Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Mountain Dogs

There are mountain lions and mountain goats, and then there are mountain dogs.

This was Adidas' second trip to the cabin. On his first trip, he was accompanied by our elderly golden retriever Snuggles, who had made several trips before, and Malibu, BK and John's equally elderly pug. Since our trip two years ago, both of these veteran mountain dogs have died. Adidas, having been mountain trained by the best, remembered all that they had taught him. He passed on all of the necessary information to Harley on this her first trip.

The most important piece of information that he shared was that of the canine boundaries. The dogs were good about staying close by unless accompanied by one of their humans. Of less importance but of great canine interest was the hot spot for chasing chipmunks, where to find the best swimming, the location of all the bones so that you can assemble your own forest critter, and how to open the screen door with no human intervention. The dogs were great companions on this trip.

In years past we have hiked up to the meadow, about a two mile hike each way. We did not make this hike this year - partially because it rained quite a bit and also because Erin and I (and the dogs) were the only hiking enthusiasts on this trip. One afternoon, however, Alissa, the girls, the dogs and I headed out for a short walk up to a small waterfall, maybe a half a mile or so. As soon as we reached our destination, we were met with an afternoon thunderstorm. We headed back to the cabin but not before we were all drenched. The rest of the day was spent inside drying off and, you guessed, knitting.

Here is our canine trail buddy.



Actually, Alissa spent much of the afternoon spinning. Please notice the "decor". Like I said, we all got soaked. With no dryer, wet clothes were hung on the line in front of the fire. It just so happens that the line was strung across the living room. Oh well, it was all girls up there - except for Adidas and he did not care.



It is hard to see in this picture, but the roving that Alissa was spinning looked like the colors that were in the hummingbirds that were constantly at the feeders outside the cabin windows.



Once the rains stopped, Adidas was ready to play frisbee. He is such and addict that we had to change the phrase "play frisbee" to "recreate with the flying disk". He had the energy to play 24/7. The rest of us did not.



Harley was not the least bit interested in recreating with the flying disk, but she did enjoy inhibiting Adidas' game. Every now and then she would snatch the frisbee from him. Her favorite thing to do with it was hide with it under the rock table - a place big enough for her but too small for Adidas without some serious excavation.
Harley likes for everyone to think that she is precious, but we all know better!