FOUR IN ONE

 POST # 660

As I was making my way out the door, and saying goodbye to Carlos and Dulce, they gave me this look.  I've seen it before with other critters that I have had the pleasure to spend time with.  It's the look of "where are you going?"  Four short days ago, I had to say goodbye to them.  They were two of the finest boneheads that I have ever had the pleasure of taking care of, but they certainly kept me on my toes, and probably taught me a few lessons along the way, so I'm grateful to them for doing that.

From there, it was back onto a ferry to head across to the mainland once again, and spend the night in Vancouver.  My furball friend, Ollie was there to greet me upon my arrival.

As you can see, it was yet another hard day for Ollie, but somehow he manages to cope with all the stresses and strains that life sends his way.  He even allowed me to take a photograph in spite of the fact that he was trying to go back to sleep.  My visit was just a short one, and then I was once again on my way.

I boarded the Amtrak train, and once again headed south to visit Dora-dog in Washington State.  And so that completes the "four in one" in the title of today's very short post.  Three boneheads and one lone furball all in the same week.

I will still be here for the first post in September, so let's see what Dora-dog can come up with to keep me amused while I'm here.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

OUR DAILY WALKS

 POST # 659

Pre-walk

Twice each day, I hook up Dulce and Carlos, and head out for our daily walks.  There is always a look of anticipation  upon their faces,  while I put my shoes on, grab a couple of poop bags, and get ready to go.  They know the routine very well by now, and I don't have to say anything to encourage them.  Once we head out the door, the only decision to make is which direction we will go.  As time has gone on, I am getting better at trying different routes that may eliminate the possibility of an interaction with another critter, but it hasn't been easy, and there is always the unexpected.  In fact, to date there hasn't been even one walk that we've been on in which we manage to get back home without some interruption or another.  But walk we must, and so we do.

Walk

The walk above was one of our favourite ones, but the trail is now closed for some work, so even though it was one of the best walks we took part in, it is now ancient history.  The trail will be closed until well after I leave, so we have found other places to go since that time.  After a decent amount of time outdoors, it's time to head back home and relax for a while.  As you can see below, Dulce and Carlos have this part figured out.  There's nothing like a post walk snooze to make your day, and while they're snoozing, I can take a few moments to relax as well.

Post Walk

But soon, our walks will be coming to an end, as the owners arrive back this coming Sunday afternoon, which means that we only have six more walks to go prior to that time.  With any luck and maybe some good management on my part, they will all be stress free until then.  

And as an added bonus, I took a photo of a rainbow the other day. We had just had some rainfall which was much needed and most appreciated.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

CARLOS AND DULCE

 POST # 658

Say hello to Carlos (top), and Dulce.  Carlos is a three year old French mastiff, and Dulce is a one year old Dane/Poodle cross.  Let me tell you right now, they are certainly a handful, especially Carlos, who without a doubt is the strongest bonehead that I have ever encountered in all my years of pet sitting.

I arrived here on August 8th, and it's taken a while to settle in, but we seem to now have a pretty good routine going, and they are teaching me new lessons each and every day.  One of the early lessons was their reaction to other four-legged animals.  Let me put it this way.  It's all I can do to keep a hold of them when another dog or a cat happens to show up.  And believe me, I think that this neighbourhood has more cats and dogs than anywhere else that I have been.  So the daily walks are a workout for all of us.

We had a very close encounter just yesterday, when out of nowhere two people on bikes with their unleashed dog arrived on the scene, on a path that we were walking on.  I was doing my best to keep Dulce and Carlos under control, but with the other dog being free, it came right up to us.  Thankfully the owners managed to get control of their dog, and then head down the trail on their bikes.  I was glad to see them leave.

So far, that has been the closest encounter that we have had, but every day is a new opportunity for more chaos.  I am certainly keeping my eyes peeled as we walk along, and if I see any other critters, we take our walk in another direction.

In other news, we experienced the August full moon (Sturgeon moon) back on August 9th, and it was a pleasure to see it rise with its glow reflected on the ocean.

And then a couple of days ago, the sky filled with smoke from a wildfire northwest of here, but as of today the sky is once again clear.

So that's the latest news for now.  I'm sure I'll have a few more stories next week with regards to Carlos and Dulce, as each day is a new adventure with these two boneheads.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS:  Good news regarding Logan from last week's post.  The day the owners arrived home, Logan came back.  I guess I didn't give him enough treats while I was there, but I was very happy to hear that he is alive and well.

WHERE IS LOGAN?

 POST # 657

The look on Caper's face seems to imply that she too wants to know where Logan has gone.  The owners left here back on September 28th.  That was the last day the Caper and I have seen him.

Logan is very used to coming and going as he pleases.  He has a cat door that he uses on a regular basis, and when I have been here in the past, he just shows up for a while to have something to eat, maybe take a nap, and before long, he's out wandering around.  It seems to have worked fine for many years, but for whatever reason, this time he's decided to go walkabout.

On a couple of occasions during this time period, I noticed that some of the cat food in his dish had been eaten.  Seeing as Caper doesn't have access to it, and the housesitter has more tasty items on his menu, then the only critter that could have eaten it, has to be Logan.  At least that is a hopeful sign.  He still must be somewhere around the property, otherwise the food would have never been touched.

But the mystery continues right up until today.  I leave tomorrow, so maybe he'll show up prior to my departure.  If he does, I'm sure that I will know, because Caper always makes a ruckus when Logan comes into the house.

Perhaps Logan knows that the owners will be home soon, and he's just hanging out somewhere outside until he sees their car arrive.  I'm sure they'll let me know if that is the case. 

In the meantime, I'll just hang out with Caper, and we'll both keep our eyes peeled for our wandering furball friend, Logan.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer