wildlife here lately.  Well, not encounters, precisely, but sightings, I suppose.  So, supposing that, here are a couple.

First, the morning of the fawns.  Their Mama was nearby, but I didn't get a pic of her.  The babies just kind of sat there and looked at us as I scrambled to get close enuf for a pic, fiddled with the camera in the phone, and made sure the dog didn't do anything that would scare them off.  All with just two hands!

They're so cute, yet I know, next spring when my Asiatic lilies start to emerge, these little tykes will be out on my front lawn munching on the buds before they have a chance to open.

Balance, right?

And then my fave bird has been visiting.  He makes a racket, particularly if I've not kept up with refilling the feeders.  But he does like his suet with berries in it just fine.

He's a real character.  Always a lot to say, and he loves chasing off the littler guys.

And, our furry chipmunkbird is back.  So I know a lot of the bird seed is finding its way into wherever his secret stash is this year.

I think it's kind of funny that the birds just treat him as though he was one of theirs.  What's the old saying, birds of a feather flock together?  Maybe I can make him a headdress out of feathers, so he blends in better.

Like having a 2 year old child

This doggo....is driving me insane.  After three days of impeccable behaviour, the last two days have been sheer havoc.  Yesterday he landed me on my butt in the park, everything is kind of sore today, but I don't think there's any real damage.  My ego no longer exists as such, and there were no witnesses.  And he didn't catch whatever it was he took off after, spinning me around, snapping my left shoulder (it made a weird noise, but nothing doesn't work now, so I think it's ok), and he landing on his back, mainly because I outweigh him by a factor of 5 or so.

The good thing is, we were already past the muddy section when this all happened.  Yes, it's still muddy, even tho the rain has mostly stopped.  I think the water table is so high it won't dry out until we get a full-fledged drought.

Then this morning on our walk, he tried again to spin me, but failed.  I was more or less on to him this time.  And just an hour or so ago, he decided to try to play with Lucy, a tiny Shitzu up the block, who would mostly like to remove his face.  When he calmed down a bit, she did as well.  She's actually adorable, and soft, and silky.  But initial impressions are rough.  And she has a height advantage, her house is up a bigger hill, so she's got an impressive array of stairs to charge down in order to mount her offensive.  Kind of reminds me of the Imperial Palace in Beijing.

Did I mention inter-dog relations are fun and fascinating?  Must be some reason I didn't.

Speaking of silky, here's a pic I took right after his bath on Friday.  He got so mucked up from the dog parks, he really needed a good cleaning,  He actually left muddy prints on my bathroom mat after he hopped out of the tub. 

On Thursday, we did our first ever major-ish excursion, driving up to Union City to visit a friend.  Said friend lives in a huge apartment building on the hill overlooking Hoboken and NYC.  So, in addition to the long car ride and mucho traffic, we had the first ever experiences of an elevator.  He kind of got the idea, more or less.  And he started exploring the maze of stuff in my friend's apt, which is sort of random because there is work being done on the exterior of the building, and the dust is spectacular, so nothing is in its right place at the moment. 

Fortunately, there's a nice dog park across the street from the building, and we went over there for a while.  Not a lot of dogs; in fact, only two, one at a time, who he played with voraciously.  They had fun.

Unlike the dog park we go to near home, this one had no grass, it was filled with a sort of coarse sandy gravel stuff, like you might expect at a kid's playground.  Of course it absorbs smells of whoever has been there before, so that was a fun thing for the great tracking hound.  And the thing I like the most, which we could really use in our dog park, but I understand the myriad of reasons we don't have one, it has a fountain, with a human height spout as well as a dog height one, which is human operated - so the dogs can't run it themselves, and flood out the whole park.  This is an excellent idea, especially after having had to get accustomed to lugging a water supply and bowl with us to our DP all the time.  One of the benefits of being urban as opposed to suburban. 

I still think every DP needs a taco truck, tho.  Watching dogs play is hungry business.  But yeah, I know, you don't really want food in there, it gets too complicated.  Dogs and food, not so perfect together.

And next time we go up there, I really want to get out somewhere and do some pics of the NYC skyline.  It's pretty dramatic.  But it was very hot, and the dog was in unfamiliar territory, and it wasn't possible on this trip.  Maybe in the fall.  Maybe the traffic won't be quite so bad then.

First sandy nose ever!

Running errands this afternoon, we stopped by Grandma's place, and since she wasn't home yet, we took a little walk by the beach.  Yes, no dogs on the beach in summer, but that's ok, it's too hot today anyhow, but we took a look, and on the way back, stopped to rest under the bridge, because shade.  He discovered sand.  And how lovely it is to dig holes in sand, and to stick your snout in it.  Now we can't wait for cooler weather!  Next time we might even get near the water, and maybe try that if we're feeling bold.

Keep in mind that Bandit is a dog who thinks his backyard doggie pool is a very large water bowl. 

Learning new things is fun!

Red lilies have opened!

These are the ones that never got a chance to bloom, when they were in the front yard.  Moved them to the back yard when the roses went in, and voila!

And as a bonus, the daylilies are starting to open.  We're just full of lilies this week. 

To balance, something came along last night and ate the flowers off the orange ones in front.  Hope they enjoyed the snack!

I guess the saying is right - if something isn't eating your landscape, it's not part of the ecosystem.

That flowery time of year

Must be all the rain, I have flowers all over the place.  Everything is blooming, even the stuff that the deer usually eat before the flowers get a chance. 

Yeah, I like dandelions, too.  And my yard full of clover, which has a lovely scent to it.  And I just laugh at the landscaper types who want to remove the moss from between my patio stones.  Leave my moss alone!

Flower power!

Bandit missed this one!

Bandit is a hunter, or so he thinks.  He always scopes out the yard before he goes down the stairs, to see what's out there that he can chase.  I'm glad that so far, he hasn't actually caught anything.

But he follows his nose everywhere, searching for scents to things he thinks he'd like to chase, and maybe even catch.

We went to the nature trail at our local park, the park where Pablo loved to go, because of the smells.  And the wildlife.  It was Pablo's favorite park, so we'll call it Pablo's Park, or PP.  Apt description, I'm sure a lot of the smells are from pee, of various critters.

A lot of the squeamish people I know would never set foot outdoors if they ever thought about who and what pees and poops on the outdoors.  A lot of them live near me.

Anyhow, the one that bandit missed.  We had just squished through a very muddy section of the trail, and I was making noise at the dog because he barely missed landing me head first in the deepest part of the mud, when we came around a corner and guess who's looking at us?

 
She, I think it's a she, was just standing there, giving us the eye.  Very still.  Very quiet.  She never moved, just stood there.  I got a couple of pics, not very good ones, because I'm still not in sufficient control of the dog to use a real camera when I'm walking him, so I took them with the phone, which, truth be told, takes lousy pictures.  Good enuf for small applications, but they really suck if you look at them full screen, and don't even waste ink trying to print them.  Samsung S9, I highly dis-recommend it if you like to use your phone for pictures.

I know she was real, she did turn her head at one point.  And I spoke to her, very softly, so she wouldn't run away (which likely would have resulted in Bandit making chase, and dragging me thru all sorts of muddy stuff). 

All this, and doggo, the great hunter, didn't see or smell the deer.  Amazing.  So I now know that not only is there no retriever of any sort in him, he's also faking the great hunter thing.  Cheaper than a DNA test.

She's probably out in the park, still laughing about it. 

What kind of bird am I?

I'm puzzled.  This bird looks like some kind of finch, except...it's as big as one of those smaller type crows you see around, or the huge blue jay who hangs around here.  Seriously oversized.  I ran him thru Merlin (Cornell Ornithology app that ids birds), and they suggested three options, none of which even came close.  So if there's actually anyone out there reading this, and if you know what kind of bird this might be, could you please tell me?

That's a standard sized suet cage he or she is standing on.  He's been hanging around my yard for a few days now, just the one bird, no friends of a feather in his own size category.  Pretty pattern on the feathers, and a very stubby tail, compared to the size of the body.  So about the size of the blue jay, but with a much shorter tail.

Any ideas are most welcome. 

Tennis, anyone?

Back in the day, Cid was on a walk along the splash pad, in Sea Bright, and found a bush along the side of the walkway that had french fries spilled under it.  Of course, Cid being a dog, he gobbled up the fallen fries before you could shake your tail.  On every succeeding walk in that direction, he had to be sure to check under that particular bush, which we called the french fry bush, to see if there were any more fries ripe for the gobbling.  I don't think we ever found another batch, but not because we weren't looking.

A couple of days ago, Bandit discovered the much fabled tennis ball ivy.  A couple of the yards up the block, that are very steep in front, have ivy where ordinarily you might expect grass, because of the steep slope, and the impossibility of finding anyone crazy enough to mow a 45 degree hill every week.  Normally, we've been walking past these yards without taking much notice.  Sunday morning, tho, all of a sudden Bandit stuck his nose right into the ivy, to the point where his whole head was covered by it.  It's English ivy, not the poison type.  A couple of minutes of rustling around, and out he popped, with a fresh from the can tennis ball in his mouth.  First time he's ever tried to carry a tennis ball with us on a walk, so when he finally dropped it, a few houses up, I picked it up and carried it home for him.

We pass tennis balls on our walks pretty regularly, generally slightly used ones, left by dogs or kids or whoever drops that sort of thing.  We've never carried one home before.

So the new tennis ball joined our collection of tennis balls of all vintages, because it's a dog thing.

Next day, same walk in the morning, and there he goes, diving into the ivy again, in almost the same spot.  And guess what?  He came up with another fresh from the can tennis ball.  Which he carried away with him, so when he finally put it down, I picked it up and brought it home, too.

I expect we'll find the third tennis ball on a future walk, because they still come in cans of three, don't they?

Hiding here because FB makes me sick

And one person said she gives a damn whether I'm here or not.  Thanks, you know who you are.

Lots of things have happened since I last posted.  One, I left my job in the city.  My choice.  I chose to not be bullied and threatened by the niece of the owner of the company.  Who is about 400 pounds and thinks she's an actress, but the only way she knows to act is like a bully, and threatening.  (Not meaning to be fat-shaming here, just know that I am rather short and about 1/3 of her body mass, so yes, I felt physically threatened.)  After she had intentionally sprayed me with Lysol, back in January, making me deathly ill (I am allergic to something in that poison, and hey, folks, it's not intended to be sprayed in the air, read the label, duh), she came back with a new plot in July, to get me to quit.  She messed with something I was working on, without leaving any notes about what or why she had done what she did.  When I questioned where the info came from, she raced into my office, fists flying, screaming.  That was the last straw.  I don't care about the money so much, I care about my health, and my life. 

Yeah, and both times, her uncle was the only witness, so nothing I could do.  Never work for a family owned business, or a very small company.  It's not safe.

On the up side, leaving the job meant I was able to spend the last few months of his life with my Pablo.  He left me on October 30.  Thinking about it still makes me cry.  And when I cry, my new best friend comes to lick me until I can't stop laughing.  I worry, tho, when he gets under the wheels of my chair.  I'm afraid to hurt him.

Before I introduce my new best friend, let me fill in the other positive effects of leaving that job.  I've lost 12 pounds.  My stress induced skin issues have mostly cleared up.  My blood pressure is normal or below normal for the first time in living memory.  I haven't missed a meal yet, tho on occasion I get so busy doing something that I forget to eat.  I walked away with some of his clients, but only good ones, not the kind you take because "the money."  Which is about the only reason he ever took a new client.  I will not sell out my principles for "the money."

There's an ethics thing that says you don't take on work you know nothing about, you need to understand the client's business.  Some people don't do their CPE, tho, and never look at the required ethics course, apparently.  (He has one of the grunts in the office do the CPE for him, online self-study, because he can't read.)  But that's a whole other discussion.

I waited till after busy season to get a new pup, tho I was looking the whole time.  And on April 20, Bandit came to live with me.  He's almost 9 months old now, and came from a shelter in North Carolina, was brought up here and put in a foster home by a local rescue.  25 pounds of mush, with a silky coat and stand up ears.  No clue what kind of dog he is, but everybody has ideas about that.  Some of them are kind of funny.  I can tell he probably has no retriever at all in him, I had to teach him what to do about a tennis ball.  He plays hard, and likes to lick and nip (we're working on the nip part), and he's learning to walk nicely on leash.  He gets excited, tho, about stuff like birds and bunnies and people.  He is a little bit afraid of kids with wheels (bikes, scooters, skate boards, etc).  And he loves other dogs. 

He came with the name, and since he occasionally answers to it, I guess it can stay.  I call him all kinds of things, but never late to dinner.  And he'll eat anything that isn't tied down, especially if I'm not watching.

So here he is....Bandit!

 

And no, he's not really black.  He's dark brown, like extra dark chocolate, and has black edges, and a black stripe down his back.  He's also got a little white figure on his chest, which you can't see in this pic.   Long tail, thicker than a whip, not as thick as a brush.  One of my neighbors said he has a terrier snout.  He's got a very nose-oriented way of exploring the world, so that's probably the terrier part.

I guess he's a mix of whatever was in the neighborhood that particular week, and got lucky.  They found the puppies (he and his brother, at least) on a road, and brought them into the shelter.  So nobody even knows what his mom looks like.

Very happy pup.  He's starting to calm down and get used to how things go around here.  We're working on the behaviour things (but he was already house trained at the foster!), and we found a nice, safe place for him to be when I have to go into the city for various events.  He's too big and strong and not trained enough for my Mom to sit him.  Maybe when he calms down some.  We'll see.

The tradeoff of not being able to go to a couple of out of state things I had thought to attend, as opposed to not being so horribly lonely all the time....

So yeah, we're good here.  Hope you all are, too.