Slugger is Versatile!

(Tucson, AZ) The dogs were perfect angels in the hotel last night. Even though they spent the entire day in a vehicle in a stressful situation they were so well behaved in the hotel. If you didn't see a dog walk in the room you'd never know there was a dog there - let alone four of them. Even little Boogie was perfect - I wish he was that quiet at home!

We left in the dark this morning and got to the fairgrounds in time to get all set up. This is a great place for an agility trial. The arena is totally covered which was certainly a plus today as it was cold and rainy all day today.



But even nicer was the fact that on both long sides of the arena there were enclosed stall. I'm not sure what kind of stalls they were supposed to be but it worked perfectly for dogs. I'd say each stall was 12' x 12'. It was so nice not to have to set up tents, etc. And they really protected us from all the rain and wind....now if they just had heaters!



In addtition to all this, the fairgrounds are huge. There are a gazillion (okay, maybe only a zillion) very large fields the dogs can run free and play. We didn't do any of that on Saturday though as the weather was miserable.

This club did a lot of very interesting things. The thing that I found to be the most unique was that they offered all seven classes each day. When you entered you got to choose any six runs each day! I love this idea. It was really perfect. Everyone got to do exactly what they wanted - and it didn't seem to take much more time at all. In fact, they had course changes done as fast as anywhere I've ever been so I don't think the day went any longer at all.

They also set up a huge table and decorated it so nicely for Christmas. In addition to the decorations there were massive amounts of homemade breads, cookies, candies, pies, etc. It was very festive....and extremely tasty. Over the top nice for sure!

Interestingly enough, the chief ring steward (who did both rings!) was not a member of the club putting on the trial. But like always, she did a fabulous job. While this club is very generous in paying their workers, Workers got raffle tickets where the winners got high value gift cards. In addition, all workers got a coupon for lunch from the lunch wagon. The lunch wagon had some Mexican name and the large menu painted on the truck was all Mexican food. Hand written on a piece of paper they offered some American fare. The first day I tried the Mexican food since that was their specialty. Not so tasty. Sunday I had the American food and it was great. The best thing both days were the extra large hot chocolates. It was so cold outside that I think I saw almost every person there with a hot chocolate.

But that's not all. Every class you work you are given "Worker Bucks." These bucks are for money off future trials. Mike and I did work a lot (as we always try to do) and we earned over $40 off our next entry! Now there is a club that values workers...I guess that's because they don't have many of their own. They only perk they didn't give was coupons for not taking ribbons. But we felt very well compensated.

For the first time since his surgery we entered Slugger in three runs a day. I don't know if it was the cool wet weather or what it was but Slugger was really revved up each time it was his turn. His first run (Weavers) he was running fast - but too fast for him to figure out how to collect for the weaves. But we were pleased that he was running so fast. He's so cute when he runs fast!

His next run was Touch N Go. He was really working hard - he was running fast, looking for the next obstacle, and watching for Mike's instructions. With only two obstacles to go I thought this was going to be the run of his life. All he had to do was exit the tunnel, make a right turn to the dogwalk, then zoom out the last tunnel. No problem....or so we thought. As he exited the tunnel and started to turn to the dogwalk he noticed a photographer sitting on the ground. Oh cool - Todd is here....so Slugger thought. The look of surprise and excitment about Todd being here is very evident by the look on Slugger's face as he exited the tunnel.



So he ran over and gave the photographer a big kiss and then noticed it wasn't Todd afterall. He then got back on track and finished the course. Not only did he Q, he got 1st place. He continued his great performance in his Regular run getting a 10 point 1st place Q. An excellent day for Slugger.

Sparkie was running as fast as we've seen her run. Her confidence is really strong right now and ever since her chiropractic appointment in Las Cruces she's been running much more freely. While she was running nicely, she had one tiny boo boo in half of her runs. The runs she did Q were beautiful and she placed 1st or 2nd. We're just so pleased how smoothly she is running again.

Wazzu totally loves this type of weather and boy did it show today. She wasn't just running faster than normal, she was running as fast or faster than ALL other dogs in the entire class. Both judges commented to me on how Wazzu was running so fast...and with a big smile. Often times I have to look back or to my side to see Wazzu, but today I was always seeing her tail way ahead of me. So fun. And when she runs like that we have great distance. Wazzu went 5/6 today getting 1st place in every one. We missed our Touch N Go Q today but I didn't care. She was tearing up the course! The second to last obstacle was a dogwalk and she was just too excited and missed the contact. I'll always take an NQ due to excessive speed.

The trial ended about 3:30 - too early to go back to the hotel. Boogie hadn't gotten to do all that much today so we took him to one of the very wet fields at the fairgrounds and did our back and forth game. I go to one end of the field and Mike goes to the other end. Then we call Boogie back and forth. He loves this game and runs just as fast as his little legs can take him. We let Sparkie play too as she still seemed to have some excess energy.

After driving around Tucson to waste some time we got to the hotel around 5pm - earlier than we had hoped. But we were cold, wet and tired. I walked next door and got us take-out dinner from Denny's. I don't think I've been to a Denny's in over 25 years. I can see why people go there - it was inexpensive, good, and you got a lot of food!

The dogs were absolute angels in the hotel. They came in, went to their beds we brought and went sound asleep for the remainder of the evening and all night. We checked out and left very uneventfully. Phew!

We thought the dogs may be a little tired on Sunday but were we ever wrong. The weather was still cold but at least there was no rain. That made it much nicer as we could take the dogs to the fields to let them run during the day when we had breaks.

Wazzu was in a fine mood once again today and ran out ahead of me all day. Once again she went 5/6 with four 1st's and a 2nd. The only run we missed was our Chances run. Shucks! She was trying so hard but she just didn't understand what I was asking her to do in the begining. It's something we've never practiced so I can't blame her at all. So after it was obvious she didn't understand the beginning I took one extra step to help her then got back behind the line. She totally got it then and did the whole rest of the run better than anyone. I had more distance with her than anyone else had. I was past the finish line while she still had four obstacles yet to do - it was so amazing.

Sparkie was running extremely well today. She was showing all her speed and accuracy today going 5/6 with all 1st's. She missed one Regular Q due to a small error between dog and handlers. But it was very minor and the remainder of that run and all the other runs were total beauty. Gosh, they made it look so easy!!

As good as the girls were, it was Slugger's day to shine. He ran a great Regular run and got a 1st place 10 point Q doing his distance test very nicely! He was really trying very hard in his Touch N Go run but there was a discrimation test and he decided that he'd take his favorite obstacle (A-frame) over the correct obstacle which was a tunnel. But we didn't care as he was trying really hard and running really fast.

His last run of the weekend was Weavers. He'd been so happy all weekend and this run seemed no exception....but it had three sets of weaves! He zoomed through the tunnels - so fast you can even see him banking through them a little bit.



Then he'd get to the weaves. He concentrated so hard in each set of weaves that Mike said you could see smoke coming out his ears. When he finished the course cleanly, Mike and I both jumped up and down and hollered. This day had been a long time in coming. After seven years Slugger had finally earned his Novice Versatility Award. It just goes to show that patience and perseverance do pay off! We're so proud of our little special needs boy.

Our friend Billie was so kind to offer to let us come stay in her house while our RV was being fixed. Billie is so nice!! So when the trial ended we drove back up to Phoenix and got all settled in.

What a great weekend despite being without our house!

Debbie
12/8-9/07

Highway Robbery

(Tucson, AZ) We were so excited when we woke up this morning to find the RV still level. Yippee - we don't have to figure out a way to stay out all day....and we don't have to pay a bundle for them to try and find something else.

So while Mike took some time to do some things around the RV I decided to practice Rally with Boogie since I was feeling better. I was amazed at how fast he picked up heeling. We've never done it before at all but for a first time I was very impressed.

After a day of doing nothing the dogs were really ready to go. So we didn't doddle and we took off to go hiking. Since it was supposed to be another scorcher today we decided to go back up to Mt. Lemmon. Although we decided to do the same trail as last time, we drove to a different spot to try a different section of the Sunrise Trail.

We started out with the girls off leash and the boys on leash. But Boogie was absolutely wild and he kept getting everyone all tangled up which was not only dangerous but it scared Slugger as well. So Boogie got taken off leash very quickly. Ah, much better.

At the beginning of this trail are a number of cabins that are rented out by the forest service I think. But a few years ago a fire went through this area (I mentioned that to you a few days ago) and burnt all the cabins. Some were severely burnt and others just had minor damage (comparatively speaking of course). They have never fixed the cabins so they have just been sitting vacant for years.



The entire length of the trail you could see charred trees to remind you of the devastation this area experienced in 2003.



Throughout the hike we were so pleased with how well behaved Boogie was. He'd follow Sparkie a short ways but never out of our sight and rarely more than just a few feet off the trail. Boogie does have one interesting habit or skill maybe you'd call it. I don't care if we are hiking, walking around an agility trial, or walking through an RV park, he can ALWAYS find a discarded piece of chewed chewing gum. It's a rare day when he doesn't find some chewing gum. Most of the time we can get it out of his mouth but unfortunately sometimes he swallows it. It's really amazing how well dogs can hide things in their mouth - Boogie is a pro at it. He managed to do it again today. I can't figure out how as we've never seen a soul on this trail any time we've been up here (and that includes last year too).

The trail was really nice. In fact, after a while we were already to a portion of it that we had done the other day. It was nice to get down to the creek so the dogs could cool off and get a big drink. It must be really hot down in town today as even way up here in the mountains it is really hot.



In addition to exercise, hiking is a great activity for learning. Of course we do a lot of recalls. We can even get dogwalk practice in the forest too.



We can also practice our STOP!!! .... but as you can see we have to be on leash for that or it could be very dangerous as another three steps and it's straight down!!



Probably the thing we practice most on these hikes is "Leave It." That's by far the hardest for Boogie. Of course, he always looks up and says "I didn't do it." But the face always seems to tell a different story.



There are a number of very steep cliffs/drop-offs on portions of this trail. It was a little tricky for Mike to hold all three dogs back so they wouldn't go over the cliff while we took this picture. Wazzu of course had to be near me so we knew we didn't have to worry about her - although she is awfully close to the edge. Scary.



When we got to the beach I expect to find pretty rocks but I don't expect that up in a fairly barren forest with many rock cliffs. There were a few of these hidden around:



We saw one lone flower - maybe it was just a weed but whatever it was it was sure colorful next to all the burnt trees.



When you first glance at this picture it looks like it is on its side but it's not. Interesting.



Sparkie was having a great time, just like usual on our hikes. She is just like a little mountain goat running here and there - nothing fazes her. A couple times she scared me a bit and I told her to stop. She just looked at me like "why can't I jump mom - it's easy."



She's just way too cute.



Speaking of cute! Too bad there was a shadow....but I just had to share this anyway. He's getting so grown up - so fast!



I was doing just fine until we were about 3/4 the way back. Suddenly I felt really dehydrated (which would make sense after how sick I was yesterday). So we stopped and I had a little bit of water. About 15 minutes later I felt really sick. I was having major cramps and felt really weak. I had to stop and quite a number of times. Quite often I wasn't sure I could continue on....but I knew I had to. Our pace slowed considerably. How weird that I felt fine until I drank some water - just like last night. Mike says I must be the only person allergic to water! I was so thirsty but there was no way I was going to drink anymore water - which of course is all we had.
It seemed like forever but we finally were in sight of the car. That was the best sight I'd seen in a long time. But the next thing I heard was "oh no, where are the are keys!" We checked Mike's pockets over and over. We looked through his pack many times as well. I looked all around the car on the ground but the keys just weren't to be found. So Mike decided he would go back down the trail to try to find them. We figured Sparkie would enjoy hiking more and she's fast so she wouldn't slow Mike down at all. So Mike and Sparkie took off back down the trail.

That left me with the two boys and Wazzu. I was trying to look all around the car and in the area we were in before leaving on the hike. But the keys were nowhere to be found. Slugger and Wazzu were perfect. Wazzu was off leash but just stood at the trailhead staying near me but keeping an eye on the trail. Slugger stayed right beside me no matter where I walked looking for the keys. Boogie was a total menace! He wanted to go with Mike - we knew that wouldn't work as he doesn't like to be out of my sight. When he finally figured out there was no way he was going down the trail, he kept pulling in every direction he could. He got wound around trees and wound around signs. He was horrible!

About 20 or 30 minutes later, Mike and Sparkie came back - they had found the keys right in the middle of the trail. We figure they must have fallen out one time when Mike reached in his pocket to give the dogs a treat. I always give the dogs treats but Mike never has any with him. Today he decided to take treats for them as well. As you might guess, he now says he's never taking treats for them again.

When Mike noticed the keys were missing he was irritated but calm. I was actually surprised at how calm he was. He was irritated but not mad at all - there was no yelling or stomping or anything. But Sparkie seemed to know that he wasn't happy. So when Mike took Sparkie with him on the hike she was very worried. She didn't really want to go - but Mike kept calling her and made her go along. The entire time she would hang way back. When Mike would tell her to come along she would do her submissive body curl and smile. Mike said she looked so scared the entire time. He tried to tell her everything was fine and he gave her treats but nothing was helping. Dogs minds may not work like this but it was like Sparkie thought Mike was mad at her and he was going to lead her back down the trail and abandon her out there by herself forever.

When they got back, Sparkie looked so scared and she was very subdued. Mike was repacking his pack (we'd pulled everything out looking for the keys) and petting the dogs when he noticed Sparkie wasn't around. He very worriedly asked where Sparkie was. The second I had opened the car door she shot in there so fast you wouldn't believe it. I guess she wanted to make sure she didn't get left behind. Normally she stays out of the car until the last minute as she likes staying with Mike....but not this time. Even hours later this evening she is still acting scared. Poor Sparkie.

It was well past lunch time now - in fact it was 3:00pm. I thought I was thirsty and weak before! We rushed to the Cookie Cabin deciding this would just be our dinner. So we ordered a medium size pizza to split, a couple cookies and some drinks. I don't really like pop - in fact the only pop I like is root beer. But I've been trying not to drink any as there is just too much sugar in it and water is so much better for me....so they say. But I wasn't about to have any more water! So I ordered a root beer. This is some the smoothest root beer I think I've ever had. Normally I can't drink a whole bottle of pop but this bottle was well gone long before the pizza was ready.

I didn't feel like sweets at all but I ordered a cookie so I could show you all a picture of how big they are. The scarifices I make for you all. Ha ha. It's hard to tell in the picture but this is a dinner size plate.



Just as our pizza came out, our Valley Fever vet called to say we could stop in to have a blood draw done for Wazzu's titer and she would have it sent to the correct lab. It took us an hour and a half to get from the top of Mt. Lemmon to her office.

While they were drawing Wazzu's blood, we brought Boogie inside to weigh him. He's another Slugger....we keep telling him to stop growing but he just doesn't listen! Boogie is 15.8 pounds. In all our reading it said grown male border terriers are 14 - 16 pounds. Boogie can only gain another.2 pounds. Yea, right.

They brought Wazzu out just a couple minutes later. That's when highway robbery came. Hmm, I wonder how that became a saying? Anyway, the bill came to $150! We always pay $30 - $50 for this test. Guess we won't be eating for a while!

From there it took another hour and a half to get home. So that vet office trip took us an extra two hours of driving in addition to robbing our pocketbook. The good news though was when we got home the RV was still level. Hooray!

What a tiring day. And I was so thirsty when we got home that once again I decided to drink some water. Bad decision. Here we go again. This is not fun!

My lesson for the day.....water is bad for you!

Debbie
11/19/07

Sick but Level

(Tucson, AZ) On one of our last days in Tucson I (Mike) took a drive to the Kitt Peak Observatory, high on a mountain above the desert about 60 miles southwest of the city, on land leased from the Tohono O'odham Reservation. This location gives the observatory great conditions, with almost 300 clear nights a year high above the lights of the city and the dust of the desert. After a scenic 12-mile drive up the mountain you get to the observatory complex, which has twenty-four optical and two radio telescopes representing eight astronomical research institutions, more than any other observatory in the world.

I forgot to take a camera, but here are some pictures I "borrowed" from the web site.



They have a nice visitor center with a small museum, and guided tours of some of the facilities by volunteers. There is a self guided tour around the observatory also. Most of the telescopes are privately owned by groups of universities, but the larger telescopes are publicly owned and open to visitors. The largest and one of the first telescopes constructed on the mountain is the four meter reflector, which is housed in a towering building on a cliff on the summit.



You can go inside and see the workings of the telescope from a visitor gallery.



The funniest looking telescope is the solar observatory.



It works by using mirrors to reflect the sun's rays down that long tunnel to instruments in a room about 50 feet underground. When our tour went through the instrument room there were some scientists from Germany who explained how they were setting up the equipment for their research time with the telescope, which was to study the winds on Mars.

While Mike was gone, our plan was to take a few walks around the park, go to the off-leash dog area, do a little bit of training for rally, do some chores around the RV and play the dogs favorite game of “find it.”

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do any of that. About 30 minutes after Mike left I got sick. It is the weirdest kind of sick I think I’ve ever had. I didn’t really feel all that bad. But I had stomach cramps and had to spend quite a bit of the day in the bathroom. I definitely couldn’t leave the RV! I think I lost every bit of liquid or solid I'd put in my body the last few days. But I didn't feel nauseous at all. In fact, I ate both lunch and dinner. But I don't think I kept most of it in my body. Maybe I need to eat some pumpkin....it seems to work for the dogs!

I expected the big dogs to be good but wasn't sure how Boogie would do having to just stay in the RV all day. He was the perfect little angel. Thank goodness!

Mike got back early enough to take the dogs to the park for a quick walk before dark. He didn't think he could handle all four on leash by himself so little Boogie had to stay home. He's being so good today but I'm guessing he's going to have some stored up energy tomorrow!

By 8:00pm I started to feel better but I was really thirsty. So I had a drink of water. Within 15 minutes I was very sick again. What's up with that?! It was just water!

The best thing about today though is that the RV stayed level. Now that's good news. Level is where it's at.

Mike & Debbie
11/18/07

Lots of Dogs

(Tucson, AZ) After a relaxing morning (we sure needed one after what we’ve had to do each morning all week), we took Boogie and we headed off for a large AKC trial that was being held at the fairgrounds in Tucson.

We were going there to meet Harriet, one of Boogie’s breeders. She was going to show us around and introduce us to an activity she would like Boogie to participate in – conformation.

I really had mixed feelings about this. Eons ago I was involved in the world of dog showing. Of course my dog, a German Shepherd, was the best (big smile) but I found that the world of dog showing was extremely political. I could often tell you whether we’d win or not just depending on who the judge was. After a while the politics really got to me (heck I was only a kid even) and I decided that world just wasn’t for me. As an aside, my dog Chris, was an American and Canadian Champion. Wow, tears still come to my eyes when I write about her. She was my dog all while I was growing up – definitely my best friend.

Back to the present time! This show was huge as they had conformation, obedience, agility, and rally. There were 20 different rings and scads of vendors. We looked all around trying to find Harriet but weren’t having much luck in the sea of people and dogs. We were warned that this might be a little overwhelming for Boogie so we were to have lots of treats and be very careful. Boogie was very curious about everything but didn’t seem afraid at all – not even inside the noisy building where a lot of the grooming tables were all set up and some of the conformation was taking place.

When we finally found Harriet, she was set up under a huge tent right in front of one of the agility rings. Our good friend Billie was with her as well as some other people we know. They made us feel very welcome even though we felt a little out of place – and a little bit like traitors. Here we were at a place that wouldn’t even allow our other three dogs to set foot on the property. I don’t know about Mike but that was hard for me.

We watched Billie and a couple of our other friends compete in the agility ring. It really didn’t look much like agility to us. The dogs couldn’t build up any speed at all as the obstacles were all so close together. This kind of agility is good for dogs that are consistent but maybe not so fast. In her prime I think Wazzu could have been a superstar at this….if allowed to participate. I guess that’s why they didn’t allow her – she’d have taken all the prizes from the purebreds.

Wow, I sure seem to getting off track a lot in this write-up! After watching agility for a while, Harriet took us over to watch some Rally. Rally is a bit like obedience but a lot less strict – which in many people’s opinion makes it a lot more fun. We’d really like Boogie to be a versatile dog and get to try many different things so Rally is in the near future for him as well. The dog only needs to be six months of age to participate so he is already old enough – he just doesn’t know anything yet!

After watching Rally for a while, Harriet took us over to the vendor area and walked through all the vendors with us showing us all the different things we may need or things that would be good to use with Boogie. It was fun seeing all the different items that people were selling. When Mike first heard there were going to be lots of vendors here he said “oh no.” But I was good and we only bought a couple little items. We bought some soft liver treats that Harriet recommended and a stuffed (fake) rat that Boogie stole from the shelf. Maybe he won’t get to go along on future shopping trips!

We went back to the tent to visit and watch some more agility. Boogie had fun playing around with Mimi for quite some time. Then his buddy, Korke that he met at a trial in Las Cruces showed up. More wrestling and playing for Boogie. But it was a hot day and we’d been there for quite a few hours so we needed to head out as we were worried the other dogs were getting hot back in the RV.

It was warm in the RV when we got back but the dogs were all okay as we’d left the fan on and had left them lots of water. They didn’t seem happy that they’d been left behind while Boogie got to go along. We tried to explain to them that he puts up with a lot on the weekends where they get to do agility and he just has to sit around and watch. I don’t think they listened to a word of it.

When I walked into the RV I didn’t feel level. Mike of course immediately told me it was just all in my mind. But he should know by now that I am the perfect human level. Sure enough, we checked and we were not level and the rig had lost air pressure. We were both pretty discouraged. This meant we’d have more days of trying to be gone from home all day long.

We leveled the RV up again just hoping beyond hope that when we awake in the morning we’ll still be level. Think level for us!!

Debbie
11/16/07

Rats.....

(Tucson, AZ) Hopefully today will be our last day to have to be away from the RV all day. Mike is having to get pretty creative to figure out how to keep us occupied all day long.

Before we started our long drive, we went to a little local park that has a nature walk. We came to this park last year and found that it is a pleasant little thirty minute walk. They have signs all around telling you want kind of plant or cactus is in each spot. We found that many rabbits live here. I imagine there would be a lot of other wildlife like coyotes, rattlesnakes, owls, hawks, bobcats, rats, etc. living here as well.

We saw a few rabbits that the dogs wanted to chase so badly. But they know they aren’t allowed to chase things when they’re on leash. Only the three big dogs seemed interested – Boogie still seems clueless….which is fine by us!

We didn’t see any rats, and Boogie didn’t indicate that he’d noticed any either. But we did see a big rat midden.



Pack rats will gather all sorts of twigs, branches, aluminum cans, car parts, old shoes and anything else they can find lying around to use in building their middens. Pack Rat middens are usually constructed around the base of a tree or Prickly Pear, and no more than one adult resides in each midden. A friend of ours who lives down here has removed a midden from her yard many times only to have one appear again in just a few weeks.

This really isn’t the time of year for much blooming of flowers but this Fishhook Cactus looked like it was in bloom or at least at the end of its bloom.



You can see why they call it the Fishhook cactus if you look closely at the needles. They are shaped like a hook and they are strong. When one of the leashes would get hooked by one of the needles there was no way to just pull them off. They were definitely hooked. It took quite an effort to go over and get the leashes unhooked. We must have gotten hooked 20 times! It’s always something!



I must say, I have no idea how Mike finds many of the places he takes us throughout the year. Today we drove about 70 miles or so to a little (emphasis on little) town called Patagonia. Why this little town still exists, I have no idea.

It looks like it never progressed past the 1800's. It looks like some little stagecoach town. I'm sure no building has been built there for a couple hundred years. There is a Saloon right next to the Stagecoach Motel which is right next to the Marshal's office.

Mike seemed offended when I started laughing at this little town. I couldn't help it - we drove all that way for this! I'm still not sure the significance of this town - or what people do for a living that live there. I'm guessing maybe a hundred people live there.

Mike stopped and went into the Visitor Center (can you believe they even have one!) in the lobby of the very old hotel. He came out with a little map of some possible hiking nearby. I can't imagine we'll run into many people on this hike!

There is really nothing but open space out here. I guess that's good for us as we like hiking all by ourselves. We went many miles and never saw another car. Wouldn't you know, we pulled into the parking lot of the hike and there was a truck there. I wonder how this person found this place...and why?!

We didn't even bother putting the girls on leash to get out of the car. The boys are always on leash until we check out the surroundings well. The hike started out fairly pretty and fairly flat.



But with tall grass like this it would be way too easy to lose the boys so they had to stay on leash. Suddenly we heard this weird squealing noise. We couldn't imagine what it was. Then we saw something across the hill running really fast. Mike thought it was a coyote. As I started taking pictures I thought those were the weirdest looking coyotes ever. Then we noticed a deer go running by and saw the "coyotes" chasing them. The girls wanted to help chase the deer but Mike told them not to and being the good dogs they are, they stopped and just watched.

Shortly after that we heard someone calling and whistling. Mike figured someone must be out hunting with their dogs and that's what we'd seen. One of the dogs went back in the direction of the voice but the other dog kept going and going. We kept hiking and in just a minute met a lady on the trail. She had one dog and was still looking for the other one. Mike told her the other dog had kept going as it was still chasing the deer. The lady apologized saying she was sorry her dogs were being bad and said she hoped her dogs hadn't hurt the deer. Mike informed her that the dogs were nowhere near to capturing the deer and that they really weren't being bad - it's a natural thing for dogs to do! She was so relieved. After a couple minutes the other dog came up behind us on the trail. Here is Freckles on the hunt:



And here is Tater on the hunt (both dogs were about the size of Wazzu and Sparkie):



We continued on the hike and the views got very pretty.



We'd only been hiking for about fifteen minutes when Wazzu started crying and shaking her paw around. I immediately checked her paw and found that she was being bitten by one of those red ants - like the ones that got Boogie a few days ago. I immediately got the ant out of her foot. We had done some research after Boogie's experience and found these ants are called Harvester Ants. It said their bite is extremely painful.

Wazzu sure believes this! We have always taught our dogs that if they have a problem to come to us and we'll help them. Most often it's a sticker which we pull out of their foot and they're off and happy. Poor Wazzu just couldn't understand why I wouldn't help her. She didn't want to walk at all. She'd just sit in front of me with her paw held up in the air and look at me with big sad eyes. But I didn't know what else to do so I just told to her walk.

She'd then walk a little ways - but with a huge limp. After only a few feet she'd stop and and hold up her paw. I felt so bad that I couldn't help her. I could tell she didn't understand why I wouldn't help her. Poor Wazzu.

When we stopped for water a few minutes later, Mike looked through his first aid kit and noticed that he had some sting relief pads. I rubbed and rubbed just hoping this would actually provide her some relief. Boogie of course wanted help and kept sticking his nose near the pad. From his reaction, I'm guessing the pad had a very strong smell. He kept sneezing and sneezing and rubbing his nose on the ground.

The view from this stop was pretty too - it seemed prettier than this picture shows for some reason.



We never hope for the dogs to find a deer to chase - but we were so hoping to see one now so that Wazzu would go off on a chase and forget about her poor foot. From where we were we could see the dogs even if they were to go way off. But we didn't see any signs of life other than the ants.

Even this far into the hike the trail was still flat and very easy to walk on.



It didn't really matter what the trail was like for Sparkie as she was very rarely on it! Here's how Sparkie looked a lot of the time.



By looking at the scenery, you wouldn't expect to find much in the way of flowers or color.



While they certainly weren't prolific we were surprised to find a flower here or there. I'm definitely not a wild flower expert so I can't tell you the names of most of these plants. However, I can share their beauty with you.



This is an Ocotillo cactus that is common in the deserts in this part of the country. However, it's the only one we saw on this particular hike.



Sparkie came back to Mike limping and holding up her paw. He found many stickers in her foot. They came from this type of cactus. Since I took the picture so close up it looks like a big cactus. But it wasn't as big around as my fist. I'm not sure but this may be a beehive cactus.



This little cholla cactus was very cute and unlike most I've seen.



I have no idea what this is and I haven't seen it on any of our hikes but I did think it was interesting and pretty.



I haven't seen this before either, and I really don't like pink, but I thought this was very pretty. It looked lonely as there wasn't another one around that we saw anywhere. (Oops, this picture is on it's side....just flip your computer on it's end and then this picture will look just fine!)



I was really enjoying this trail. It did have a slight incline to it but it wasn't very steep....for a while. Then the trail changed from flat and dirt to rocks and fairly steep.



For some reason, Slugger seems to have tender feet. When we get on rock paths he walks so gingerly and picks his feet up really high trying to find just the right place to set them down. Our hikes then become extremely slow going.

That's exactly why we bought Slugger some new hiking boots a few months ago. On the new updated design, the treads are just like that on human hiking boots.



Slugger actually understands that these boots make it so that his feet don't hurt. He is happy to get them on! Once they're on, he's hiking up the rocks like they don't even exist. Notice how his treads seem to match Mike's hiking boots.



Now that Slugger had his boots on he really wanted to move along. Mike had his work cut out for him now! Notice you don't see Slugger lagging behind anymore....he is out in front of Mike.



But it's so great to see what a difference those boots make. We all really like the new design much better as Slugger has much better traction now.



Good thing the boys were both on leash as the two red boys really blended in well with the red rock.



I really wanted the dogs to have a nice long hike - espcecially since we had the whole entire area to ourselves...and we needed to be gone all day. I went just as far as I possibly could while trying to make sure I could make it back. Not only was I disappointed that we had to turn around but so were the dogs.

So while they had a drink I took a look around at the view. Even way out here it is hazy. I guess the days of clear distance views are over.



Wazzu laid down to rest before the journey back. But she didn't really get much rest as it turned out.



Boogie was nowhere close to tired and thought this would be a great time to attack Wazzu.



He kept attacking her but she just sat there trying to duck each attack.



We started our trek back but were in no hurry as we wanted the dogs to get plenty of exercise. I think it is impossible to wear Boogie out when he has to be on leash the entire time. Even though he had to be on leash he was a really good sport about it. Slugger is a really good example for him in that respect. I think the thing that confused Boogie the most is who he is supposed to be walking with. Most of the time Mike had his leash so he'd stay with Mike. But occassionally I would hold the leash and he didn't seem to understand why he couldn't stay up with Mike.



The views from the different spots weren't all that different but seemed interesting nonetheless.



After about two and a half hours we got back to the car. The dogs were really thirsty even though we’d stopped for drinks along the way. The only time they share a water bowl is when they are super thirsty. I’d say there are as many heads in this bowl as could possible fit.



While the dogs were drinking I noticed something stuck under the drivers side windshield wiper. I wondered how we could get a ticket way out here – and what could we be getting a ticket for.

Here’s the exact note:

Hi Dog Lovers,
My dogs are rescues too (they must have seen the rescue sticker on our car) from the Nogales Humane Society. They are brothers – “Freckles” and “Tater.” They did have fun and you’re so right – being bad isn’t all bad! Have a great trip and enjoy Patagonia.

How nice was that! Well there may not be many people in Patagonia but the one we met was extremely nice. Isn’t it amazing how such a little thing as leaving a nice note can really brighten someone’s day. I guess it goes to show how important little things can be. It probably didn’t take her two minutes to write that note. But it brightened our whole day…and who knows, it may brighten many of our days ahead as we think back on it. Let’s all take a lesson and do something nice for a stranger.

After we left the hills outside Patagonia we took a drive down to Nogales. I’m guessing that’s as close to Mexico as we’ll get for quite some time (maybe ever). We must not have looked very dangerous as the border patrol just waved us on as we returned. The checkpoint we went through must be some sort of secondary patrol spot as we didn’t actually enter Mexico.

We didn’t get out of the car at all on this part of the trip…this was just a drive to waste time and maybe see something interesting. Well, we wasted time at least.

We’d been wanting to go to a pet store for a few days and figured this would be a good chance. Mike found one that was in the path of drive home. We parked and got all the dogs out of the car. Before we even started walking toward the store we noticed that all the store were dark. The whole shopping center had lost power. Some people were stuck inside and others wanted in but couldn’t as the power doors were working.

The dogs were so confused when we just put them right back in the car. Poor guys, they’d been riding in the car for almost four hours. We decided just to go home and hope the RV was done.

We arrived back at the service center about 4:00pm. The good news is that the RV was done! The bad news was that the problem was not caused by a mechanical failure. They said it looked to them like a rat had been chewing on the hose and made scratches and one tiny hole in the hose. (Here's the skinny little $20 4' hose.)



The warranty doesn’t cover it in that case. How or why would a rat get way up in there? We’re thinking we’re going to put an x-pen all the way around the outside of the RV and make Boogie sleep under the RV so he can watch for rats!

Mostly, Mike is relieved that we won’t have to try and be out of the RV all day anymore. That’s a relief to all of us!

Debbie
11/15/07