As we started the hike, Mike told the girls to stay close as this is bear season. What! I had no desire to see a bear. Mike has seen a number of bears on his hikes but fortunately the only ones I've seen were the ones that meandered through our yard. And I wasn't at all keen about them being in my yard at the time either!
Sure enough, in no time at all we came upon some wildlife. The almighty garter snake. He was so cute just sunning himself on a log trying to stay nice and still so the dogs wouldn't see him. It worked - none of the dogs noticed him at all.
The next sign of wildlife was just that - a sign. This tree looks like it is a huge favorite of the pileated woodpeckers. Notice how large and rectangular the holes are.
After hiking about an hour we hadn't seen anyone around and Slugger was being a really good boy so we let him off leash too. Not five minutes later, Wazzu was up ahead on the trail and froze and stared into the forest. Sparkie knew just what that pose meant and she went running up to Wazzu. They both took off together into the forest at full speed. Mike was very worried it was a bear they were chasing. Before he could finish telling me that, Sparkie started barking her scared bark - just what she does when she sees a bear. The second Slugger heard that bark he went tearing off into the forest. Mike called them quickly and Wazzu came back immediately but she had all the hair up on her back - that has never ever happened in the forest so we were pretty sure they indeed were having a bear encounter.
So Mike threw down the leashes and tearing off into the forest. About that time Sparkie came back so I was busy making sure they stayed with me. I heard Slugger bark and could hear Mike calling Slugger. About 30 seconds later Slugger came tearing out the forest as fast as he could. So I yelled into the forest telling Mike that Slugger was here. I then hear Mike yell "WHAT" - I told him Slugger was back. I then hear Mike coming running back toward us yelling - if Slugger's back then who was I chasing? Great, the dogs are all back with me and Mike's in the forest chasing a bear! As you might guess, we moved on fairly rapidly staying very close together.
The rest of the hike was fortunately very uneventful other than the fact that Sparkie started having stomach cramps and eventually lost her breakfast. Poor Sparkie, she's been having episodes like this more frequently recently.
Our other little bit of excitement was when Boogie met a slug. Like with everything he finds he picked it up in his mouth. YUCK! Poor guy, he licked and licked for the rest of the hike - he just couldn't get that sticky slime out of his mouth. I had no clue how to help him. I sure hope he learned his lesson!
We then ate at our favorite lunch spot in Issaquah before going to visit at Seattle Agility Center. We hadn't been there in quite some time. Doug & Diana have sure worked hard on the yard and surrounding area. It is absolutely beautiful. Being in what used to be the river floodplain they have the most excellent soil. Every single plant was flourishing. We got a nice little tour and while we were sampling the different foods from the garden the dogs were enjoying playing in the yard. It's really like a beautiful little haven away from the rest of the world. Wazzu and Slugger especially enjoyed seeing Diana again.
Finally we decided to drive through our old neighborhood. As we got to the entrance we saw that there was a house for sale. We were really hoping it was our house so that we could go through it and see if it is being kept up well. Darn, it wasn't our house. Other than the last two lots now having houses on them, nothing much has changed - it's just a beautiful as always.
Interestingly enough, when we drove into the neighborhood the three big dogs got all excited. They were so happy as they were sure they were going to get to finally go run around their yard. It was so obvious they knew they were back "home." Oh, such disappointment when we just drove by. I felt so sorry them. They had really wanted to go explore all their old trails. But based on the price of the house for sale next door, we won't ever be moving back into our old house!
After a full day out and about, little Boogie was a tuckered little guy.
Debbie
8/31/07
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