Today Coreman, Justine, Oscar, Yoshi and I hooked up for a romp at the beach. Beautiful sunny morning, nice and warm, and a couple pups that were aching to get out there and run. Oscar was a very good dog today, and unusually Yoshi was not. Yoshi was full of beans this morning, so when I let him off leash, the ran around lots. After a while, he latched onto Justine, and would not leave her alone. He was frantic trying to get her to throw a stick she didn’t have. Eventually I had to snap the leash on him, which was a struggle in itself. After running free like he had, Yoshi was not happy to be on leash!

The beach there was very nice though, and the tide was out quite a ways. Before leashing Yoshi, the pups chased each other through the sand, and over the logs. Much fun! There was a large flock of seagulls out on on patch of sand, and surprisingly the dogs pretty much left them alone. Good dogs!

All good things must come to an end though, so when we returned to the vehicles Yoshi still seemed like he was full of beans. He pretty much pulled me up the flight of stairs! That all changed as soon as he was in the truck though. He flaked right out, and has been sleeping for the past 2 hours. I love him to bits, but he is a strange dog sometimes.

In honor of Yoshi’s birthday I bought him a new smokey bone, and gave it to him at lunch time. I then left and went back to work.

When I got home, all I found was the above shards. Ack, smokey bones are not supposed to shatter. Suede and I were quite worried. A large percentage of the bone was missing! We quickly called the vet, and scoured the house for the missing parts. The vet suggested that we just needed to watch him closely. Yoshi would either pass the pieces up, down, or they would get lodged. Not good news.

We have been watching him all weekend, and nothing about him seems different, so we are hoping we made it through this one. Scary though. Some of the pieces were very sharp, and I am still concerned that he may have cut something on the inside. One positive is that when Yoshi eats his food he does chew it thoroughly, so maybe the pieces he consumed were small enough to not pose a harm. Keep you fingers crossed.

Another fun walk with Yoshi at Macaulay Point Park today. The sun was shining, the sailboats were out in full force, and there were lots of other dogs at the park. We were there for close to an hour I think, and Yoshi had a fun walk, followed by some retrieving in the water. Good times, good times.

At one point I came across a sign that someone had been using for target practice. Not cool. There are houses behind it. What is the point behind such willful destruction?

Along the way home we passed this oak tree whose leaves are starting to turn. I thought it was interesting that they look like they are starting to burn.

Yesterday morning I was lounging around trying to wake up. I knew that unless I got going, I would end up spending most of the day on the couch. I thought a dog walk was in order, so I called up Coreman to see what he was up to. Turned out he and Justine were thinking the same thing.

I got changed, grabbed the dog stuff, and the dog, and met up with Coreman, Justine, and OTP. We headed out to Matheson Lake. I had never been there before, so it was a real treat. The trail itself was great, and the views stunning. As the trail makes its way around the lake, it intersects the Galloping Goose a couple times. There are some rather steep sections to tackle, that were simple for the pups, but required a little effort on my part.

Speaking of the pups, OTP and Yoshi got along famously. Yoshi was full of beans, and ran around lots. OTP kept up to him as much as he could. Usually Yoshi will run ahead a bit, then run back to check up. Yesterday he was further ahead than normal, and would stop and wait for us to catch up to him! Silly pup.

After the walk the three of us refuled at My Chosen Café while the pups rested in the truck.

Great wallk. Very enjoyable, and a good kickstart to my day.

After riding, I got home to a very anxious Yoshi. He was all wiggly and annoying because he wanted his turn to play. He needed to get out for a run in a big way, and I didn’t take him riding due to the heat wave we are experiencing. What am I to do. I was exhausted, but the dog needed a walk.

I took him for a walk.

We headed down to Macaulay Point Park and he ran around while I walked slowly. Very, very slowly.

We saw the Stennis which was parked (what is the correct term anyway?) just off the shore. Amazing site. I would love to be able to get a little closer and take some really cool pictures.

Continuing the walk Yoshi ran lots, and lots and lots. Funny dog. At one point I stopped to sit on a bench while he scampered about and chewed on sticks. Strange thing happened while I was sitting there. A crow high up in a tree was cawing at Yoshi for a minute or so, then, as I watched, it swooped down, buzzed within 5 feet of him, circled up, and buzzed him again. The crow then flew back to its tree and continued its noise making.

Me being the photographer that I am, hoped the crow would attempt it again. It did! Below is the shot I got. You can see the black shadow of the crow as it got quite close to the oblivious Yoshi.

The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful, and still slow. Very, very slow. I saw some butterflies that I wanted to take some pics of, but every time I moved towards them they flew off. As I was wrapping up the walk, a butterfly came along, and perched on a leaf long enough for me to fire off one shot. Cool!

There are a few more pics here.

Today was the first Tuesday that Yoshi hasn’t come to work with me. Poor guy! He did get an hour visit from Sue, and a short walk at lunch time though. I am sure he enjoyed that.

My first couple days of work have entitled _lots_ of reading. That is to be expected in this industry, but it sure is tiring!