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.