When they got back I was ready to do something. So I took Sparkie for a little walk around the RV park. We didn’t go far but did walk over to the pond for the first time. It was a very pretty little pond and the water was very clear.
We could see a lot of little fish and frogs in the water. It was interesting to me that when Sparkie would stand in the water, little schools of fish would come swimming toward her. Don’t know what that was about but Sparkie thought she might make a good fisherman. So she would put her face way down in the water and blow out bubbles as she tried to stay under long enough to catch something. I don’t think she ever caught a fish but she did come up with a few leaves.
We then decided that since this was our last day here that we really should take Slugger swimming one more time. And since we wanted everyone tired we took the girls along too. What a perfect time we had. We decided that Slugger should wear his life jacket to help keep his head out of the water a little bit. Yesterday he had swallowed so much water that he threw up a number of times – just water but we still feel sorry for him. So much of his body is muscle that he doesn’t float real well. He is a VERY strong swimmer but doesn’t really stay far above the water so he ends of swallowing lots of water. The life jacket helps hold him up a little.
Anyway, Mike usually carries the life jacket. But today he handed it to me to carry. I didn’t have the life jacket in my hand two seconds when Wazzu came over and gently took it from me. I guess she thought it was too much for me to carry.
She carried that large life jacket to the boardwalk, then the entire length of the boardwalk, and over to the swimming area. She didn’t drop it until I told her we needed it now to put on Slugger. What a sweet caring girl I am fortunate enough to call mine.
Let me try to describe the swimming area to you. The only reason I’m doing this is because this was the most perfect swimming area we have ever come across. As usual, there was no one else around at all. No matter how far you can see on our side of the river or across the river from here you can’t see any homes or buildings of any kind. Just wilderness as far as you can see. And the only noise of any kind are the various birds singing their songs.
We walk down the trail a little bit as I showed you yesterday. Then on the left side of the trail you look down just a few feet and there is a nice little beach.
Another great feature of this swimming area is that there are unlimited sticks. Many places we go there aren’t any trees so it is find to hard something to throw for Slugger to chase. But here that was not a problem at all. If you look closely you can see Mike gathering sticks so he’ll be ready when Slugger goes charging out into the water.
I don’t know if those of you with dogs have experienced this but the bigger the stick the better. The only time Wazzu will even pretend to chase a stick is if we get a really big one. Well today I found a really large stick – actually I think it would qualify as a branch. Anyway, Wazzu swam for it a couple times and then Slugger decided he was “the man” and could certainly fetch it too.
So Mike threw it as far as he could. When little Slugger grabbed it he got it by the end. This branch was heavy and he had to use all his might to try to turn. It was so interesting to see him use his tail as a rudder. I’m not kidding his little tail went in circles just like a propeller as he tried to steer his way back to shore.
It’s interesting to us that Slugger won’t chase anything on land. He’s strictly a water retriever. And he won’t come back without the stick. If for some reason he loses the stick (happens when we throw a stick that sinks!) he’ll just swim around looking for it or just tread water waiting for us to throw something else. It doesn’t matter how long it takes – he will not come in without a stick. If he sees two sticks in the water he won’t come back until he can get both sticks in his mouth. This is actually very helpful as often times Wazzu will pretend she wants to chase one. But when we throw it she doesn’t go after it. So on Slugger’s way back in from getting his stick he’ll gather up Wazzu’s stick as well.
After getting back to shore he ALWAYS takes the stick away from the water (in this case back up to the path) and tears it to pieces – no matter how big the stick is. Of course the big ones he just works on the ends for a while.
When he’s done destroying the stick – only takes a matter of seconds – he charges back down and dives into the water watching over his head for the next stick to go flying. That’s why Mike has to have sticks ready!
This river has quite a current but that is no cause for concern. Slugger totally understands current and knows which way the stick is going to go and adjusts he course accordingly. Sparkie and Wazzu however have no clue. They swim to where they saw the stick land and look amazed that when they get there, there is no stick.
And distance is not a problem for Slugger either. He can easily swim HARD for over an hour so swimming for sticks for an hour or two is nothing. When he used to do hydrotherapy we’d hook him up to cables to hold him in place while he would swim against the jets turned on full blast. He would swim all out for over an hour with no problem at all. So he is definitely a strong swimmer. Look closely and you'll see him way out there.
The girls like to play in the water for a few minutes but then would rather move on to something else. So while Slugger is swimming Sparkie will usually just lay around chewing on sticks and Wazzu will just wander around.
But today, even after hours of hiking Sparkie got silly. When they were younger, Wazzu and Sparkie used to play together a lot. But Wazzu rarely plays anymore. So when Sparkie can get Wazzu to even pretend to play a little bit she really is in heaven. When we used to have a yard we had many huge oak trees in the front area. All three dogs loved playing in the leaves as we raked them up – which really made for a long day of work!
Anyway, the path here was thick with dead leaves as it seems that no one has ever used this trail but us. So Sparkie got silly and she tucked her bottom (as only a whippet can do!) and started racing around darting at Wazzu to get her to play. And Wazzu took the bait. They would each do huge prolonged play bows to each other. Then Sparkie would charged Wazzu and run way down the trail. Wazzu would just wait for Sparkie to come back and then would pretend to go after her – when in reality she would only take a step or two. Sparkie would run past Wazzu just a few feet and turn and slide seven or eight feet backward in the leaves. She just loved the “leaf slide” and spent a good 15 minutes running back and forth doing leaf slides. Then after a brief rest she would start the game all over. I should have taken pictures but I was way to engrossed in watching this rare game between the girls. I think this is most fun Sparkie has had in a long time. And I must say it was a real boost for me too.
It’s too bad the afternoon had to end - and our stay here at the Suwannee River Hideaway has to end as well. It really was the perfect place for our little family. And from the looks of the dogs it seems as though Mike accomplished his task of tiring out two of them at least. Sparkie truly is the real life version of the energizer bunny. It seems as though it is impossible to get her tired. The minute we finish one activity she is in Mike’s lap punching him and crying wanting to go do something acting like it's been days since she's gotten to do anything!! But once we’ve had dinner she knows the fun is over and she settles down very nicely and goes to bed to dream of all the fun she had.
Sweet dreams.
Debbie
2/28/07
