Say it ain't so

Was our human smokin' something funny up in those hills? 'Cause the next day, he was looking at puppies... Narra and the human went to an obedience match to practice up, and friends were there with a new passel of Belgian Malinois pups. The breeder has been tempting our boy to take one of the nasty things, but he's resisted so far. Apparently, this "light blue boy" would be a good agility prospect...

Back to the garden

Well, the human left us behind again... It wasn't Woodstock, but we woulda liked to go, too! He ventured up to the Catskills to Denniston Hill, an artist-writer-owned, 200-acre spread dedicated to the self-sustaining--in all its implications--powers of creative practice.

He made some new friends, enjoyed nature, and basked in hippie-like activities. He hung with the homeboys (was nicknamed "Tocayo," alternatively "#2"),
although was unable to help film a Tagalog action flick from the back of a pickup. All the while, the river beckoned. Sounds like the human did alright--though no one does tie-dye like the canine set. And, yes, there were dogs, too! What the... ? Couldn't have been that good without us.

BTW, Narra turns 4 on Sunday! She has been told that we expect a new level of maturity from her as she will no longer be a "young adult"!

Please give Lewis a home!

So, yes, we've been home for a little while now. The responsibilities of homeownership smacked the human in the face as soon as we got back, but he's recovering. The big excitement, though, has been his parental units' decision to get a canine companion of their own (because our boy won't let Jacks go live with them!). The decision came down to an interesting choice: calm, adult dog from rescue or mold-able puppy from a breeder?

Unfortunately, the older humans decided not to adopt Lewis, a 7-10yo cattle dog mix that our human strongly recommended. While Lewis fit the bill in almost every respect, he is rather deaf, and the older units decided that might be too much for them.

So, a puppy it is. But the maternal unit has decided to wait until she's fully retired next May. We all like the Cardigan Welsh Corgi and have found a good breeder: Heritage Hill Cardigan Welsh Corgis in Northeast, MD.

No little brats for us at the moment, but there's definitely one in our future. That's okay, we have enough time to prepare mentally (we think).

Bitchin'

Our last agility trial before heading home was the Pikes Peak Obedience Club trial in Elbert, CO, just outside Colorado Springs. We entered both days but only did the one so we could get home before our van registration expired. :) We had a lot of fun--as usual--but no Qs again. Human was in a good mood, though, because of no stupid mistakes.

These pictures, btw, are actually from the Bozeman trial. (Ah, yes, we're reminiscing already...) We realized we hadn't posted any agility pics--very disrespectful of our raison d'etre! (Well, Narra's raison d'etre really, but we wouldn't get to go everywhere if not for agility!)

[Pictures by Play Action Photos]

Glorie Be

Our last stop on our summer roadtrip was the Denver area. We made a new friend: Glorie, a husky-aussie mix, who let us stay at her house. She's only 10-months old and had even more energy than Narra! We didn't mind so much because she shared her tennis balls and rawhides. Even better, we had the honor of being there when Glorie got a new brother. Her humans adopted Mookie, a four-year old Saint Bernard, from the Humane Society of Boulder Valley during our visit. We hear Glorie and Mookie are enjoying siblinghood--though the house cats aren't so sure! Hee hee.:)

We're going to Jackson

When I breeze into that city, people gonna stoop and bow...

A little consideration please

Although we enjoy the national forests far more than the national parks, they're not perfect. Case in point: Sheffield Creek campground in the Teton Division of the Bridger-Teton NF. This campground is beautiful and super convenient, just outside the south entrance of Yellowstone and on the way to Grand Teton. The little forest road to it is rocky so maybe dissuades many potential campers. But not us! When we got there, there was only one site taken (a nice, older, European couple in a funky Toyota camper like we've never seen before), and a car showed up later.

Unfortunately, also arriving later in the evening were a group of young people who decided to make the campground their party ground. About five cars altogether, and who knows how many people. And they chose the site right across from us! Now, our human is not (really) an old fuddy duddy--and he can still party with the best of them (somewhat)--but his patience was severely tested by these morons. They blasted music from someone's trunk-mounted speakers, built a big fire around which they hooted and hollered all night long. We waited to see what would happen at "quiet hours," and, unfortunately, nothing. The older couple ended up vacating, but we do believe they recorded license plate numbers and hope they reported these rednecks to someone. By midnight, we couldn't stand it anymore and moved ourselves. We ended up at the far end of horse-trailer parking, well out of earshot. Finallly, sleep.

We planned to take license plate numbers in the morning, but only one car was left--and no plate! It had a temporary sticker in the window, but maybe that wasn't even real. We wanted the human to confront the five guys who were there, but he just glared at them and opted for discretion as the better part of valor. We coulda taken 'em. Wimp.

Biting the Big One

We've already established that national parks suck, but how much more so the granddaddy of them all, Yellowstone (and Grand Teton), in the middle of July? Yeah, that bites. We've actually avoided these parks because of the crowds and "no pets" policy, but the human felt obligated for some reason. (Also, his maternal unit really enjoyed Grand Teton, so we went on her recommendation.) They were okay. Not much snow left this record-hot summer, but the crowds were out regardless.

Clearly, common sense had deserted our human: he wanted to camp in Yellowstone our first night! A big board at the West Yellowstone entrance informed us that most of the campgrounds were already full, but we ventured on, seeking a site of our own. After scouring a few campgrounds, though, our boy regained his senses and took us out the park's north entrance to find peace and quiet in our favorite Gallatin National Forest. But, crazy enough, our targeted campground was also full! On the map, Snowbank campground, in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, looked out of the way--we thought it'd be perfect. Guess lots of other people thought the same! The beauty of the national forests, though: camp where you like (unless otherwise posted). We followed the forest road east and found the Wallace Pass parking area to be a great place to park, hang out, and have fun. We had the place to ourselves, and you know what that means: off leash!!! Since we were at a trailhead, we woke up early the next morning for a little hike. Other people were out on the trail, too, though, so we made it a short one. We didn't mind, it was getting hot already, and the boys were ready to move on. Still, the Beartooths are awesome--at this point, they feel like home. :)