Tag Archive for 'Karl and Ann'

The rest of the story.

Published on December 13, 2009 in Pets. 8 Comments Tags: , , .

Yesterday after a short walk, I was playing with Karl in the side yard.

Steve was taking photos of us.

Big fun all around.

There was just a little snow.

Game over.

Last evening I went to take Karl down the driveway for our last walk. It was 8:30, dark, 2-3 inches of new snow on the ground. I couldn’t find my pepper spray – a bit odd as I routinely have it on the early morning and late evening walk and set it in the same place when I return. It was nowhere to be found. I took a ski pole for a weapon and off we went.

Steve was working on the photos last night. He knew I had not been able to find the spray. Lo and behold he came across the photo below – he zoomed in on what Karl found…

He emailed me the photo which I picked up this morning. It had a one line message: “Karl found your bear spray”.

Another day at the lake

Published on March 16, 2009 in Montana, Pets and Photos. 8 Comments Tags: , , , .

Saturday, noonish, Karl and I headed to Wayfarer’s State Park for a walk on the beach. I was surprised to find the parking area filled with trucks and boat trailers. There is still not much of a parking area as the primary day use parking has not been plowed. On this day, every spot designated for vehicle and trailer was full as well as every other plowed spot.

The Jeep, though, is no stranger to snow, so we parked in the day lot, in the snow. Two men near were readying a fishing boat so I asked about the “crowd”. There is a fishing tournament on. It is a yearly thing. They laughed at my saying that I was surprised at the number of boaters on a cold, gray day: “Any day is a good day to fish” was their reply. They went on to tell me that they were not in the tournament, but that they recognized most of the trucks and trailers as friends of theirs that were participating.

Karl and I walked toward the lake and watched them launch on an icy ramp. It was relatively warm at 36 but the combination of snow on the road and ramp, water splashing as each launched…and a few were already done for the day and pulling out, made the ramp very icy. 4wd and chains were the order of the day.

But aside from the boat launch, Karl and I had the rest of the park to ourselves.

Another day at the lake.

the last laugh

Published on February 22, 2009 in Front Porch Musings and Pets. 14 Comments Tags: , , .

Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful – bright blue sky, not a cloud to be seen and the temperature which started at a cold 18 had risen to 30 by 10:30. I thought it was a perfect day for another try for a “Karl and Me” photo. I didn’t have the tripod, but spotted a stump that held the camera…and another in a good spot for a focus point.

Karl and Me – Take 1:

My “mark” was about 20 feet from the camera. As I ran for my spot, Karl started following thinking it was a game. But then he stopped. Not quite. Try again – I put Karl in a stay…

Karl and Me – Take 2:

Ok, we are both here – look at the camera Karl! No, I give you a kiss!

Karl and Me – Take 3:

This has to do – I’m done.

Karl’s reaction

I think this is Karl’s version of ROFLMAO…

Karl goes to day care

Published on February 17, 2009 in Pets. 9 Comments Tags: , , .

Off the highway and over this slough are 10 acres of Wendy’s K9 Camp and Boarding Retreat. It is a wonderful doggie play and stay spot.

I have an upcoming business trip and as Karl has not been here for either day care or overnight in over 4 years, Wendy and I decided a little re-indoctrination was in order. I dropped Karl off at noon. He got excited as we turned off the highway. When I got the Jeep stopped and opened the back, he jumped out and ran right in the fenced area as always. Knife in my heart, but much preferred to him being anxious. A brief exchange of plans with Wendy and I left while he was exploring. Wendy said he had a good look around and then found a shady spot on a snow pile and relaxed.

The acreage is divided into small, medium and large areas. The dogs are allowed to great each other through the fences. Wendy watches and if there are those who want to play together, she puts them together and lets them romp. In the summer, she has kiddie pools so the dogs can cool off. She’s out with them a lot, always when several are together. For Karl, it is the next best thing to being home with me. My take is that he is outside, with room to play and run and enough other activity to be “busy” so he doesn’t seem to be anxious about me not being around as he is when he stays home with a house-sitter.

I had my own bit of play, taking laptop to a “city” coffee house and working there. There was good wi-fi, it was fairly quiet and I treated myself to a sun-dried tomato/artichoke/mozzeralla stuffed croisant with my coffee while I worked.

When I drove in to K9 Camp to pick up Karl, he was out in a yard with Wendy. He was at a gate as I walked up and glad to see me but also happy to stay and walk around as Wendy and I talked and I took some photos.

The largest of the yards borders a woods and big field. Lots of room to run and play.

The doggie cabins are not in use in winter. Guests sleep in the house or the heated dog room in the garage.

The deluxe cabins…

Karl remembers.

Looking back towards the house on the left, garage on the right. The roofed area behind the garage is fenced and has access to the heated/cooled garage dog room.

Hunter, Wendy’s Jack Russell terrier and Karl renew acquaintance. They were great buds during Karl’s previous stays.

Happy Karl – it is a nice place…truly a retreat, if you are a canine!

The really long walk

Published on February 8, 2009 in Montana, Nature, Pets and Photos. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

Karl and I “got back on the horse” so to speak. Although yesterday afternoon we did go through the area that caused Karl concern in the morning, it was still our “short loop” walk and we missed our normal midday longer walk. Back in the Woods post has the plat and Google Earth for our normal long walk.

Today, was again sunny and clear, so off we went.

The first loop, our short loop walk, is a ridgeline around a “bowl” to the west and a drop to a valley to the east. The “bowl” is protected enough that deer bed down many places there. A deer died either from a car or hunter near the tree branches in the foreground. The carcas was there Thanksgiving morning and gone by the afternoon. Karl has found bits down in the bowl so something(s) drug it down there. One walk, the ravens swooped down around us, apparently upset that we were too close to their “food”. One of my guesses about yesterday is that perhaps there was a fresh kill and Karl picked up a “vibe” or scent or ?. He made no move to go down in the bowl today and I prohibited it yesterday.

Above, Karl heads down from the ridge to a gulley area which is about the halfway point of our short loop and where I stopped yesterday. The point he turned around is just a bit further as the path starts up again.

Above – deer tracks which is all we saw other than our own.

Our path emerges from the gulley at the end of one of the lots in this large acre subdivision. Around the bend and dead ahead about 350 yards is the house.

For our long walk we skirt the northeast corner of my property and enter the 40 acre parcel of state land. The state land was logged several years ago and is a fairly open wooded parcel. It is mostly flat, but drops off steeply on the north and west edges to other properties.

Above is a typical view on the state land – open woods with glimpses of the mountains to the west, north and east. Karl and I have been able to walk parts of this land that we normally don’t. In the summer the high grass, weeds, piles of sticks and downfall force us to stick to game trails. With the amount of snow we had in December, that melted down, compacted and then froze, the walking and snowshoeing is easy and we’ve been able to explore areas we’ve not been before and then take the direct route home. Today, we took an hour and a half to take a really long walk.

By the time we returned, a rest in the shade felt pretty good.

A walk completed

Published on February 7, 2009 in Montana, Nature, Pets and Photos. 7 Comments Tags: , , , .

Karl left the bedroom closet about 2 hours after we returned from our walk cut short – and asked to go outside. He went out and picked a usual spot in the snow to lie and survey his territory.

Later, we set off for our usual late afternoon walk. He stopped at the spot where we turned around earlier. I stayed quiet and let him decide. He went on and I followed. I did not see any tracks that were not mine, his or deer but he stayed on my snowshoe path and kept his nose to the ground. When we got to a spot maybe 250 yards from the house he got excited and started off the path. The deep mushy snow was too much – I called him back. He seemed grateful to be called. He was not anxious or overly alert – more curious…sniffing the air and the ground. So…I don’t know, but something was “off” earlier and it appeared there were remnants of it in the air, but we completed our walk uneventfully. If not for the earlier unusual return, I would have thought nothing of his attention to the area near home.

While nothing of note “happened” on the walk, the scenery was spectacular:

And on our return, as I fired up the grill – from the front porch:

This may be the closest I get to a full moon photo. The forecast does not look good for the night of the full moon. But tonight, it is a beautiful evening and we had a walk completed.

A little sunshine on a Sunday morning

Published on December 14, 2008 in Montana, Pets and Photos. 5 Comments Tags: , .

This morning was clear – stars and the full moon lit our early morning “down the driveway” walk. Despite being -6, with no wind and dressed for the occasion – it did not feel that cold. I love moonlight shining through the woods and we had our usual dawdle back – me on the driveway and Karl on the east property perimeter.

The sun rose and the temperature with it, climbing to near zero by 10 a.m.. I might have waited for a bit more warmth, but 10 is our usual morning walk time and Karl was pestering to go, so I suited up and off we went. I took my smaller (and older!) camera, despite the temps, but it got too cold quickly. I did get a couple shots before it refused to operate..

A bit more snow on the mountains, but not as much as I expected to see. The Swan Range curves around to the north, close enough that my property was in a wind shadow for the cold wind that was blowing out of the North-Northeast. Along a corridor through Columbia Falls and Kalispell, the weather info showed winds high enough to cause the wind chill to be in the -20’s. But even on our walk there was not even a breeze high in the trees – it was quiet, sunny and beautiful.

Karl and I played a little snow soccer when we got home. I warmed up a bit inside and then went back out with camera and tripod to see if I could get a photo (quickly!) of Karl and I…. I call the procedure “the Karl and Ann rodeo” …

Thanks to a timer that will click off a number of shots after a delay, I not only got the story, but both of us almost facing the camera…

For my next trick, I will try to get the Ann, Karl and Bob Christmas photo…this usually takes the better part of a day and ends up with me needing a nap…