County Challenge Hike 6/9

I realized I mislabeled last week's hike. It should have been Hike 5/7 because it was a double hike. It also meant that technically we have finished the challenge as we have hiked 7 hikes, but, as you know, we try to hike all the hikes I am allowed to take each year.  So today we did hike 6, another double hike, so it could also be hike 9 depending on how you are counting.

This was a woods hike.  Mommy doesn't take me to this place very often because the parking lot is very small for an area that gets a lot of visitors. We've come down here in the past and have been unable to get a parking space. Plus, some of the people who use this preserve are rude and Mommy says I tend to develop an attitude on the trails here too because either there are female coyotes in the area or people walk bitches in heat on these trails an awful lot. The official trail goes through the woods and was 2.7 miles long.

We had just started on our hike and I was behind Mommy sniffing a tree and Mommy was picking up our water jug which had fallen over in the stroller, when a woman jogged past Mommy.  Mommy heard me go "Oof!" and turned around to find me sprawled out on the ground next to the tree. She said, "What happened?" and I looked over my shoulder at the woman jogging. Mommy isn't sure, but she suspects that the jogger kicked or shoved me for some reason as she ran past me, which, catching me off guard, since I was concentrating on the tree, and with my bad hind end, would easily topple me over.  Mommy helped me to my feet and brushed me off and we continued hiking.

 Wooded trail

We walked the official hike until it met up with the river trail (at a quarter mile).  Then I decided I wanted to ride in my stroller and Mommy decided she wanted to take the river trail for a bit.  We hiked the river trail until we got to the next trail head and then we turned around and went back to the  official hike. We hiked along that trail for a while and then I barked that I wanted to get out of the stroller and hike again. I hiked for another 3/4 of a mile and then I told Mommy I wanted back in the stroller.

I picked up a whole lot of burs as I hiked.

Mommy says I'm made of Teflon because she can always just pluck burs right off me with no trouble.

As Mommy was helping me into my stroller again a couple who were hiking the other way stopped to talk to Mommy about me and my stroller.  Mommy explained that I've been her Sunday hiking companion for 12 1/2 years and she was NOT going to leave me behind now.  They said they thought it was wonderful that she would consider me like that.  I rode for a bit more and then decided I wanted to walk for the last half mile.  Mommy let me out after warning me that I was going to have to walk the whole way back to the car, and I did.

Mommy complained that I had to sniff EVERY SINGLE **bleeping** tree as I hiked.

Well, yeah. There are lots of messages in these woods!

(And it is a sneaky way to take a rest.)

Total miles walked by me: 1.5. Total miles riding in my stroller: 2.7. Total miles hiked: 4.2.

County Hiking Challenge Hike 5/6

After our hike number 4/5 Mommy and I both got sick.  Mommy felt very run down that night and kept yawning while she was out at the theater. I just went to bed while she was gone.  The next morning Mommy woke up feeling sick to her stomach and she ran to the bathroom.  While she was in there I felt sick too and I tried to get up to go poop in the other room, but I had gotten myself stuck lying down in the middle of the hardwood floor and I ended up pooping as I was lying down and then getting the poop all over myself and the bedroom floor as I tried to get away from it.  Mommy came out of the bathroom finally and saw what had happened to me and we had to go out and I had to have a second bath in two days and Mommy had to scrub the bedroom floor.  Then, even though Mommy didn't feel well she went to work because she knew they were understaffed.  She only lasted two hours at work and then had to come home.  I had pooped in the back room while she was gone.  Mommy cleaned up that poop and we went to bed.  Later that day both Mommy and I got fevers. The next day I felt better, but still a bit poopy, but Mommy didn't feel better, she still had a fever so she didn't go to work that day and we slept almost all day.  That night Mommy's fever was gone and I was STARVED. Mommy gave me food and extra probiotics and a Carafate for my ulcer just in case.  Mommy still didn't feel like eating that day, but by the next day she was able to eat.  The best we can figure is that when I jumped into the lake on Hike 4/5 I picked up some kind of bacteria and then when Mommy gave me a bath (a full contact sport around here) she got lots of the bath water on her and in her and so she got the icky bacteria too.  Being a dog, I was able to fight off the bacteria a bit faster than Mommy was. Anyway, Mommy says, "No more swimming in lakes before Mommy has a chance to give them a good look-see." but I don't think that is going to happen.

Anyway, we took a weekend off to be sick, but then today we did our Hike 5/6.  We go to this hike quite a bit because it has a nice CLEAN lake that I can swim in so I know it well and have various places along the hike where I have to go down to the water. 

 The lake. We have never figured out what that smokestack belongs to.

I hiked the first mile which included going down to the water and chasing fish a couple times.  I love chasing fish.

 Where are the fish?

Then, after chasing the fish the second time I asked to get in the stroller and I rode for about a mile until Mommy decided to take a side trail we haven't taken in a long time.  This trail leads up to the far north trailhead of the river trail that goes through the entire county.  I rode for about a half mile and then I decided I wanted to walk and sniff so I barked to get out and walked the quarter mile to the trail head. Mommy got me some water from the pump at the trailhead and then we headed back to the official hike.  Since I had gotten my sniffs in I hopped back in the stroller for the end of the hike.

 The last time we were here this field was corn.  This time it was soybeans.  

Mommy thought the soybeans were very pretty with all their shades of yellow.

I rode happily until we got to a side trail that leads down to a fishing dock. Then I barked for Mommy.  Mommy asked if I wanted out, but I didn't.  I wanted her to wheel me down to the dock. So we went down and I got to look out over the water and then we continued on the hike.  When we got to the trail that leads to a bridge I barked again so Mommy would know to take that trail too.  We were part way down that trail when a horrible something flew into the stroller and landed on my head! I could feel it digging into my head trying to eat my brains so I started whining and barking for Mommy to save me.  Mommy stopped the stroller to see what was wrong and then she started laughing at me!  Instead of helping me she tried to get her camera out to take of picture of my brains being eaten. But then I realized that if something WAS trying to eat my brains Mommy probably wouldn't be laughing so I scraped my head against the side of the stroller and knocked the grasshopper that had been riding on my head off. Mommy was sad she didn't get a picture, but I'm glad she didn't. That would have been far too embarrassing!  We continued to the bridge and Mommy stopped in the middle so I could look out over the water.

 

Looking over the water from my stroller.

We retraced our steps back to the trail and went back to the car.  Total miles hiked by me about 1.25 ridden by me about 2.75. Total miles: 4.

County Hiking Challenge Hikes 1 - 4 (5)

 Mommy and I started doing the county hiking challenge for this year.  We took our first hike on the Sunday before Labor Day.  It was supposed to be a woods hike, but the map was wrong and a lot of what was marked woods was not woods.  This was unfortunate because it was in the mid-eighties and Mommy was already grumpy because I came in from being outside for 20 minutes, ate my Sunday egg and then got up on the bed and pooped on the clean sheets she had just made the bed with that morning. I not only got the dog hair sheet I managed to pull the sheets and blankets down enough to get the dog hair sheet, the blanket, the top sheet the bottom sheet and one pillowcase.  Mommy ended up having to do two extra loads of laundry because of that and she didn't speak to me until the laundry was all done.  Anyway, Mommy thought maybe a hike would put her in a better mood, but it didn't, it just made her hot and grumpy and she took no pictures. It was a 3 mile hike, of which I hiked 1 mile and rode the other two.


Our second/third hike was on Labor Day.  Mommy woke up in a better mood (although she wouldn't let me on the bed in the middle of the night and insisted I sleep on my own bed) and it was cooler so we went and took one of the longer hikes. It was officially a 2.8 mile hike so it counts as two hikes, but we took a side trail to a pond and made it a 4.4 mile hike so it really WAS like two hikes.

The prairie sunflowers were out in force

I hiked the first .8 miles and then I decided I wanted to ride.  We met up with another dog in a stroller (a small basset hound in a medium stroller) hiking with his people and two younger dogs.  The basset's mom said, "We do love our old babies don't we." and Mommy agreed.

Here I am at the pond. 

We'd never hiked here in this spot before so I insisted on getting out of the stroller so I could get all the sniffs. I saw a frog on the shore and went to get a closer look, but the water went from ankle deep to over my back with no slope. I was surprised, but not upset by my accidental swim. 

Mommy was too busy laughing at me to get a picture of me in the water, but here I am after I got out. 

I'm thinking "Bad frog!"

I ended up walking about 2 miles and riding the other 2.4.

Our third/fourth hike was in a new forest preserve that we'd never been to. This preserve opened late last year and it is a nice one!  There isn't really a preserve entrance yet so you park at the forest preserve's operations department (where they keep the heavy equipment) parking lot and walk down a fire road to get to the trail.  It is a combination of gravel and paved and is a bit hilly.

 Here is the start of the hike. 

Mommy wants to come back again when color starts because she thinks those trees will be magnificent.  After you hike for about a mile you can take a grass path to a lake. It is a very nice view, but unfortunately the lake is too far away through a lot of swampy scrub to get down to the shore and swim.  Maybe that will change as they keep improving the preserve.

 The lake

Then if you keep going there is a mile and a bit more of the trail a big part of which is this serpentine boardwalk over marshland.

 It is a very long boardwalk

Then the trail suddenly stops, but there is a sign that says that the rest of the trail should be built some time next year.  They need to build an underpass under a busy road and then it will connect to one of my favorite preserves on the other side of the busy road.  Mommy hopes it is on time and I am still around to hike it at least once after it all connects.

As I promised Shawnee the Shepherd, I had Mommy take some movies of me walking so that she won't feel so bad about having a limp now.  All us older dogs walk a little funny.  Here they are:

Back view. 

You can see my back feet just sort of fall wherever they feel like.

Sometimes my legs will even cross

Side view

The legs just kind of fly out and plop down.

Mommy says she can tell I'm thinking "left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot."

Total miles 6. Hiked by me 1.5, ridden by me 4.5.

Our fourth/fifth hike was to the little lake where I did a lot of my rehab hiking after I had my toe amputated. This hike is all mowed trail so the stroller couldn't come along, but that's okay because the hike is only 1 mile long.

The hike goes under high tension power lines and next to an interstate

 But it has a very nice little lake in the middle

Mommy set her stopwatch on her phone and it took us 43 minutes 10 seconds to finish the hike with a little swim break in the middle. So Mommy figures I walk at just under 2 miles an hour these days.  We got back to the car just as it was starting to rain which was good.  Mommy gave me a bath in the rain when we got home, which was bad.

Total miles hiked: 1 with no stroller time at all.

My Monthly Diary for August, 2013

August was a fun month.  As I talked about last month I got a STROLLER for my birthday so that Mommy and I could take longer hikes.  We took a few hikes at home and I quickly figured out that I could hike until I was tired and then get in and ride and nap and then get out when I was rested up again so I could get all the good sniffs in.

Then Mommy and I went on vacation in Wisconsin for a week and a bit.  Mommy packed one small suitcase, a bag of books, her camera, her laptop, and an ice chest of food for herself which took up the passenger seat footwell and 1/2 the front passenger seat and then she packed my stroller, a suitcase of toys, food bowls, meds, and leashes, an ice chest with my yogurt and cheeses for my meds, my life vest, my big tin of food, a smaller tin of treats, my travel bed, and a jug of water for the drive, which took up the whole back of the car, the backseat passenger side footwell and the other half of the front passenger seat.  She said traveling with me now is like traveling with a toddler.

Anyway we got to Wisconsin and we had a lot of fun.  We spent most mornings and late afternoons sunning on the dock and trying to swim in the lake (it was far colder than normal so neither Mommy nor I swam for long most days.)

Lounging on the dock

We also took a lot of pedal boat rides.  The first couple were relatively short, then Mommy expanded how far she pedaled each day until one day we pedaled around the big 1/2 of the lake (about 2.5 miles) and then the next day we pedaled around the whole lake (about 3 miles).  When I say "we" I mean Mommy pedals and I captain.  I love riding in the pedal boat because you get to see and sniff so many things without having to work at all, unless you are Mommy that is.  We met some friends on the lake on the day we went around the big half. They brought their boat over to us and one said, "We saw a woman with a big dog in a pedal boat and knew there was only one person that could be!"

 Me being captain of the pedal boat

 Going through the tunnel that connects the big and little parts of the lake.
What made that little wake?

 Ducks!

We also took three hikes with my stroller.  The first hike we took was a four miles into town and four miles back hike.  I hiked the first mile or so and then I rode in the stroller.  When we got to town Mommy stopped and refilled our water and I went swimming in the big lake in town and then I rode back.  I got out to swim in the small lake I like to swim in and then walked some and then got back in the stroller.  On the walk to and from town there is a GREAT BIG hill that is the bane of walkers, bikers, rollerbladers and joggers.  Many bike riders and rollerbladers are afraid to go down the hill because it is so long and steep (It is at at least a 45 degree angle but Mommy thinks it is more of a 50 degree angle) and not many bikers, bladers or joggers get up to the top coming up the other way without stopping.  When we got to the bottom of the hill Mommy said, "Okay, time to hop out and walk." I looked at the hill and said, "No thanks, I'd prefer to ride." Mommy said, "No really, get out." I said, "Make me." and Mommy pushed me in the stroller all the way to the top.  Half way up she had to change how she was pushing it and when she got to the very top she stopped and drank about 1/2 my water. She really needs to get herself in better shape if we are going to be out hiking.  We both took an hour nap when we got home.

The other two hikes were down the Bearskin State Park Trail. One at the top of the trail and one at the bottom of the trail.  The top of the trail was uneventful. I hiked, I rode, I got out and swam in my favorite swimming spots. It was fun and we were quite the talk of the trail. Even though it is a tourist area people up there tend to keep their big dogs in backyard kennels and only take them out during hunting season, so seeing a big "huntin' dog" riding in a stroller was baffling for a lot of them.  Mommy took a picture of me at the trailhead sign and then she remembered she had taken almost the same picture of me 10 years ago.  Here they are

Me in August, 2013

 

Me in August, 2003

As long as we were in town Mommy decided to stop and get some fudge to take back for our neighbor who was taking in our mail.  Mommy parked me in my stroller in front of the fudge store.  There is a great big window there where you can look in at the high school kid who has the job of stirring the giant vat of whatever fudge they are making at the time.  Mommy figured she could see the stroller and he would watch me while she was in the store.  He did more than that. He called all the other kids over to come see me.  People walking down the sidewalk also stopped to look at me too.  As I said, they aren't used to that kind of thing.  When Mommy left the store she said to the kid at the vat, "Yes, I'm crazy." and another boy who worked there and was leaving at the same time said to Mommy, "I think that thing is GREAT!!"

When we did the lower half of the trail I walked about the first mile and then I rode.  This trail is an old railroad line and the lower half is full of trestles as the Bearskin Creek zigzags back and forth under it.

 Bearskin Creek

When we would get to the center of each trestle I would bark and Mommy would stop and turn the stroller so that I could look out over the water.  When we got past the really long trestle I sat up and barked which is how I say I want to walk.  Mommy stopped and let me out and I immediately went down the bank and jumped into the creek.  This seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turns out that the creek is VERY muddy in the shallows and I sank up to my hips in the goo.  Mommy had to help pull me out.  The creek is also very high in iron so when Mommy finally got me out I was coated in black mud and smelled like a sewer pipe.  

The goo is so deep in places that somewhere under there covered by about 20 feet of mud is a steam engine, two railroad cars and the crane that was brought in to pull them back onto the track after they derailed.

I walked a little way and then Mommy shoved me into a cleaner section of the creek to try to rinse me off a bit. It didn't really help.  When I got tired and wanted back in the stroller Mommy got covered in the goo too helping me in.  So we finished the hike with both of us coated in creek goo and stinking like a sewer.  When we got back to the trailhead Mommy rinsed us both off under the water pump that was there, but it too had a high iron content so, while it got the worst of the goo off us it didn't do much for the smell.  Mommy covered the back seat with the car blanket and car towel in hopes they would protect the interior from the goo.  When we got back to the house Mommy had to give me a bath, give herself a bath, wash everything she was wearing (including her underwear), the towel, blanket and back seat cover and the stroller and we both still smelled a bit like rusty iron for a couple days after that.

All in all it was a great vacation!

Kneel Before the Grand Pasha!

This should be my monthly update for July, but frankly, other than me getting a life vest  which I posted about already, and starting to swim again (and starting to develop what my vet calls "pond funk" again) not much happened in July.  My laser treatments are not working as well as they used to and my back right leg especially acts ups.  This makes walking not much fun so I haven't been doing as much.  The vet told Mommy that she needed to accept the fact that my world is going to become smaller and she'll have to consider when it is too small.  We were walking so little that when I did take a walk to the lake so I could swim (well wade because I didn't have my life vest yet) earlier this month when we passed my departed friend Ozzie's house on our way home his daddy was very happy to see me.  He came over to scratch me even though I was wet and he told Mommy that he was worried about me because he hadn't seen me for so long.  He said he was planning to walk his new dog to our house and stop to ask if everything was okay.  Wasn't that nice?

Anyway, I love swimming with my new vest, but it tires me out for a few days afterwards.  Mommy took this video of me which she calls, "When Floppy Lipped Dogs Dream"

But what is this Grand Pasha stuff I'm talking about in the title of this post you ask...

I am the Grand Pasha! You see, Mommy has been brooding about accepting the fact that my world is going to become smaller for quite a while now and then one day when I stopped a hike at 1/3 of a mile she said, "F*** that s*** and f*** aging gracefully!"  So, for my official 13th birthday Mommy bought me a great present.  Here it is:

Yes, it is a large dog dog stroller, or, as my friends Emme and Charley dubbed it, and I prefer to think of it, my royal carriage.

I'm neophobic and I hate crates so Mommy was  concerned when she bought  it for me that I was going to freak out and refuse to get in it.  She had this two week plan for making me comfortable.  First I was to sit in it with no wheels, then with wheels but not moving, then some short jaunts up and down the driveway, then a few longer trips in town, then we'd hit the trails.  Well, I didn't need two weeks for that at all.  It arrived last Wednesday and I got in it without wheels right away and napped in it for about 15 minutes.  The next day I got right in it and took another nap. 

 Yesterday Mommy put the wheels on it and I hopped right in and took another nap.

That afternoon Mommy put it in the car and we drove to town and then Mommy pushed me in it to the Dog n Suds where I got to have an order of cheese fries. Yum! Lots of people stared at us and some laughed and all the servers came out to bring people extra ketchup and things just so they could look at us. One group asked Mommy about why I was in the stroller and Mommy explained about me not being able to hike for more than a mile or so and how she didn't want me to not hike anymore.  They thought it was a very good idea.  After the fries we strolled back to the car and Mommy got me out and said, "Let's practice walking beside the stroller." I said, "If I can't ride in style I want to go back to the car." and I refused to go with her.  That's when Mommy dubbed me The Grand Pasha.

Today we took it on the trail. Mommy tied my zipline to the handlebar and I walked on my own for the first mile and took in all the sniffs.

Then I got tired and I went straight to the back loading door to tell Mommy I wanted to ride.  She got me in it and off we went at a much faster clip.

The people we met on the trail reacted in four ways to coming across us.  Many of the people who came upon us from behind were totally oblivious and assumed that Mommy had a baby in a stroller.  Most men who noticed me scowled at Mommy, obviously thinking that she was spoiling me or treating me like a baby.  Most women laughed and most children said, "Awww that's soooo cute!"  One man stopped to talk to Mommy.  He recognized that I was elderly and he told us that he had a 9 year old husky who he loved to hike with, but who can't hike in the summer anymore.  Mommy explained that I have been her hiking partner for 12 1/2 years and she couldn't imagine leaving me at home while she hiked from now on.  Mommy had planned to hike 12 miles, but after about 4 she realized she was getting much more of an upper body workout than she had planned on, especially after we went up and over a bridge.  So we turned around early and headed back. 

We met up with some dogs who I would normally say mean things to on hikes, but while I was riding like the royalty I am I just looked down my nose at them as they deserved.  Mommy stopped to offer water to a husky and I got mad and barked, but that was because she was offering MY WATER in MY BOWL to the husky and I DO NOT share water.  About 1/2 mile from the end I barked at Mommy that I wanted to come out and walk again, so Mommy stopped and let me out.  We discovered on our practice sessions that the best way for me to get out of the stroller was for Mommy to take the front wheel off and support the front end of the stroller on two 4 by 4s so that I could step out that way.  When I ride the 4 by 4s ride in the front of the stroller covered by my sleeping bag so that I have a nice paw/head rest.  I hiked the final half mile.  We met a man in that last half mile who passed us from behind and then turned back to look at us and then started trotting back towards us.  He told Mommy he thought she had lost her kid!!  Mommy explained that the stroller was for me and he kind of shook his head and went away laughing.

Total miles hiked 9.  Total miles hiked by me 1.5.  Total miles traveling in style 7.5.  A dog could get used to this.

My Life Vest

First I want to say that I'm not getting paid to talk about how wonderful this life vest is.  My blog isn't that kind of blog. When I find something wonderful and a company that gave us really good service I think I should praise it and them.

As I mentioned last month, I discovered I couldn't swim anymore because my right leg would suddenly freeze up once I couldn't touch the lake bottom, and then I would sink.  Mommy ordered me an EzyDog Doggy Flotation Device from Backcountry K9. This vest is a bit old fashioned. If you look at it compared to the newer models it seems much bulkier, not as form fitting, but it had a longer back than the other vests and, since Mommy wanted to give me as much support in my hind end as possible, she chose this one.  She ordered it on the 2nd of July and less than an hour after she ordered it she got an e-mail saying it had been shipped!  We got it on the 5th of July which we considered AMAZING because of the holiday being in the middle.   I tried it out a couple days later and it worked GREAT!! I was a little scared when Mommy told me we were going to swim and when my back legs left the sand I panicked a little, but Mommy kept me in the deep water and I quickly realized that I wasn't sinking! Then we took our swim out to the sand bar and it was a little harder than normal because I was swimming with only three legs, but when we turned around to head back to shore my right leg suddenly started paddling! Mommy and I were both very excited when we got back to shore and we went to Tastee Freeze to get a celebratory PupCup.

Me in my life vest after our test swim

Mommy found it very awkward trying to carry the vest to the lake (we walk about 3 blocks to get to the swimming spot) so Mommy decided that what the vest needed was a carrying case. She dug around in the closets and came out with her stuff sack for her bedroll from way back in her vagabond days.  Then she found a strap for a broken gym bag and some old key chains and VOILA! she made a carrying case for the vest.  She even put a poop bag holder on it so that we wouldn't have to worry about being caught short.

See, the whole vest fits in the case!

We took another swim a few days later and my right leg remembered how to work right away this time.  I swam to the sandbar a couple times and swam along it too for a bit.  It was wonderful! Then Sunday we went back to swim and this time when I swimming out to the sandbar with Mommy I noticed that a neighbor was swimming in the lake too so I decided I needed to swim out to her and show her my new vest.  Mommy had stopped at the sandbar and was surprised when I just kept going.  Mommy called out to the neighbor that I was trying to catch up and the neighbor stopped her swim so I could say hi. We talked for a bit and then I swam back to shore. Mommy figures I swam about a 1/4 mile (round trip) with some treading water in the middle so she thought I'd be very tired and want to go home, but I didn't.  I stayed in the water at a level where my feet were just touching the ground and walked around and relaxed, and at one point I realized I could go out into deeper water and not have to paddle so I did and I just hung in my vest and relaxed in the cool water. It was great.  When we were done I wanted to go get a PupCup but Mommy said no because she didn't want me to try to walk 1 1/2 miles after all that swimming.  I pouted so she said she'd make me a homemade one and I agreed to go home.

Homemade PupCup

Last night, because it was so hot out, Mommy decided to take me for a sunset swim. She figured with my long Sunday swim I would probably just wade or maybe hang in the vest like before, but when we got to the lake I found a stick and brought it to Mommy to throw.  She helped me into the lake and then threw the stick and I swam out for it and brought it back five times.  Mommy stopped me then because she was afraid I'd overdo it. So we both just lounged in the water until the sun was almost set and then we went home and I got another homemade PupCup and Mommy went into our storage area and pulled out my Dead Ducky.  She had stored it last year when I stopped wanting to play fetch and insisted on only swimming out to the sandbar with her.  She hung Dead Ducky by the back door so she'd remember to take it the next time we went swimming.  Next time was this morning because it was still really hot.  This time Mommy brought her camera so she could take pictures of me in action.  I fetched Dead Ducky 8 times and then I decided I just wanted to wade a bit.

Me fetching Dead Ducky

Me wading

Mommy figured we were done for the day and then a golden retriever came by riding on a surf board.  It is bad enough that golden retrievers think they are so golden, but to be taken around the lake like an Egyptian pharaoh was just too much for me.  I immediately started swimming out towards that golden retriever with the intention of biting him, or at least capsizing his board.  Mommy was shocked and had to dive in and go after me even though she wasn't planning on swimming herself this morning.  Mommy caught up with me before I could catch up with that dog and she grabbed the handle of my vest and made me turn around and go back to shore.  She said that other dogs get to use the lake, but really, do you call that USING the lake?

You can just see he thinks he's something else, can't you?

Mommy said that since she was wet anyway she'd do some swimming so she swam out to the sandbar and down the shore a bit.  I didn't go out to the sand bar, but I did follow her along the shore for a bit.  She didn't want to swim too far away because she wanted to be able to keep her eye on the camera.

Having a post swim stick chew before walking home.

All in all I just have to say I LOVE MY NEW LIFE VEST!!!  Mommy says she feels we have already gotten our money's worth out of it too since it makes me so happy and lets me act like my much younger self.  So, if any of you dogs out there are getting up in years and are having trouble swimming we highly recommend getting a life vest.

My Monthly Diary for June, 2013

I should start by saying Happy 4th of July everyone!

I had a pretty busy June.  I had all my socializing to do.  For instance, one morning Mommy and I were taking our morning walk and when we passed by the diner there was a guy sitting on the bench in front of it. He was talking on his cellphone, but I always assume anyone who is sitting alone and talking really wants to talk to me so I stopped in front of him and leaned against him and stared up at him until he said, "Hold on. I have to pet this dog." Then he tucked his phone into his shoulder so he could give me a good two handed scratching while talking.  Mommy was very embarrassed when she got to the end of my zipline and turned around to see what I was doing, but I wasn't embarrassed at all. He was sitting alone and talking. He needed to pet me.
It was Grandpa's birthday this month too, but I didn't get to go to the celebration. Mommy didn't either because it was over 1 1/2 hours away from our house, but she did get together with Grandma, Grandpa, her grumpy oldest brother and his new wife who is not grumpy at all.  I had to stay home because it was a humans only place.  I thought that Mommy was going to be gone all day so I got comfy on the bed and went to sleep.  Well, Mommy came home and, since I wasn't expecting her, I didn't hear her come in.  She checked on me, but saw how tired I was so she let me sleep.  I slept for 1 1/2 hours after she came home.  She says she made all sorts of noise, including knocking a broom and dustpan out of the broom closet, but I don't believe her.  Here is the embarrassing movie she took of me:

Also this month Mommy and I went to Mommy's coworker's anniversary party, which I already blogged about.

Then Mommy and I went up to Wisconsin for a quick arrive Saturday/leave Monday trip.  Mommy's grumpy oldest brother and his not grumpy wife were there and Missy and her family were there, but I didn't get to see Missy because she was staying at the grumpy oldest brother's house and didn't come to Grandma and Grandpa's house, which was too bad.  Mommy got her brothers to put in the peddleboat so we could take rides and I got to ride in the big boat too.  Mommy helped Grandpa with a couple of little chores and managed to gouge a chunk out of her arm while doing one of them.  I tried to go swimming, but when I got out to swimming depth, my right leg went up into swimming possition and then locked there! It was very scary and I went back to shore. Mommy swam out for my ducky and she tried to swim a bi more, but she complained that the water was too cold.  Mommy has ordered me a life vest and we hope that will help me swim even with my wonky leg, otherwise I'm going to be just a wading dog from now on.

Our town had its Fourth of July celebration on Saturday like it always does and Mommy's best friend since first grade happened to be in the area so the three of us walked to Tastee Freeze and I got a PupCup and Mommy got a malt and Mommy's friend got nothing because she had come from eating out with other friends and was full. Then we went to Mommy's and my spot at the feed store to see the fireworks.  The old folks who hadn't come last year were there this year. One of them had had surgery last year right around fireworks time which was why they couldn't come.  Mommy, her friend and I sat on my sleeping bag and they talked A LOT until the show started.  Right before the show started these weird lights came floating up from the park where you are SUPPOSED to go see the fireworks.  People were wondering what they were.  First Mommy said, "UFOs." then when they got a little closer Mommy said, "Drones." Then when they got closer she said, "Oh, they are floating lanterns." One of the old people asked, "Lanterns?" and Mommy said, "Yeah, you know, you make a tissue paper lantern and you hang a tea light under it and it heats up and floats like a hot air balloon." Then as we watched more and more of them float over head Mommy said, "Yeah, they float like little hot air balloons straight towards our house... I hope the the candles burn out completely before they come crashing back down to earth. We didn't see where they landed, but it must have been after they passed our house because we didn't find any of them that night. Mommy's friend was impressed by our little town's show.  We had some fireworks she'd never seen before, like one that made the shape of a star and one that was half blue and half white. I made sure to sit pressed up against Mommy's friend or on her lap for most of the show because it was special she came.  Mommy said her friend was a very good sport because she is kind of afraid of big dogs, but she couldn't have been afraid of ME!!  When the show was over I stood up and barked at the sky because I wanted more fireworks.

Finally, the big happy news this month is that the stinky next door neighbors moved and the new neighbors don't smoke!! No more constant haze of cigarette smoke! We can open our windows again and Mommy can leave the back door open so I can go on and off the porch as I please and Mommy and I can hang out in the hammock without Mommy having to wear a mask.  The new neighbors have a puggle, who I've sniffed through the fence, but have not met properly yet.  Hopefully I'll meet it soon.  Sometimes when the new neighbors open their door our porch and yard stink of air freshener, but that isn't too bad, and we know that their only other choice would be to hire a disaster clean up crew or one of those companies that clean houses after someone has lain dead in them for days to come in and destinkify the house and since they are young, they probably can't afford that.