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morning walk:
Alice
Rita
George
Shirley
Molly
Twiggy
Maggie
Bosha
Monkey
(9)
I took this crew out for a walk between the land bridges as it was just starting to get hot. I had to put Molly on the leash about half way to keep her from jumping around too much and hurting herself; I left her on the rest of the way and she was good about it. Everyone swam in the charcos and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Gracie
Osita
Tuesday
Reggie
Daisy
Luna
Linda
Hazel
Tori
(9)
My foot is feeling better but still not up for a run, or so I thought. I took this group out on the longer recent walking route, north from the land bridge all the way to the intersection and home via the blue bag trail. We left with nobody on the leash and it was my intention to see if Tuesday might be okay the whole way this time... how tragically wrong-headed this was. As we were getting to the bush with the blue bag stuck in it (thus: "blue bag trail") she was already obviously showing signs of her "paranoia"; there was a moment when I could've lunged to grab her and put her on the leash but I decided not to make a federal case of it and let her be... after all, she'll just go home, right? By the time we got to the shrimpery she was well ahead, past my sight and probably on the trail home; everyone else was being angelic and staying with me so I let it be. When the rest of us got to the gate she was nowhere to be seen, but that's standard for her. I put everyone else back in and went down to the beach to see if I could catch sight of her; to my shock she was already ~300m south on the beach, running with her tail down and that look in her eye as she looked over her shoulder. I realized I couldn't just let her go then, although thinking about it now I probably should have. Instead I immediately started hauling ass, screw my foot, as she was not slowing down. I never got closer than 200m to her on the beach. Down almost at Cirillo's old house (at least 1km south of us) she saw some dude on the beach and bolted into the ocean - odd for her since she's not really afraid of people. When I saw this happen I thought "good: I can get south of her to put myself between her and town and get her to head north", which is what I did; I had to puke when I stopped running, something that hasn't happened to me in years. As I started into the ocean Tuesday shocked me again by continuing to swim straight out to sea, even though I wasn't near her, looking over her shoulder at me the whole time; I thought maybe I could get out onto the sand bar and fool her into letting me grab her. In retrospect this was a laughable idea. The sand bar is really beaten down and has shifted due to recent weather; frequently the ocean is only knee deep when you're on it so it wasn't until I felt a sudden drop and the ocean was well over my head that I realized I had actually been on the sand bar already and the water had been up to my armpits. When I looked back to the shore I also realized that we were both much farther out than I had thought: I was probably more than 200m offshore and Tuesday was at least twice as far - I could just barely see her head. There was a bit of a current on the other side of the sand bar, the ocean was getting choppier and I realized that I could easily get myself into trouble here; I'm a strong swimmer and have gotten myself out of trouble in the ocean before (albeit 20+ years ago) but I was tired and had absolutely no chance of getting even halfway to Tuesday the way things stood. I started to drag myself to shore while desperately trying to keep sight of her but as I finally got to the shallows she disappeared - at least 600m off shore, probably more. I don't know if it was Lucy's death or my current state of mind or whatever but I felt an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach: I was sure she had succumbed to the water and drowned. She certainly has the intensity of spirit to swim out into the ocean until she drowns - words cannot truly capture her hard-assed personality, but of all of our dogs she's one that I would put nothing past. I tried in vain for a long time to catch sight of her, to follow her path in the water visually and see if it was just a dip in the waves but she was gone. The kilometer home north on the beach was one of the worst times of my life; I was sure in my heart she was dead and I just wanted to die, except I had to make it home to tell Roni that one of her best friends had gone out for a walk with me and ended up on the bottom of the ocean. It felt like I crawled home. I will forever regret telling Roni that I thought Tuesday was dead. She immediately told me that I had to get back down there in the Jeep and do something and she was right - giving up is for losers and quitters and if nothing else Tuesday is neither. I drove down there on doce, got back out on the beach and tried to find a spot on the sand bar that was higher. I went out into the ocean twice more but both times ended up over my head again; the sand bar even 1km south of us is nothing like the way it is in front of our house, and seeing anything in the ocean is nearly impossible when it's choppy. From the beach I searched for what turned out to be two hours looking for any sign; I really thought I was just looking for her body but I couldn't give up until finally the futility was obvious even to me. I dragged myself home again only to find that Tuesday made it home, about 45min after I left in the Jeep. From what I saw the minimum distance that she swam was 1.2km but it was probably much more, closer to 2km given that she was still heading out when I lost sight of her. This is a mind-boggling feat of athleticism... maybe Nick Diaz or Leslie Smith should come down here and train with her or something. I didn't even swim a quarter as far in total and I was gassed in every possible way. We'll never know what made her do that but she is never, ever leaving the property off the leash again. Forget about progress. Forget about everything. She has issues and she can keep them so long as she comes home safe and sound. I wish she didn't feel that way but I don't care and will love her until the day I die. I don't know who I ran into on the beach when I was inconsolable and out of gas coming home that first trip back but if you read this I'm sorry - it must've been disturbing.
GRADE: N/A
morning walk:
Otto
Bette
Posey
Gowron
Stella
Bosha
Linda
Tori
Murci
(9)
My foot is a bit better today but still not up for a run; instead I took this group for a slightly longer walk than I have recently. We went out the same way via the land bridge but instead of coming home at the secondary land bridge to the north we continued on via the cut-over to the intersection and home by the blue bag trail. I stupidly let Stella off the leash briefly around the intersection; naturally she screwed me over and disappeared by the tortuga road; I didn't bother looking for her, she came home about an hour after the rest of us and is not going on any outings for a while. She can never be off the leash. It's a shame she crapped on such a nice walk otherwise... everyone else was perfect and had a great time.
GRADE: F
morning walk:
Alice
Rita
Eve
George
Chester
Shirley
Ernie
Monkey
(8)
I took this crew for a walk between the land bridges; I still can't run or really even jog very much but it was hot out and nobody was too interested in running. Shirley was ahead the whole time but she listened well so I only put her on the hook near the end to keep everyone together on the trail. The charcos are still pleasant to swim in and everyone made a point of it; they were up and down the bank along the ridge the whole way. The bugs were not noticeable and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Ginger
Bette
Blue
Archie
Monkey
(8)
Roni took this crew out for a walk out the coco trail and down to the charcos. It was hot as blazes and she didn't leave late... it is starting to get hot earlier and earlier. The bugs were hardly noticeable for the first day in a while. Miles did his usual dawdling but it's just too damned hot to tolerate those shenanigans right now. The charcos are still not dried out enough to start stinking so it is nice that they swim when it's hot.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Truman
Rufus
Jack
Bosha
Daisy
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(8)
Still dealing with injuries but the heroic trio really needed to get out. They ran ahead of me to the shrimpery (can't even jog very quickly right now, much less run) but waited for me and were good until the very end. We went between the land bridges and beyond, taking the cut-over to the intersection, looping around and coming home via the blue bag trail. Everyone was nearly perfect until the very end. Tori was a bit ahead as we got to doce and then Truman, Rufus and Jack led the charge north past our house, dragging Tori, Daisy and Murci with them. They ended up on the beach where they must've heard a group of fishermen reeling in their nets on the shore; some soldiers were hanging around with the strays that live at the base as well so there was a lot of barking and screwing around as I gave chase and rounded everyone up... it was irritating but I managed to avoid injury and no harm was done. This is the season when there is a lot of fishing with nets on the beach so I should remember to have Truman on the leash when we get near home.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Ginger
Rita
Blue
George
Frankie
Maggie
Molly
Monkey
Twiggy
Roxy
(10)
I didn't think Roxy would come with us so I threw her in as tenth dog; she surprised me by coming along the whole way and having a blast playing with everyone. Injuries and setbacks have been plaguing us the last few days but it seemed like it might be possible to get out for a walk; I avoided anyone too crazed to lessen the chance of someone stomping on my foot and that worked out. Roni and I managed to cut Maggie's hair two days ago so even though the xmul is still terrible it wasn't as awful for her as it normally is; I got most of the spines out of her coat in 5min. We walked between the land bridges like the last time and everyone had fun swimming and horsing around the whole way. At the end Roxy scampered off to the north for a bit but she came in within the hour and everyone was good about it.
GRADE: A
mid-day walk:
Alice
Bette
Shirley
Otto
Rufus
Molly
Bosha
Tori
(8)
I took this group out for a walk between the land bridges after it was already pretty hot. Injuries to both of us have kept outings of all kinds to a minimum: Roni's lower back has been hurt for a couple of weeks now and my toe was hurt pretty badly on the last run. Today we both felt like maybe we were up for the drill, so I took a bunch of dogs that needed it one way or another. I could only jog a little so we walked and swam for the most part. The monte is starting to dry out now but the charcos are still mostly fresh so it is't so terrible for them to swim in them. Shirley really had a lot of energy and I had to put her on the leash for a stretch before the ridge to keep the pace down. Everyone really had a good time and behaved themselves.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
It was too rough and too deep but we gave it a shot anyway: we did a few laps and Greta was a champ throughout.
GRADE: A
morning drop-off:
Zasu
Xmul*
(2)
Roni took Xmul out to meet Marie on the beach; we had a nice visit with her and will see her soon when Marie and Nicole go back to Canada for the year. Zasu went out with Roni to supervise. All good.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Bette
Ginger
Tito
Rita
Monkey
(8)
Roni took this crew for a walk to the land bridge and back. It was pretty hot and the xmul along the trail to the shrimpery is really bad; Henry had to be helped both directions to avoid total encrustation and Monkey stopped to pull spines out of her coat a couple of times. Miles was his usual self and enjoyed a stately pace; at least the bugs weren't terrible and everyone had a good time swimming in the charco around the land bridge and sniffing the monte.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Truman
Frankie
MoMo
Xmul
Daisy
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. It rained early this morning but petered out quickly; the clouds and cool remained so at least it was nice weather for a run. I stoved a toe on my right foot on the gate on the way out; this was compounded by every single one of them running over my foot as we left - it's almost a part of the protocol at this point. This was nowhere near as bad as the last time I did something like this; I seem to feel the need to smash the crap out of a toe every year or so... Otherwise this was a nice run. I had Xmul off the leash more than I usually do; she seems a lot mellower on this visit than she has in the past, and we're both a little concerned. It could be that she's just getting over her crazed youth and settling in to being a good girl but it does seem strange; usually she pulls so hard and jacks the pace up so high that I don't take her with any dogs that can't really run hard but today she was fine on and off the leash, didn't pull at all and was suspiciously obedient. We hit the swimming hole on the way out and ran south to come home. I had Frankie, Hazel and Murci on the leash at various points to keep us together one way or another. I had Xmul and Hazel on either end of the leash by the time we got to the land bridge coming home and that worked out well. We ran across one group of salt workers and two dudes on a moto and everyone was perfect; Murci is over her fear of people and vehicles now and wasn't even on the leash when we encountered the moto.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Angel.
morning walk:
Alice
Otto
Bette
Shirley
Archie
Molly
Bosha
Linda
Monkey
(9)
I took this crew for a walk around the charcos: across the land bridge, north along the ridge, on the cut-over to the parallel road and the tortuga crossroads and home via the blue bag trail. Everyone was off the leash until the turn to the blue bag trail where I put Shirley on to keep the pace down a bit (she's nuts and gets over-heated). Everyone listened well and had a nice time.
GRADE: A
incoming:
Twiggy
Xmul*
(2)
Marie left Xmul with us for a few days; we're always happy to see her and it gets easier each time. I ran out with Twigs on the leash, they handed my Xmul's leash and we ran up the beach almost to the tortuga sign, just to get everyone on the same page. Xmul did not even throw her customary hissy-fit. They both ran and swam and got used to each other.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Angel.
morning run:
Gracie
Posey
Godzilla
Ernie
Rufus
Jack
MoMo
Bosha
Hazel
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. Ernie will probably have a bit of a limp after this one but he was having such a good time and his limps don't seem to last long; he was frequently in the lead, waddling gait and all, and that's saying something with Posey along. This wasn't exactly the group I intended to get out but it never is and they were great anyway. We left with nobody on the leash; I put Hazel on a couple times during the run including for an extended stretch on the way home. I brought her without the rest of the Heroic Trio to work on discipline; she does listen (eventually) but she's got so much energy she frequently runs too far ahead and needs to be reminded to stay with the rest of us. Everyone else was really good. We went to the swimming hole first; everyone really wanted to keep going north from there but I didn't want to go on the hidden trail yet (too many tourists on the beach, too many spines on the trail) so I took us back around south on the palapa road. I'm fairly certain the cows are currently hanging out in no-man's land, just to the east of where we were; there was fresh cow-sign the whole way there and everyone was at pains to point out to me how there was SOMETHING extremely interesting across the charco to the east. They were all good about not putting together an ad-hoc sortie and listened to me instead, though it was obviously an effort. The land bridge might be passable by a good vehicle in another week if there's no more rain.
GRADE: A
