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morning run:
Alice
Lucy
Ginger
George
Shirley
Monkey
Maggie
(7)
Rain yesterday topped off most of the charcos in the monte, so there was a lot of mud and water with crabs, tadpoles and tiny fish. We did a bit of off-roading off to the north, this time in the charco further west than last time; we actually ended up fording the same crossing as last time at the end, and came out by Chester's shortcut out to the north of no-man's land, but we got there by a different route. Buggy and beautiful, with just a few flamingos around (but impressively large and close). Everyone acquitted themselves admirably, kept up and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Bette
Osita
Rita
Ernie
Gowron
Frankie
(7)
Another all-monte run to the north, this time off-roading around one of the charcos just north of no-man's land, to the west of where we went last time. I've been there before, but when it was dry; today there was a lot of slogging through water up to my ankles or even knees in places. In a few spots we had to turn back because of a combination of slippery, hard bottom and deep water; there is an algae that grows on the bottom sometimes that is slipperier than ice. Osita doesn't like to ford crossings that are too deep, and we had to turn around at the end and run an extra km with her on the leash because she wouldn't come to me to make a short-cut (I was going to carry her across). Otherwise all good. We saw one lone flamingo up close in a northern charco, and a group of 6 overflew us at close range on the way home.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Oscar
Otto
Archie
Chester
Rufus
Truman
Frijolita
Elewah
(8)
I've been asked by the biosphere people not to go running in no-man's land any more, for fear of bothering the wildlife. So, today we went much farther north than we've been before, heading out to where the trail through no-man's land ends as our starting point and continuing on through the flooded salt charcos (which is fine by the biosphere people). It's impassable if you aren't on foot, and very beautiful. We saw no flamingos and no people whatsoever out there (just a couple salt dudes close to home on the way back). I'm not sure how far we went exactly since I don't have a good mental map of that part of the monte yet, but my legs feel like it was a long one. A lot of slogging through water and mud. Rufus was too wound up to begin with but settled down. Elewah was good and came in with the rest of us at the end.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Alice
Lucy
Ginger
Henry
George
Shirley
Monkey
(7)
Good group, and a wet one. The whole monte is flooded; even the "land bridge" access road behind the shripmery is impassable on anything but foot now. Monkey was a dream, and enthusiastic without being out of control. She swam a LOT, as did most of them (Ginger the least, naturally). We didn't hit the beach at all. We went the usual route to the intersection (completely flooded), then went across the first set of charcos and turned south, where there were a ton of flamingos. We went all the way around the southern loop, and came back via the shire, which was COMPLETELY FLOODED; the swimming hole was well over all of the dogs' heads, and you couldn't even see the trail for 50m. Everyone had fun.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Bette
Posey
Blue
Eve
Ernie
Tuesday
Elewah*
(8)
It looked like maybe this was a bad idea before we left: they were incredibly wound up, and I knew I had to have Tuesday on the leash practically the whole way. Somehow, though, only 500m down the road or so they all settled down and it turned out to be a nice, long run on a cool, cloudy, windy morning. The road to the southern 3-way was too flooded to bother with, but we ended up going out to no-man's land anyway, and off-roading a bit to get around the worst of the flooding while out there. A red SUV was parked out in the middle of the road just before no-man's land, and there were three people in the boat out on that far charco, too far from us to see. Ernie did well in spite of it being the longest run he's been on for a while. Tuesday was only off the leash in no-man's land when we were punching a trail through the woods. We came home via the monte at the tortuga sign, since I didn't want to run into or deal with the cows on the beach (their pasture is completely flooded). Everyone behaved themselves. Elewah is still out as I write this, but it's going to storm so I expect her back soon.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Oscar
Otto
Archie
Chester
Rufus
Ernie
Rita
(7)
Left on the beach due to cows on the road. Turned into the monte at the tortuga sign, where Rufus kept shying away from me when I went to put him on the leash; I had to sit down in the road and make him come to me. Very bad. He hasn't done that in a while. He was really wound up, but still there's no excuse for that. He was on the leash for the rest of the way, which was short. We just did a loop around the shire, basically, and hit the beach at Au Soleil Couchant. Saw soldiers and hat guy on the way home. Everyone else was moderately good, but it wasn't a very good run in general. Monte is extremely flooded (which normally would've been fun).
GRADE: C
afternoon swim:
Zasu
Molly
(2)
Zasu did 4 1/2 laps and Molly was game but starting to wander on the beach. Beautiful.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Alice
Lucy
Ginger
Shirley
Ernie
George
Gowron
Elewah*
(8)
Went on the normal medium-length fatties run; threw Elewah in because I knew she wanted to go find The Brethren and she doesn't ever cause any grief, at least not with this crew. Went out sort of halfway to the Last Turn Home but then doubled back to the road that goes to the East of the shire, and took it all the way to the Au Soleil Couchant access road. We only went on the beach down to the tortuga sign, to avoid any possible or even imaginary issue with people, since there are quite a few staying to the north of us now. Everyone was stellar. Elewah stayed out to find her buds, expect her back soon.
GRADE: A
truck dog:
April
(1)
Start writing this down, since it counts. Went for a microwalk in the monte on the back way to town.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Bette
Godzilla
Osita
Frankie
Lily
Jack
(7)
Went early on a long one with a good group. Lily and Jack are both really coming along; I had Lily on the leash in no-man's land again (although she seems less and less interested in chasing flamingos), and she ran like a champ the whole time she was on. We went the full 10+k, entering the monte proper via the southern route (no goat-punchers in this group), and coming home on the beach from Au Soleil Couchant. Everyone had fun, kept up and listened well. First time in a while that we didn't see a single person anywhere, but there were lots of flamingos.
GRADE: A
afternoon swim:
Zasu
Gowron
(2)
Gowron was enthusiastic, Zasu not so much.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Oscar
Otto
Archie
Chester
Rufus
Truman
Frijolita
Elewah*
(8)
Left with the first seven; Elewah had been let out much earlier to go see The Brethren, one of whom had come to get her on the beach. Out near weathertop hill they all barked at us from the bushes somewhere (couldn't see them), and I called out Elewah's name a few times as we ran past (everyone was good). Sure enough, about 100m later, as we were crossing the middle charcos, Elewah came rocketing up to us out of the bush, whining and happy. She was with us for the rest of the run, out through no-man's land and down to the beach, but then took off again out the south road once we got back. Tons of flamingos, very few people. Long one. Everyone was stellar.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Zasu
Molly
(2)
Mixed bag. Zasu didn't want to swim, and Molly is not quite up to speed on her ever-increasing hugeness. They both came in early so Roni could have a decent swim. I'm laid up with a swollen little finger/hand, so wrestling Greta was not an option.
GRADE: C
morning run:
Alice
Lucy
Ginger
Shirley
Ernie
George
Henry
Elewah
(8)
Turned around at the ~2km mark because I couldn't find Henry, who had inexplicably come home by himself early. Everyone got gypped, especially Shirley, who really wanted to run. Really sucked.
GRADE: D
mid-day walk:
Zasu
Miles
Tito
Molly
(4)
This adorable little crew took mom on a walk to the charco behind the shrimpery and managed to get her back without getting carried off by the bugs. Tito claims several of the rodents in that area owe him money, but can produce no paper to back it up. Hot, humid, cloudy, sweaty, buggy day.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Zasu
Maggie
Ziggy
(4)
First time in a little while. Greta did 7 laps, but wanted to do less. Zasu was game for anything but did less than she has done in the past; still, she obviously likes swimming now, whereas she never used to, so that's pretty cool. Mags and Zig swam a bit and then got themselves into trouble by barking at someone (Mags, mostly), so they went in early. Water was nice, at least.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Gracie
Bette
Posey
Rita
Blue
Lily
Jack
(7)
Long one with a good group. The greenway is cut off from our normal eastern entrance due to flooding, so we took the main road down towards the goats and then turned into the monte from the southern route. Fairly flooded, but passable and beautiful. Nobody is working the charcos to the south right now. Went the full monty. Had Lily on and off the leash through no-man's land and a little beyond (where we've seen flamingos recently); she is MUCH improved. It turned out the closest flamingos were less than 50m away in the charco at the turn to the west, and nobody made a peep.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Archie
Chester
Rufus
Osita
Godzilla
Eve
(7)
Good group, went far. Usual story of late: lots of flamingos, lots of mud, lots of bugs. Nobody did anything untoward. Rufus had to start out on the leash he was so excited, but otherwise no worries. Missed Oscar again, but next time he'll be okay.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Lucy
Ginger
Henry
George
Shirley
Ernie
(7)
The mystery of the flamingos continues; they are close by now, seemingly out of season. Ernie, pinhead that he is, chased a couple at the 1km mark, in the charco next to the three-way intersection. He was reprimanded and put on the leash immediately, but still I am not happy about that. Ernie hasn't done something like that in a while. Everyone else was good the whole way. There were flamingos in various charcos near to us. The water at Au Soleil Couchant was full of nasty seaweed and a bit stinky in places, but it cleared up as we got further south. Cows on the beach just north of the HoJo, had to put Alice on the leash to drag her past.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Gracie
Bette
Truman
Rita
Gowron
Lily
Jack
(7)
Bit of a hiatus due to a variety of causes, mainly fatigue on all of our parts. Today I came back strong with a long one, and this was a good group. I didn't see for sure but I am fairly certain that Lily chased a Flamingo in no-man's land, so I put her on the leash and this time for a while; she was bad at first, but by the end of no-man's land she was running on the leash properly, and nobody did anything else worth mentioning. There were Flamingos again in the charcos just to the east of the Shire, and then out in no-man's land. No crabs, as it is starting to dry out again. Very pretty, very buggy. We had to double back on the beach from the pier to the maginot line because I didn't want to run into a gaggle of kids next to our house; the dogs would almost certainly have been fine, but I didn't have any energy left to deal with it if they weren't. Note to self: perhaps I should take in a little more than a handful of stale popcorn and a half a cup of coffee before running 10k.
GRADE: B
