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morning run:
Blue
Eve
Chester
Tuesday
Reggie
Frankie
Twiggy
Daisy
Monkey
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. We took the land bridge out and the blue bag trail home, with Tuesday on the leash the whole way. Everyone was really good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Rita
George
Archie
Ernie
Ziggy
Molly
Linda
Bosha
(10)
I took this group for a shortie between the land bridges (Ernie, Ziggy). They were all stellar. I had to put Ernie on the leash after we crossed the alt. land bridge heading home because he was just too far ahead.
GRADE: A
vet pickup:
Maggie*
(1)
I went to Merida to get Mags at the vet's post-surgery. She was glad to see me and travels well.
GRADE: A
vet trip:
Maggie*
Bosha
(2)
I need to start writing up things that we do with the animals that aren't walks or runs. Roni has pointed this out several times and I have been lax about it; after re-reading the recent history on the blog I can see she's right, since you might think we've been slacking off when in fact that opposite is true. This time I took Maggie in for scheduled surgery: she had bladder stones on her x-ray when I took her before Roni went to Pennsylvania and today was the first day that made sense to do it since Roni came back. I also took Bosha because she had on occasion complained of some pain near her hips that seemed suspiciously like Maggie's. We weren't expecting to find stones in Maggie when I took her so now we're being extra careful. I also took the two poor, wretched, misbegotten little kittens that someone dumped at the shrimpery. Our thinking was to have them tested and if they didn't have leukemia then we'd deal with it; for better or worse they did have leukemia so Sandra had to put them down. We did the most responsible, best possible thing we could, both for them and the environment, but it still saddened us. It turned out Bosha does not have stones but she does have a little bit of hip dysplasia starting so she probably should not go on runs anymore. Maggie, it turns out, had over 60 stones in total in her bladder: three large ones, including one that was half the size of a golf ball, and a boatload of tiny ones. No wonder she's been so cranky - that hurts! She had to stay at the vet's for a couple of days: it was pretty brutal surgery. What a trooper.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
(2)
I took these two with me to check on the two poor, misbegotten kittens I found at the shrimpery at the end of yesterday's run. They were both good girls.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Good girl.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Elewah
Luna
MoMo
Xmul
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
The hidden trail: ~8k. In spite of the long layoff everyone was pretty good about getting out; Elewah was a little loud and Murci had the muzzle on until the shrimpery. The majority of the run was uneventful. I had Tori on the leash a couple of times in the first few kilometers for various reasons but she settled down by the time we were far out north. Coming south towards the tortuga sign I noticed several of the dogs rolling in something up on the beach away from the water and I could smell death and decay in the air so I went up to investigate. What I found horrified me: a dead sea turtle, with four more dumped nearby, all within 50 meters of the wooden sign on the beach proclaiming this area a protected turtle zone. They were obviously killed, gutted and dumped there sometime in the last week. They were all roughly 3-4ft long and 2 feet across. It looked like there had been a sixth one but the shell was gone and all that remained were a few bones. The first one I found was the most complete. It had been cut open underneath so when I lifted the top of the largely dessicated remains fell out. This was an intentional act and a highly illegal one. I was really upset by the time we left the beach. The dogs were all great about it but then they aren't the problem; it's the people. As we neared the shrimpery on the coco trail I saw two small shapes in the road next to it; Luna ran up to them to investigate and it was clear from her reaction that they were alive. It turned out they were two kittens; very small, their eyes filled with goo and having a hard time seeing. They were quite young, probably still nursing (although they could eat solid food). Either their mother dumped them or some human did; it could be the mother left them to hunt and never came back I guess. I could do nothing for them with the dogs around but I went back later to look in on them. We can't really bring more cats back here, especially ones that might easily have feline leukemia or other communicable diseases, given that we're already dealing with an influx of cats. I put some water and food for them inside the shrimpery and took them in there so they weren't sitting ducks for a hawk. Very depressing, both because it sucks and because there's not much we can do. That seems to be the theme for the day. In spite of that it was a nice run and everyone was good.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Roni just got back Thursday night and there was much rejoicing. We were all up late and didn't feel like doing much so a little swimming sounded about right. Tori was a little wound up but she settled down and they both swam a lot. Good girls.
GRADE: A
morning run attempt #1:
Blue
Posey
Tuesday
Rufus
Jack
Luna
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
This was an abortive attempt at a run. Maybe it was the dogs picking up on our stress - Roni is due to leave tomorrow very early to visit her family in Pennsylvania and we're both trying to prepare ourselves for it. Maybe it was some horrible astrological influence. Who knows. The long and short of it was that Rufus was an ass for the first 200 meters and would not stop taking runs at Posey, of all dogs. He does this sometimes out of high spirits and its no big deal but today he was out of his mind and he scared Posey. This was made worse by Tori, who jumped on his shitty little bandwagon and also started harassing Posey. She ended up running home. I was beyond angry and decided to bag this and go home to put Rufus and Tori in boxes. They have both gotten better about leaving off the leash but obviously there is more work to be done and I've become too complacent. From now on those two are not coming together and neither one can leave the house off the leash.
GRADE: F
morning run attempt #2:
Ginger
Posey
Tuesday
Gowron
Lily
Jack
Luna
Hazel
Murci
(9)
To the swimming hole and home via the monte: ~6k. Once Rufus and Tori were in crates Roni and I tried to get the rest of them interested in going back out but a few of them just threw themselves onto the porch and we didn't feel like fighting with them. I had wanted to take Lily earlier but she was freaked out by the energy in the launchpad and I can see now that she was correct; this time Roni had to coax her a bit, as well as PupG. Tuesday also wasn't sure about it at first but she decided to give me another chance and I was glad of it; she doesn't like it when things go wrong but she was a good girl on the first attempt and I wanted her to have a good time. This group was as good as the first group was bad; PupG barked once or twice in high spirits as we were leaving but otherwise they made not so much as a peep the whole way and ran together happily. Ginger kept up well (drank a bit of water) and Posey shook off the events of the earlier attempt and had a nice time. Sometimes shit just goes bad and you have to put it behind you. Nice, short run on a hot, humid morning with a cute group of dogs.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Alice
Ginger
Bette
George
Archie
Shirley
Frankie
Molly
Ziggy
Stella
(10)
I took this crew out for a walk to the tortuga crossroads via the ridge and the cut-over. They were perfect until we were south of the wooden shack coming home via the blue bag trail. Angel's dog barked at us from across the charco and Bette must've slipped off to investigate without my noticing; I didn't realize she was missing until we were at the dead goat intersection, when I started calling for her. Stella chose this moment to slip her collar and bolt for home - I didn't bother going after her even though I was plenty pissed, since I knew where she was going. Bette finally trailed beack belatedly from Angel's direction; I put her on the leash and left her there for the rest of the way home. I should've had Molly on the leash close to home as well and she reminded me of this by barking at a dude on a bike near the shrimpery; she stopped when I told her to but I will make sure to have her under control close to home. All in all it was a nice walk but the misbehavior was irritating. The bugs were awful in spots and worse as it got later.
GRADE: B
morning walk #2:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Tito
Otto
Blue
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(10)
Roni took this group for a walk down to the land bridge. The bugs were terrible by the time she left and Miles' dawdling is infuriating when you're getting the crap bitten out of you. Even so everyone behaved themselves and had a good time running around in the monte.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Frijolita
Rita
Chester
Gowron
Elewah
Daisy
Twiggy
Steve McQueen
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. This is the first time in a while we left with nobody on the leash and it definitely made the pace quicker to start with... even so I felt thick and slow on this run for some reason, Nobody else did, that's for sure - they all ran like blazes. We took our now-usual land-bridge-to-ridge route heading north and hit the swimming hole, did a loop out in the northern charcos and came home via the blue bag trail. I didn't have to use the leash once the whole way. Everyone had a great time and behaved themselves on a bright, hot morning.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Eve
Truman
Reggie
Xmul
MoMo
Lex
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
No-man's land: ~8k. We went and came back via the land bridge; on the way back we took the ridge to get there from the intersection. Xmul was on the hook the whole way - too much wildlife and too many stray dogs around. Today was the first day my foot felt normal in a while and it was a pain-free run. We left with Murci wearing the muzzle again and it worked well; I took it off at the shrimpery and she was no trouble for the rest of the run. Everyone was really up for this one and we kept a high pace throughout... we also pretty much killed the water by the time we came out of no-man's land proper. It was hot and bright and we were all pretty tired by the time we got home. Good run.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Ginger
Blue
Archie
Bette
Shirley
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Bosha
(9)
I took this group for a walk between the land bridges; Ernie should not go farther than that. I left with Molly on the leash but let her off quickly and switched to Shirley, whose energy needed to be reigned in a little. Everyone had a great time and behaved perfectly the whole way.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Good girl.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Osita
Rita
Tuesday
Gowron
Daisy
Luna
Twiggy
Mega
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~6k. Mega threw himself into the launchpad early as we were getting ready so I was happy to take him - he was good the whole way. I didn't want to be gone too long so instead of the hidden trail I decided to head directly to the beach once we were past the swimming hole. The ocean was pleasant and calm and we all had a good time horsing around but about halfway between Au Soleil Couchant and the tortuga sign my right foot got whacked by something on the bottom. It could've been a baby stingray; it hurt like hell and left a small wound. I spent the rest of the way trying to parse the monte on the run looking for some day flower. Roni and I had read about it on Jim Conrad's excellent pages on Yucatecan plants: if you crush up some of the leaves and stems you get a pulp that helps with wounds. Sadly it took me all the way to the blue bag trail to finally find some but I can report that it does work; I quickly chewed some up and held it against the wound and it stopped bleeding and helped with the pain a little bit for the remaining ~1km. I'll have to start noting where it grows along the trails we run on. Other than that bit of wilderness medicine it was an uneventful run. Tuesday was good on the leash the whole way and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
An angel as usual. The gulf was almost like a bathtub, albeit slightly chillier. She swam hard and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Truman
Chester
Rufus
Jack
Xmul
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
No-man's land: ~8k. In spite of having both Xmul and Rufus (which has happened before) it was not as chaotic getting out as I thought it might become; I always forget that Truman barks his head off in the launchpad (annoying, high-pitched) so getting him out is always a pain with other excitable dogs. Once we left they calmed down quickly, including Rufus; Xmul was on the hook the whole way because there's too much wildlife creeping around in the brush right now after some rain. We took the shorter route home via the swimming hole; I'm still not totally over my cold or my foot injury and I didn't want to push it too much. We came home via the ridge all the way to the land bridge which is also how we left; the main intersection is almost a swimming hole on its own now so everyone enjoyed that. We kept a pretty high pace and everyone behaved themselves admirably.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Eve
George
Otto
Monkey
Twiggy
MoMo
Steve McQueen
Tori
Murci
(10)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the monte and home via the tortuga sign and the blue bag trail: ~6k. We've both been sick and my foot injury took longer to heal than I would've liked so getting dogs out has not been in the cards. Neither of us were up for too many shenanigans on the way out; Roni suggested I throw Eve in at the last second because she's so good so she was the tenth warrior. We used the muzzle on Murci while getting ready and this really helped calm things down; she needs structure and discipline right now and she responds to it pretty well. She was quiet in the crate until we were just about ready to go and then she was better in the launchpad with Tori. We left with the muzzle on, I took it off at the shrimpery and she was fine from there on... much quieter getting out of the gate than without the muzzle. Alice and George kept up admirably the whole way. Alice was even in the lead on the coco trail coming home. Everybody swam a lot while we were on the beach and behaved themselves throughout. The bugs were only slightly noticeable even after last night's rain. I had Tori on the hook coming home to keep everyone together. Nice, happy group on a humid, overcast day.
GRADE: A
