Today Mike decided that the dogs should each get individual attention. Mostly just because Wazzu needed to take it easy as she got pretty sick yesterday and throughout the night and really worried me.
So Mike took Sparkie out for a nice long hike. Mid-morning I decided that since it was such a nice day I'd take Slugger down the boardwalk to go swimming. Since there is no way I could save him if he started to have trouble I decided he should wear his life jacket.
As I was getting him ready to go, Wazzu started acting all sad as she didn't want to be left home alone. So after a lot of self debating I decided I could handle them both. There is no way I can explain how great Wazzu was on this outing. She totally took care of Slugger and kept him in line. She was totally coralling him and keeping him close. It really was amazing. Anyway, we had an extremely successful outing and we all had a good time together.
When Mike and Sparkie got home it sounded as though they'd had a great time. With just the two of them they can really cover some ground! In addition to a nice long and fast paced four hour hike they saw a lot of wildlife. They saw deer, wild turkeys, armadillos, raccoons, possoms, and wild pigs. I've always wanted to see an armadillo but I just never seem to be along when they see them. So Mike said that after we took Slugger on his own private swim we'd run out to the place they saw so many armadillo.
We left the girls in the RV and took just Slugger for a little one-on-one time. He loves this as he doesn't always get pulled along to keep up with the girls. So we went at his speed (slow) out to the swimming area.
Usually the water is very calm but today it was fairly wavy. At times he'd be swimming back in and the waves would go over his head. But he doesn't care. Unlike everything else in life there is nothing scary about swimming. As always there was quite a current but he totally understands currents and has no trouble navigating.
After an extremely fun and long swim time we decided to head back. On the way we decided to see if we could get Slugger on the dock. All previous attmepts failed - and this time was no exception. So finally Mike picked him up and carried him to the dock. We tried very hard to stay still so we wouldn't make it rock. Mike set him down but held him tight until the dock stopped rocking.
After a few minutes, and the dock not moving at all, he decided this was a pretty good thing. We must have laid/sat on the dock for a good thirty minutes while Slugger just watched....well I don't really know what he was watching but he enjoyed every minute of it.
When we got up to the deck we saw a lizard. Slugger started chasing it and actually fell about six feet off to the ground. But it didn't slow him down a bit. He and Mike tried finding the lizard for quite some time. Before all was said on done we'd chased three lizards and Slugger then sat on the bench watching....who knows what.
We finally got away from there and started walking back across the very nice boardwalk.
The sun was shining so bright and when Slugger stopped stare (at who knows what) I noticed his shadow on the tree. Very cool!!
Since the sun was out so strong the lizards were out in force. The lizards were really cool as when we would first see them they would be bright green. Then when they'd start running from us they'd turn brown. These were Green Anole - and they really do change color.
Yesterday I showed you the bench in the middle of the boardwalk. Today there was a lizard on the bench and Slugger noticed it. When he climbed up on the bench to chase it, it surprised us all by jumping off the bench onto a VERY small branch. Wow, talk about exciting - Mike grabbed Slugger just in time. Slugger had planned on jumping onto the branch to get the lizard. It wouldn't have been pretty as it is about a 12 foot drop to the ground. So we spent another 15 minutes staring at the branch.
Slugger just loves it when he gets to be the "only" dog. He was the perfectly behaved little king.
When we finally got home it was getting late and if we were going to see the armadillo we had to get going. There was no way Wazzu was going to get left behind again. So we decided to take her along as she was feeling much better.
We started walking and kept Wazzu on leash as we didn't want her to scare away the armadillo. Well we kept looking and didn't see a thing - guess they had all gone for their naps. Even though Mike and I saw no sign of any kind of wildlife, Wazzu was super duper alert from the second we got out of the car. She was up on her toes, sniffing up in the air, and trying to dart this way and that.
After a while it was obvious we weren't going to see an armadillo. So we let Wazzu off leash. She immediately put her nose up in the air and started running. Sure enough a few minutes later we saw her chasing an armadillo. It was back quite a ways so there was no way we would have seen it if she hadn't found it. We went over to where she was but it had gone deep under a log. It was long gone.
We continued on and sure enough a little while later Wazzu went off on another run. Once again Wazzu amazed us. She chased the armadillo until it found a place it wanted to hide. Instead of going after the armadillo she started barking like crazy. For those of you that know Wazzu you know what a huge deal this is as Wazzu only barks about once or twice a year - truly.
So Mike went running to see what was going on. Shortly after that he called me and told me to come see the armadillo. What a sight. Wazzu had found an armadillo, chased it to where it was going to hide and then "called" us to come see it. When I got there I started taking pictures - even though we couldn't see its head. Wazzu could have tried to go after it but she just sat there watching it. Just like a bird dog that points out the game for his hunter. She was so cute - she totally melted my heart. She acted so proud of herself for finding me an armadillo. This picture of her sitting by watching her great find just melts my heart!
Oh, here's the armadillo.
Just as we started heading back my legs gave out. So Mike found a very short way to get to the road. He told Wazzu and I to stay there and he would run back and get the car.
How nice is that. What a guy! While we were waiting I just happened to look up and see the moon just up and beyone a tree.
All three dogs ended up having a great day! I really enjoy the one-on-one days. You can really see each dog feeling so very special. We really get to do what is most fun to each of them. Way more special than I can explain.
We settled down to watch TV for the evening when I looked over and noticed something on Mike that looked like a tick. Sure enough - it was. So we decided we'd better check each other over for ticks. Since we'd seen one on Mike I started checing him first. I found another, then another, then another. Each one was already attached. So each time I found one I would take it off. After the fourth one Mike fell to the ground saying "I'm sick, oh I feel so sick, I'm light headed." All I could do was laugh...okay roar! You have to remember this is the same guy that faints at blood an literally faints looking at x-rays. After I got done laughing I managed to get him up so I could finish checking him over. He then collapsed on the couch.
After he recuperated, he check me. He found WAY more ticks on me than we found on him. Amazingly enough he took them all off me and I never felt sick. Ha ha. I guess we'll be doing tick checks for a couple days.
These ticks attached fast! Usually we find them walking around for a day or two and get them all before any have attached - other than the one a couple months ago that attached to my head!
The dogs seem fine so far as we haven't noticed any on them. Guess Mike and I better start eating more garlic!
Debbie
2/27/07
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