Hearts Hurting, But it is the Right Thing

Kobi is a home dog. For years we have tried to fool ourselves that he is an adventurer, an explorer, a travel dog. But he is not! We thought he would learn that going places always resulted in a fun and relaxing stay; that he would enjoy the end even though the travel part terrified him. This has never happened

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Our first photo of Kobi.

It’s hard but in life, all your dreams don’t come true and you can’t explain why. When we lost Sebaca, our other dog, to cancer we vowed that he was our last. Then we started talking about another dog. One of the strong underlying items we talked about as we convinced ourselves that we needed another companion was that of a buddy to travel with. A pet that would ride in the Jeep, go fishing with me and be with us on our travel adventures. Our hopes led us to find a pup and that guy was Kobi.

We did everything we could do to introduce our pet to the travel bug. For a time when he was a pup, he was good to go and was always eager to jump into the Jeep for a ride. But something that we cannot figure out slowly changed in our friend. As years went by he became more insecure about moving objects, the sounds associated with traffic, fireworks, gunfire, strong winds and thunder and lightning.  We have tried everything to make him comfortable around these sounds, but Kobi is Kobi and nothing really helps.

Kobi in the field this week.

Kobi does not like getting into the truck or Jeep. When we load him up, we call it “Dead Dog Walking!” He hangs his head, tries everything he can to avoid the door and then when he gets into the vehicle he shakes uncontrollably. Once in his crate, he will eventually stop shaking, but he sits stoically like the Sphinx, unmoving and tense.  We observed this behavior thinking that the truck was making him sick and that is why he does not like it, but he never shows signs of being physically sick. No vomiting, no change in his poop. He just hates to travel.

We have learned that if we take him out of the crate for a bathroom break, he has to stay on lead so that he won’t go and hide. This we learned the hard way. We cannot count the times we had to crawl under trucks or cars to pull him out. Bushes are his favorite hiding place. At first, we used his toys to draw him out where we could get him on lead. Now even that doesn’t work. Our only proven way to draw him out is to get our chairs out, sit down, and act like we are there to stay. This can take a while, but eventually, it works and he comes out to sit by our side.

To complicate things more, he is not comfortable going to the bathroom with the lead on.  It takes forever for him to relieve himself while tethered. Heaven forbid that we would try to get him to poo while attached to the rope. While traveling, if we let him off lead, he will do his duty and then head for a picnic table, car, truck or bushes to hide. Timing is everything and we have learned how to accomplish these bathroom breaks without incident, most of the time, but we still find ourselves pulling Kobi out from under things on occasion.

Our travels are important to us and now that we are retired, and have worked hard to give us the resources and abilities to accomplish these explorations, they become more and more numerous.

Each time we go somewhere we make all our plans with Kobi as our number one concern. We have to consider where we are going, how long it will take, where can we rest and walk the dog, the list goes on.  National Parks and many areas we want to visit have strict policies on dogs on trails and in campgrounds. We are continually thinking about how we can visit these areas with Kobi and have him safe while staying within the regulations posted for those areas. Many times we have ruled out an area because we are unable to provide Kobi a safe, shady place to stay while we toured a national monument area. This has always been ok because it is what it is and Kobi is family.

When we retired one of our dream trips was to drive down to Melaque, Mexico and stay the winter in our camper. We accomplished this, and we did it with our little friend along. It was so hard on him that we now would never even consider a journey like that.  Mexico is a wonderful place, but part of that mystique is their love of fireworks and loud celebrations. Poor Kobi was a mess. He spent weeks wearing a long sleeve shirt protecting areas on his legs that he rubbed raw trying to climb under our bed or the truck when he heard fireworks. Kobi’s fears and his inability to get comfortable made us feel so bad about this adventure that when we returned we said we would never put him through something like that again.

This lead us to our past couple years and the discovery of Kobi’s amazing second family.

Diane, Al Dee and their two children, Kenyon and Alayna, knew Kobi from visits to our house and several trips down to their house in Eugene, Oregon. The kids loved to play with Kobi and Kobi really loved them, too. We got the idea that when we went to Mexico for the winter we would have Kobi stay with them and when we returned we would take him back home to be with us.

After two successful years of this dog sharing success, everything was great, but Linda and I noticed something and Linda started calling it the Perfect Storm.

Linda’s sister and the family had had pets before. They had adopted a couple dogs; the first one was a great friend that passed away too young. Their second dog turned out to be a nightmare. After that dog, Diane said that they would never have a pet dog again.

Enter Kobi. He is such a great dog that the kids automatically fell in love with him. Al Dee was captured after the first year. It took Diane a while longer, but by the end of last year, she had fallen for Kobi as hard, if not harder, than the rest of them. It was hard for everyone when we picked up Kobi this spring and that, honestly, was very hard on us.

Last year the family also saw a big change in Kobi and how he acted. Kobi made the kids his job. He woke each one of them up in the mornings and kept an eye on them constantly. He was happy being in the family and you could tell that. We noticed this when we were staying there the days before we brought him home.

When we left with Kobi and we traveled up and down the Oregon Coast, he was more subdued than usual during a trip. We arrived home and it took a couple weeks for Kobi to get back to his normal self.

Now here is the Perfect Storm part. Diane, AL Dee, and the kids really missed Kobi. Kenyon and Alayna started asking for a dog more often and with a greater urgency. Diane and Al Dee started thinking hard about getting them their pet.  They even started looking into pet adoptions again. Because of Kobi, their choice of dog breeds became a Golden Retriever. It was looking more and more like they would be getting a dog sooner than later.

We were watching Kobi adjusting to being home. Plans were in the works for several big adventures that could not include Kobi. We knew we needed his second family to be able to take him and this might not be an option if they had their own dog. Linda and I had several heart-wrenching talks about Kobi and how we could fulfill our desire to travel without hurting him.

Kobi needs a home where his family will always be home; a place where a weeklong trip comes once a year, not every other week, a place where his family is there after school and work, a place where he is comfortable 24/7, 365 days a year.

We called Diane and asked if she and Al Dee would consider maybe taking Kobi on a permanent basis. We wanted them to talk about this possibility without alerting the kids and getting their hopes up. Diane said “yes” right then but thought they should take some time and talk this out. They let us know the next day that Kobi would be a welcome and much-loved addition to their family. He would be loved and cared for just as we have loved and cared for him.

The next two weeks were the hardest two weeks Linda and I have ever had, even worse than when Sebaca had to be put down because of cancer.  His passing was so quick we had little time to think about it. We listed the pros and cons dealing with Kobi’s possible new home. We discussed options and looked at our future schedule. We cried a lot. We talked to Diane and made our decision, for Kobi, to let him go to his new home. We cried some more as our hearts broke and we second-guessed ourselves.  Several times I backed out of the idea and said it would not work. I was being selfish.

The decision has been made and we will be traveling to deliver Kobi to his new home and family. We are still crying every time we think or talk about this, but we know it is the best for him. We will see him two or three times a year during our family visits. The kids will keep us posted on his family adventures and they will definitely be sending pictures and stories.  They will love him as we have. Doing the right thing shouldn’t be so hard…

Tuesday Afternoon:

Last night we stayed on the Columbia River. Kobi hated the ride down but loved playing ball till sundown. We both took turns, losing it, crying and then pulling it together. We got on the road by 9:00 AM and arrived in Eugene at about noon. Kobi hardly moved on the ride down.

Al Dee met us at the house and Kobi immediately jumped out of the truck and ran into the house, made an inspection, looking for the kids and then grabbed his ball and started playing. There was no hesitation, he knew where he was, he was happy and relaxed. Linda held it together while speaking with Al Dee. I unloaded the truck and lost it about three times.  We wanted to stay, but without communicating with each other, we hugged Kobi and got into the truck. We drove off; found our way out of town and headed to the Sisters Oregon area.

Right now we have found a spot for the night at Tumalo State Park. We have cried a couple times more. We talked about what was right and have fully agreed that this is the best for our Kobi. We will call tonight and I am sure the kids will be over the moon excited.  We know we will see him this summer and again in the fall. Tomorrow we move on to visit friends and life will continue. We were so fortunate to have been able to have raised the best dog ever.

The Lump

Kobi had a lump removed from his backside today.  As you can see the area had to be trimmed a bit before the surgery. TRIMMED A BIT! Oh my gosh, they shaved the entire rear area. I guess that's OK because the Dr. said he would have to make a four-inch incision in order to get the lump out. He only had to cut it three inches. So the poor boy has that going for him.

We noticed the lump when we returned from Mexico last spring. It felt like a tick and even had the look of one.  After figuring out that it wasn't a tick we left it alone and in about two months it grew a bit of a head and felt like it might be an ingrown hair.  We left it and watched it.

In early summer, we went to the Vet and he checked Kobi over saying "Let's watch it."  So we did and it grew. Kobi went about the process of having a couple other problems that needed meds and so when we reached a time that he was off meds and operable, it was a big lump.

$500 dollars later we have our boy home and as you can see in his eyes. he is pretty much out of it. We are so glad to have him home, now we wait for the biopsy results.

Missing Our Kobi

Kobi is visiting Linda's sister and her family while we are in Mexico and we miss him a bunch.  It was one of the hardest decisions we had to make when we decided to travel down for this extended amount of time.  The house was easy, Fatima lives with her mother and sister and has always been there to look after the place, it gives her a hide out where she can bake cookies and eat pizza.  Fatima would have probably watched after Kobi at home, but we couldn't ask someone to commit that much time and we had the offer from our family in Eugene.

At the Thanksgiving gathering of Linda's family we packed Kobi's things and when the visit was over loaded him into the van and said our good-byes.  Probably one of the hardest things we have ever done with him.  We shed tears and moped around the place several days. Finally we were off on our adventure and Kobi was settled in at his new temporary home in Eugene.

About every three or four days we get an update and maybe some pictures from Diane and Al Dee. We have Skyped and visited, enjoying the antics Kobi always provides.  He is happy and that makes us feel better to know he is safe.  Here are a few photos that Al Dee has sent us, I hope you enjoy them.

Kobi's selfie.

Kenyon and Kobi.

Watching the neighbor's cat.

Break time together.

Alayna and Kobi with his ball.

Kobi seems very relaxed.

BALL!

Sleep over.  (Linda's favorite.)

Happy Birthday To You!

Today is Kobi's birthday! He is 7 years old.

He really wants people to know about this special day, but we are in Mexico and all his friends are up in the states. Kobi would be checking his Face Book page to see all the birthday posts all the time today, if he had one. That would cause problems because his nails scratch the computer.  It is also a problem because he can't use the space bar due to the opposable thumb thing. Allhissentenceslooklikeabunchofletterswithnospaces. All his sentences look like a bunch of letters with no spaces. Hard to read isn't it?

The most resent photos are ones with Kobi in the shirt we bought him and make him wear while he is around the camp site.  It's not that we have a dress code, it is because of his elbows. When we were at the Pink House, Kobi would hide from the fireworks under the bed.  He would drag himself in and out when ever he was frightened, which was pretty much all the time. He wore big scrapes on his elbows and we have been trying to get them to heal.  The long sleeve shirt was our final attempt at keeping the dirt and rubbing down to a minimum and we think it is working.  We bought the shirt for 5 pesos.  Don't tell Kobi, he thinks we got it at the Gap and that he is very cool and styling.

I'll end with Kobi's favorite birthday song.

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party

I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Dance

I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Dance

You say it's your birthday
Well it's my birthday too, yeah
You say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

One Afternoon

Kobi's PFD

Mom, dad and the kids.

Here was my thoughts, Kobi hates to do anything that deals with any type of transportation.  He doesn't like the truck or Jeep and he will actually hide if he thinks you are going to ask him to get into one of them. We took him on the boat once and that didn't work very well either.  A friend suggested that we attempt putting Kobi in the boat while he is swaddled in a dog life jacket.  Some dogs like the security of swaddling and will calm down and allow you to do things that normal you can not do. So this morning I put the PFD around Mr. Kobi to see if he would allow me to put him on the boat.  

I started by strapping him into the vest to let him get used to it.  He just stood in the center of the room looking pathetic. He did not move for about an hour and I just wandered around getting stuff ready.  I drug him out to the deck and took the picture below and he stood there for another half hour.

Finally I got his lead and he ran in under the table and hid.  How did that little goober know I wanted to take him anywhere.  This is the first time I have even tried to do this yet he knew exactly what was up.  After about 10 minutes I took the vest off him and put him outside and went down to the boat. 

I had a great day in the sun, and Kobi spent his day sleeping in the back yard.  We were both happy.

33" Pike, Approx. 17 lbs.

Keeping an eye on everything in the bay.

Just love to sit and watch.

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

Yes, the left eye was completely swollen shut. No, he did not go ten rounds with Oscar de la Hoya. Kobi stuck his head into a bush to get his toss ring and the next second he had his head in my crotch, and his eye was shut. It was sad, but funny at the same time. He didn't know what hit him.

Linda and I drove up the Coeur d'Alene river this weekend, but ended up on Shoshone Creek at one of our usual spots. We left Friday after work, but by the time we got up the main river most of the good spots were taken. Several camps only had a tent or a truck in them, which generally means that someone had driven up and staked the camp site out for the weekend and then went back and left the items. I don't like that style of camp hording, I think that on Friday it should be every camper for them selves.

We tried all our usual spots and they were full so we drove down river and headed up Shoshone Creek. We figured that if we failed there we could drive back and camp in our front yard. We did find a spot and had a great weekend.

On Saturday I fished up stream and caught a bunch of little fish. The creek is running very low so about all I could do was fish the pools and hope for one or two big guys to be hiding and I could draw them out.

We had two great meals while we were there. We did the usual camping stuff; walk, eat, fish and throw the ring for Kobi.

We stayed at a lake!

After a long drive down into western Washington we passed through Montesano and turned north to Lake Sylvia State Park. We had a spot reserved and once we got set up we walked Kobi before going to bed. There were some cool hiking trails around the lake and Kobi really enjoyed himself. We slept sound and in the morning got up and played fly the dog, into the lake. Kobi loved the water, and so I put the video together.

After breakfast and the water fun we headed out to meet up with our friends somewhere by Grayland. These folks are the friends that we met in Mexico. The group all stay next door to our house and we play swimming pool volleyball every day. It's Mary and Art's 40th wedding anniversary. They invited us when we were down in Melaque last year, and then when Larry and Maggie visited us a couple weeks ago they encouraged us to join them at the celebration.

He's Spoiled

Saturday Morning Notes

I have been watching Kobi the past couple days to see if he has any changes due to the disappearance of Rio, here is what I found. Kobi is much more relaxed and has settled down quite a bit. He has stopped pacing and has turned his attention back to wanting us to constantly toss his ring, ball, or bone. Outside he will go into his dog house and sleep. Kobi is back to normal, we made the right choice for this time in our lives, a sad one, but the right one.

As for Linda and Dean, they have stopped pacing. They are more at ease with walking one dog which make it an enjoyable experience. They have been sleeping through the night because they are not worried that something might happen while they sleep. They have accepted Rio's departure and have moved past it.

I want to thank everyone for all the kind comments they made when we had to make this tough decision. It was very helpful and made the outcome of a tough decision a lot less painful.

Jumping the Gun

When I was in High School, back in the 70’s, I participated in track as a distance runner. I was an average runner, but as a participant I considered myself a dedicated athlete and a strong team builder. It was my job, within the ranks of the Forrest Gumps, to keep our long and arduous runs exciting and fun, or so I thought. When we trained I always did something to make our time go faster. When we competed, I rarely finished first, but I was always there for the team to run any event that needed a warm slow body. I always gathered our group together for pre and post cheers to strengthen our team of runners and get them pumped up. Many times I did things that helped to break the ice, the nervousness, the tension when we were competing.

The one thing I remember doing that I wish I had learned a better lesson from was “jumping the gun.” It was in my junior year, one of the first track meets of the season, that I thought I could break the tension for my fellow teammates by purposely jumping the starting gun prior to our two mile race. Throughout the day our team of distance runners had been watching the sprinters line up, get into their boxes, and shoot out of the starting blocks at the sound of the gun. Sometimes their anticipation of the starter’s gun caused them to jump prior to the actual firing of the pistol and they had to reset and restart the race. Each time this happened, our pack of distance runners joked about the false start and how it never happens in our event.

When our race came around, I crowded to the front of the starting line, and just before the gun, I sprinted out, arms a pumping, causing the starter to fire two quick shots from his gun. I eased up and turned to the group and smiled. I though how funny I was, distance runners don’t jump the gun! The starter saw what I had done and knew immediately that it was intentional. He took me aside and in a firm way explained all the possible outcomes of my joke and expressed his concern about what could have happened. I was crushed. The starter was a coach that I had known for several years, who had worked with me as a runner and was a real mentor to me. The race was the worst one of my high school running career. I jumped the gun both literally and figuratively;s a life lesson we hope to learn from.

Here I am at 54 and I still haven’t learned the “Jump the Gun” lesson. I have learned to not jump the gun to be humorous, but sometimes I jump the gun when it comes to announcements dealing with our family and personal lives. I guess I get too excited and I want everyone to share in my excitement.

After a week of personal searching and trying to rationalize about how to make our new family work, Linda and I have had to make the hard and tearful decision to return Rio to the Golden Retriever Rescue people. It is just not the right time to be adding the second dog to the mix. As I write this I get choked up and tears fill my eyes. Rio is a great dog! He has great potential to be a loving companion to someone who can take time and work with him to dispel the fears that are imbedded from his previous life.

Over the course of the week we could not get Kobi and Rio to stop their quest to become the Alfa dog of the family. Every time we let them our side together it was nothing but a brawl, they never broke skin or caused damage to each other, but they tore up the backyard and got themselves completely covered with mud. When we separated the two, both would bark and howl to the point that our neighbors actually called us to let us know this was happening.

The two most important criteria Linda and I set down for having a second dog were, it cannot bark and it has to get along with Kobi. I have to admit that Kobi was probably the instigator of most of the problems, but he is our dog and our first priority. Like I said, I wish we could have gotten Rio during the summer when we could work closely with him and Kobi. It wasn’t in the cards, and we couldn’t make it work.

Both Linda and I are heartbroken. We hope that our inviting Rio into the family hasn’t harmed Kobi and set his training back. We hope that Rio finds a great home; he is perfect for a couple who will care for him and work with him to get over some of his past fears. It has been a hard week and a very hard day. We talked last night and this morning about our reasons for wanting this dog. We came to the realization that because Rio reminded us of Baka, we thought that maybe he could be Sebaka. After talking we know that this could not be. The last post on our blog came about because I was hoping deep down inside that Rio would fill the Baka voids that we have not let Kobi fill due to his youth. I again jumped the gun.

Oh My, What Have We Done.

It’s very quiet here in the house, our two dogs are asleep. Yes, I said two dogs. When Sebaka passed away, we were very lonely for a dog. We were very hesitant to get a puppy and raise the little critter, bringing it through the wonder years of terror and destruction. We had had such good luck with the first Golden Retriever Rescue dog; our first thought was to get another rescue dog. We contacted the lady that placed Baka with us and put our names in to see what might come up. Time went by and we did not get a call for a Golden that fit our criteria. We gave up and within a few months Kobi joined our family.

Three weeks ago we got a call. They had a male Golden that fit our needs and asked us if we were still interested. Linda has a soft spot for rescue dogs and she wanted to go out and see what he looked like. We set up an appointment and from that point forward we started the discussion about having a second dog.

Kobi has to stay home all day and lately he has been a bit of a rhododendron trimmer. Each night I come home and there is a little pile of branches in front of our door, along with Kobi and a block of wood. Our back yard is a complete mess right now and Kobi has taken it upon himself to prune every low lying branch in his domain. We think he is bored and is just keeping busy until we arrive home and he can go for a walk.

Our visit to see the new dog went fine. Gordon was found in Othello WA. He is somewhere between 1 1/2 and two years old and has a very nice Golden look. He is a bit underweight by about ten pounds. He has been mistreated somewhere along the line and is very cautious around humans. Once you get him to know you, he is very nice and really wants to please you. His tail wags constantly and he really loves to be touched. At the time of our first visit Gordon was getting over a bout of Kennel Cough and so we could not introduce him to Kobi until our dog got his booster shots and Gordon was out of quarantine.

Two weeks passed and all the vaccinations were updated. Friday night we picked Gordon up and brought him home to meet Kobi. On the drive home both Linda and I agreed that the first thing we needed to do was to take the dog to a pet shower facility and give him a good old fashion scrubbing. This was the worst smelling dog I have been around in a long time.

We went to a local coin operated dog shower and within about fifteen minutes we had a presentable dog, that both of us felt could go into our house. Gordon put up with us and actually did real well. He really does not know us and being submitted to a complete cleaning in the first two hours of the visit could have gone worse.

At the house we introduced the two dogs and I think things went very well. Of course they are posturing and seeing who is going to be the Alfa male of the dog family, but our evening was relatively calm. Kobi has so much energy we sometimes think Gordon might get mad, but he has been able to deal with our little nut quite admirably.

The dogs played and mouthed each other all evening. When we went to bed Kobi went into his crate and Gordon slept on a blanket at the foot of the bed. We all had a very good night’s sleep.
Linda got up early to go work out and let the dogs out to relieve themselves out side. She put them back in the bedroom where I was finishing my beauty sleep, and left for the club. Both dogs did well for about a half hour and then Gordon started to pace around. When Gordon paced, Kobi got restless and within fifteen minutes, I was up and our day began.

At this point we were still not convinced that this two dog road was one we wanted to go down. I spent my morning watching the dogs feel each other out. This went well, Kobi was rambunctious as ever, Gordon was trying to keep things together and put up with the pest.

Linda came home and we took the dogs for a walk in the field. Gordon has never been let off a lead since he was found, so we kept him on the long line and let Kobi romp. After about a half hour of walking the dogs, we looked across the field to the west and spotted Ollie and Rags charging down on us. Ollie and Rags are two dogs who live down the street from us; they belong to Eric and Jean and love to play with Kobi. It was wild for a bit as our dogs met their friends from down the street. Ollie is the same age as Kobi, but he is a lot bigger, a whole lot bigger! Ollie is a St. Bernard and is probably three time Kobi’s size. Rags is a Labradoodle that puts up with the two kids.

Next Joe arrived with his Boxer named Lucy. Lucy is very fast and a bit aggressive, but she played better then she usually does. The last to arrive was Riley and his master, Judy. Riley is a Golden and is about three years old. He looks and acts like he is about ten years old though. Riley loves all the other dogs but is a bit out of shape for kamikaze dog fun. We were able to keep everything under control as the owners talked and the dogs frolicked. One by one we split up, our pack of four heading home.

The dogs had a great workout in the field and by that time Linda and I had talked quite a bit about our situation and we decided to go ahead and keep Gordon. With this decision came a list of things we needed to do. First we had to get a second dog bed and crate. Then we needed to get some supplies from the pet store such as a Nylabone for our new dog and a choke collar. Then as we gathered the necessities, we made the decision to change the dog’s name. We have changed all our dog’s names and had no problems. Kobi was the youngest and easiest to train to the new name. Kobi’s original name was Jessie, not as bad as Sebaka’s, “Gus”, but we wanted something that was our name.

Right now I would like to take this opportunity to introduce everyone to Rio, our new Golden. Linda likes this name for several reasons, first it is a Spanish word and she has been studying to learn the language. Secondly it means River in Spanish. We love rivers and our lives have been enriched by the exploration of those bodies of water. We called up our rescue friends told them we wanted to adopt our new friend.

We shopped and purchased the items we needed and returned to the house. We entered the kitchen and looked out back to see our two beautiful Goldens’. To our surprise there were two black dogs standing at the sliding glass door. Well not exactly black, but the two clean dogs we left two hours ago were covered with water, grass, and mud. We cautiously enterer their domain and spotted why they were dirty. The must have spent the whole time we were gone playing “King of the Hill” and rolling in the muddy snow.

We gathered them up in the truck and drove directly to our pet shower facility and gave them both a rinsing. Rio did not do as well during this cleaning, he was a bit agitated, but we were able to get him cleaned up.

Returning home we let the dogs into the house, gave Rio his dog bed and did a little grooming on both dogs. This was at about 4:00 PM and both dogs walked directly to a dog bed and went to sleep; Kobi on Rio’s bed, Rio on Kobi’s bed. I am working on this blog entry now and it is 7:00 PM, they both have not moved.

Shoshone Creek Ramblings

Of all the items that I never go anywhere without, my camera stayed exactly where I put it last week and so there are no trip photos. What this means is that I am obligated to fill this blog entry with my ramblings.

They are called “Puppy Circles”, they are not found mysteriously stamped into a wheat field somewhere on the Palouse. We can’t seem to predict when they will happen or especially why or what sets them off. It happened today when Linda and I were sitting in Shoshone Creek on our river chairs. You can see it building; Kobi gets a look in his eye and kind of squats down. His tail goes about a million miles an hour and then it all breaks loose. Kobi starts running as hard as he can, low to the ground deliberately reaching for the next stride his small legs pulling and pushing with all his strength. He corners low and wild, loosing much of his control due to the speed and centrifugal force of the maneuver. Sometimes he just stops short and puts his head down his little butt up in the air, tail wagging.

Today’s puppy circles were extreme. I think it was the location. With Kobi up to his belly in water every move produced a turgid spray of liquid. Linda was his main race pylon and he cut in as close as he could as he rounded her. When he wasn’t circling Linda, he spent his time trying to lie under her chair. This process posed a problem because he had to push his head under water. He was perplexed, usually he was able to snuggle under the chair and lay. With the water, his favorite spot was not available. That didn’t stop him from trying and as he pushed his head under the chair you could hear him blowing bubbles keeping the water out of his nose. Unable to get under the chair, the puppy Circles continued.

With twenty minutes of circles behind us, we all went for a walk along Shoshone Creek road. Out camp spot was in the sun and the area along the gravel byway definitely never has gotten direct sun so it was a cool and pleasant place to walk. When we returned to our camp it was about 5:00PM. The sun was still out hitting this location in full force. We had noted the spot across the road and it was in shade starting around 2:30PM. We quickly made a decision to move our camp over across the road to the other spot. The pros were less flies and more shade. The con was that it was closer to the road therefore it would be dusty whenever a vehicle went by. We hadn’t had a lot of traffic yet so we hoped that we could manage the dust in exchange for shade in the hot Saturday afternoon.

After we made our new camp we ate dinner. Linda got quiet and asked me if I remembered this day one year ago. I’m not much on dates so of course nothing came to mind. She said that one year ago exactly, August 15, 2007, was the day we had to put Baka down. We were quiet for a while and I said he was still the “best” dog. We’ll visit him this Sunday when we go up to John and Loretta’s for dinner.

Saturday morning was cool and quiet. Linda got up and ran, I stayed in bed and slept, our usual camp morning. From about 10:00AM till about 2:00PM, I went fishing. I started from camp and fished up about a mile and a half and then turned back. It was the first time I had fished for a very long time and I was a bit rusty. As I walked up stream the touch it takes, started coming back and I was able to get the fly where I wanted it.

Fishing was real good if you liked relocating little fish. About every cast I would get a strike and every other cast I would catch a fish, move it ten yards downstream and then release it. I kept thinking about how good this was for the fish population. I would move the fish around thus keeping the bloodlines mixed up. I did catch several good fish though, and one was particularly satisfying.

The run swept in from the left and pushed up against a layered rock face. Just at the tail of the turn was a green moss covered rock that split the current. The current closest to me spilled down about an eight inch drop and the rest of the clear water swept behind the green bolder and flowed into the pool below. This entire area was in the shade so it was cool and quiet. I approached downstream and found a log on the bank where I could have my lunch of string cheese and a hardboiled egg. As I ate I watched the run. Bugs were coming off the water, caddis, light brown; the perfect elk hair caddis color and size.

As I drank some water I noticed a dimple quickly appear and a bubble form just behind the slime rock in a shaded slick of the current. The bubbles slowly moved on downstream entering the tail out pool on the far side. My attention was fixed to the spot of the dimple when I saw a caddis struggling in the current just above where the bubble had appeared previously. It fluttered a moment and then I saw a nose dolphin up and all that remained was a bubble in a ring. This sight is something that makes fly fishermen shake, their breath quicken and mussels key up. I quickly put away all my lunch items and picked up my rod. I had been fishing a Stimulator up to this point and it had been doing well for me, but I wanted to make sure I was serving up what that fish was feeding upon, so I snipped it off and put it away. I looked through my caddis collection and found what I felt was the right bug for the right moment. The tippet was still good so I tied the caddis on; making sure the knot was impeccable.

The fish rose again as I readied my line. From the type of rise I knew that this fish was a bit bigger than the ones I had been bunging out of the water and transplanting. Placing a bit of Gink on the fly I stripped the line off the reel. I took a faults cast and then dropped the fly on the water. It glided downstream and at the last moment peeled toward me on the wrong side of the rock. Quickly I picked the fly off the water so that I would not catch any of the smaller kamikaze fish from the pool below and readied my second attempt with a back cast. Drawing a bit more line out on the back cast I sped up my line. This time the fly fluttered down closer to the rock face and touched the water. It drifted and caught the current behind the mossy rock. The fly hung there for a second, and then there was a slurp and a splash as I set the hook.

The fish was a bit bigger than the ones I had been catching, but nothing that would set records. It fought well, but there was no worry that it would break the line and escape. Why then did this particular fish stick in my mind as the best catch out of probably fifty fish throughout the day? Fly fishermen would know the answer right away. It was because I saw it rise, I figured out what it was feeding upon, I stalked it and fooled it into taking my fly. That’s what it’s all about.
Once home we played with the dog in the stream where it formed a pool. We are teaching him about current in the water and this area was just the ticket for that exercise. Kobi is a true swimmer and he has no fear of the water or anything connected with it.

Once we swam for a while we went for a walk and played Chuck-It. This dog toy is amazing; I would wear out my arm tossing the tennis ball without it. Kobi loves to chase and bring back the ball. We finished walking and chasing at about dark. We ate dinner and put Kobi into his crate and read for a while.

Sunday we loaded up and drove to the Shoshone Ranger Station and dumped the camper waist. As we drove into town we stopped at Wolf Lodge Bay where we tossed the duck for Kobi. We drove home and unloaded the camper , we were done by 1:00PM.

A Little Rain Never Hurt!

The night before the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon and Duathlon we had a weather change. The heat and humidity of the week lead the way and a system pounced in that brought clouds and lots of lightning. It did cool thing off for the night which made it a bit easier to sleep. Linda worried because of the possibility of rain.

The morning came early and we loaded all Linda’s gear along with Kobi into the Jeep. We arrived at the parking lot and headed into the mass of participants, friends and families. Linda got settled and I ran into David and Carol Lindsay in the comglomeration of people. Carol was doing her first triathlon and David was involved in his first support roll. Just as the race began, the sky opened up and it poured, soaking everything. I could feel a tenseness come over the participants. Rain makes the bike course slick; it could make the race interesting.

With the race underway the rain stopped, Kobi and I found a corner bench located at 3rd and Lakeside. It was a good place to watch the Coeur d’Alene duathlon as the bike leg progressed. We had our own duathlon of sorts today. We helped Linda get all her gear into position for the start of the race and then watched the swim start for the Triathlon. Swim starts are much more visual then the run starts of the duathlon. So I chose to do the visual thing then to support Linda at the start. Now don’t get the wrong idea, it was very hard to see the start of the duathlon, it’s located in the middle of mass chaos at the event finish line. If you are part of the duathlon crowd you find that there is a distinctive separation between how the duathlon and triathlon are run. Everyone pays a lot of attention to the triathletes and the duathletes basically are there. If you don’t swim, well, need I say more?

The second part of the K & D duathlon came when we walked down town and attempted to quickly get coffee. I put my bag on a chair and tied Kobi to a lamp post right next to the chair. Then I got in line behind some triathlete supporters. I have had interactions with this group several times a various events. The group consists of grand ma and grand paw, the wives and a mass of crying kids. It’s a great family thing, but they lay siege on any place they go so everyone around, look out. I got caught in the frenzy. They all ordered and fussed about, two kids cried, one wanted outside. I got my coffee and was about to reach for a lid when granddad stepped back to control fusser one and bumped my coffee. There I was with coffee on my shirt as the pack exited the shop. I followed to get to my chair and maybe clean up a bit and found that the group had commandeered my table and somewhat pushed Kobi out of the way. I untied Kobi, untangled him from their chairs and we walked to the park bench on Lakeside.

The final part of my duathlon consisted of watching a huge life sized game of Frogger being played out in front of this corner. Imagine sitting in an arcade and looking down on a street corner. On the left side of the screen you have a animated traffic control person standing in the middle of the street stopping cars, trucks, motorcycles and semi-trucks. Coming from the top of the screen down are speeding little triathletes and duathletes roaring down Lakeside to the park transition area. The music plays in the background, vehicles stop at the light and cyclists speed down the street.

At first when we sat at on the bench only cyclists were moving out the street to start their long fast ride. The little animated “Mario” looking control girl could stop traffic and send the various vehicles across the street with ease; they were only coming from one direction. Then as the pace quickened more bicyclists came and it was increasingly harder for the little controller to do her job. Then you add the pedestrians: moms and dads with kids, dogs, strollers, clueless humans walking all directions. The music starts getting a bit frantic. As the scene progresses the cyclists start coming back from their ride. Now you have bikes going out, bikes coming in, stupid humans and the vehicles trying to cross the road. Finally we have to add one more distraction. The people in the stopped vehicles now have to start getting out of their cars and chirping at the little Mario girl. Which buy their actions does not in any way help the situation, because when they get out of their cars, there is invariably a larger break in the cyclists and they have to run back to their cars. Of course they are now too late to cross the street!

There were some close calls and I could not believe that no one got hurt or lost total composure. The race continued and Kobi and I returned to the park to find Linda as get lost in the confusion of the finishline.

We just looked up the race results and here is what we found. There were 85 participants in the duathlon. Linda came in 25th over all. First in her age group of women 50 to 54. There were 37 women in the race and Linda came in 6th. She came 4th in the masters group, that is women 40 and older. Very cool don't you think?

4th of July, Bennett style!

Why is it the last group to arrive at a group campground is always the loudest? It is a strange phenomenon but it has proved out, time and time again. We had this happen this weekend and so I checked things out, this is what I gathered from the scuttlebutt around the camp. The last group to arrive and take the last three sites had reserved the group site at the top of the hill. Once they pulled in and saw that they would have to hike to the lake, they moved down and signed into the last of the sites down below. This would not be a bad thing except that their group is comprised of a bunch of loud talkers and they have a dozen kids each. They stuffed the campsites full of tents and toys. When this group is together, you can hear everything they are talking about. Now I am not making this up, but I have not heard a peep out of any of the other twelve sites in the camp.

I know you are all saying, “That’s Dean, the old curmudgeon.”, but these folks talk so loud that we can hear them four campsites away. They are also the types that have to explain to each other what their kids are doing. “Oh look at Shiloh, she is running!”; “Jessie is eating a hotdog.”; “Maggie wants to hug grandma.” And so on and so on, every one of them speaking at a vocal level that would put Ozzie Osborn to shame. The only good thing is that they move in packs, thus they have spent every day down at the dock. While they are massed down at the dock, the rest of camp walks peacefully around enjoying the quiet.

On the 4th of July we drove into Harrison. Once we were there we discovered that we were so busy packing dog items that we forgot Linda’s purse, my wallet, and our lunch items. We had Kobi’s duck and everything he might desire, but we had no money or credit cards. So we decided to just do a quick walk and maybe pick up a geocache or two. I looked over the geocache information sheet and the cache we were closest to said to bring your own writing device. Without Linda’s wallet we could find nothing to write with, in the Jeep. We once again quickly changed plans and we took a walk up the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes (TotC). As we walked Linda worked with Kobi and I looked for something to write with. We knew there was a geocache about a half mile out on the trail and I thought there would be an extra pencil in the cache box that I could “move” to a new cache. We got to the cache and I found it and looked into the container, but there was only one pen there and I could not leave the cache with nothing to log in with, so we put it back and headed back into town.

As we got ready to leave the big city, I looked under the lip of carpet by the car jack and found a pen wedged into this area. We were in geocache business again and we were then able to drive to a cache called “Narrowed Bridges of Kootenai County (GC16632)”. It was an easy find and we signed in while Kobi sniffed the area and peed. As we drove back along the road that parallels the TotC, we loaded another cache coordinates into the GPS. It turned out to be just off the road and along the TotC and we were able to pick it up as we went home. This cache was called “CDA Trail Cache (GC1DN56)” and it was a very easy find.

When we returned to camp we started the Bennett Camp Duathlon. This consisted of a game of Cribbage followed by a rousing game of Bolo Toss. Dean won the Crib game and Linda kicked butt in the Bolo Toss. So we had to have a playoff of one game of Solitaire, winner takes all. I know what you all are thinking, “Those Bennett’s really live on the edge, I wish we could have the life of extreme living that they do.” Dean won the playoff 6 to 4 and was crowned the champion for the day.

The evening was filled with loud booms and fireworks over the lake. Bell Bay was very quiet, the hosts had the Sheriff pay a visit during the day, I think that kept the sky rockets in check. We went to bed about 10:30 PM and about 11:00 PM; I got up and watched a parade of boats returning from the Harrison fireworks display. Everything quieted down after that and we had a cool night’s rest in our camper.

The next morning Linda got up real early and drove into Harrison. She rode the TotC up river about three and a half miles and then had to turn around due to the trail being closed because of flood damage. She turned back and rode the trail south to about two miles out of Plummer. When she arrived home Kobi and I were just having our morning moments where we lay in the sun, stretch and scratch. He likes the attention and I like to wake up slowly so it works out well for both of us.

I started my morning routine and Linda sat to play with Kobi. As I sat in the camper I could hear the two of them playing. Kobi makes Linda laugh by doing his little cute puppy things. It makes me feel good to hear Linda laugh like that. Her school year can be very intense and I don’t get to hear her laugh like that as often as I would like. She has a wonderful laugh and I am thankful Kobi is releasing it.

After breakfast we hiked and did some Kobi training. We returned to the camper and I beat Linda in Cribbage (that’s twice this weekend.)

Beth, Bill, Paige and Cheyenne came out in Bill’s boat. We met them on the dock and the girls got to see Kobi swim. We talked for a bit and had lunch. Someone said the word “ice cream” and that was all it took to get us loaded into the boat and cruising to Harrison to visit the Creamery.
Bill’s boat is a very nice vessel with a full cabin. It contains a kitchen, bathroom and two sleeping areas. I was impressed with the room and the amenities. Harrison was ahopping! The line at the Creamery reached the door and there was a large group of eaters standing outside on the front walk. Linda went in and lined up to order and I sat with Kobi and watched the spectacle of the small town unfold.

As we were getting our Creamery fix for the weekend, Fitz and Julie were driving out to visit us at Bell Bay. We were hoping that our timing would work out well enough that they didn’t have to wait very long for us to motor back.

While Beth and the kids, Linda and I were getting our sweet treats, Bill watched the boat and fished off the dock. It probably took us about an hour in Harrison and another twenty minutes to cruise back to Bell Bay. Steve and Julie were sitting up in camp when we arrived.
We talked and snacked telling stories and finding out we all had various friends and acquaintances in common. It was fun to see who knew who and how our lives had run in circles that intersected through different individuals. Fitz and Julie had to get back and we were sad to see them go.

Bill and I went fishing for a bit after things quieted down. I was in my little boat and Bill in his kayak with the two girls. I caught about three bass, nothing to write home about. I arrived back at camp and we made dinner, ate and talked around a campfire till about 10:00 PM. Bed called everyone and the camp was quiet by 10:30 PM.

Sunday is pancake day for Dean. I love to cook the little flat buggers until they are a golden brown. Linda perfers eggs and cheese over the cakes, but I've got to have my little butter and maple flavored friends.

One of my weekend goals was to read a book that Heather E. gave me. It is called The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. It is the story of a man and his family as told by their dog Enzo. Heather warned me about how it would make me cry and all that, she said I would enjoy it because of the authors weaving of auto race theory and driving technique into the story. I have to admit it is a real good book. Did I cry? How could you not? Many of the dog’s thoughts reminded me of Baka. I used to always wonder what he was thinking, what made him react as he did, and where he is now. I cried a bit, not as much as Linda did as she read John Gorgan’s Marley and Me, but I had my sniffles.

So now we are home, Linda and Kobi are asleep in the living room and I just finished chapter two of Marley and Me. I’ll let you know if I cry, I am a sucker for a good dog book.

Dworshak - Freeman Creek

Heading southeast out of Moscow, you quickly drop down to Troy, ID, home of the Trojans. We noted that, proudly displayed on a huge satellite dish as you enter the city. It only takes a moment to drive through Troy. The down town district is about three blocks long. There is the lumber mill and the school and that is about it. Leaving town you climb up a long grade, cross the flats at the top and then drop into another valley following a curvy, steep two lane highway into Kendrick. By our observation Kendrick looks a bit bigger then Troy but that is because the main street is the only street you see making the town long and thin, the opposite of what we could see of Troy. Troy is about twice the size of Kendrick.

Once you make your way past the commercial zone you exit the city, turn right and head up another very steep grade following Nez Perce Highway P1. We put the truck in tow haul for this climb, and the Dodge made her just fine. Back on top we traveled through wheat and blue grass fields, amazed of the vast farmland that surrounded us. I would have never guessed that there would be so much farming up on these ridges.

We made one final decent into the Freeman Creek Campground on the Dworshak Reservoir. It was the steepest yet! I geared down and we crawled around switchback after switchback. We arrived and found our spot, #13. Once again we were very lucky. #13 sits a bit to the north of the no hook-up camp area. It is the best site there because there is shade and it is away from most of the other campsites. Now I am not saying that it is private, but of the no hook-up sites we felt this on to be the best.

Freeman Creek Campground is divided into three areas; the no hook-up area sits up above the lake overlooking the swimming area and playground. The hook-up area sits north of our area and is packed with campers. This area must fill up with longer term vacationers because the setups there were very elaborate. Finally at the end of it all is the tent camping area. The tents area is real nice because almost all the sites are close to the water, or at least looking over it with a great view. We walked the entire area after dinner on Friday night. Kobi is beginning to get the hang of being on lead and walking with us. I think he is going to be a great dog some day; we just have to let him grow up.

Saturday morning Linda rode her bike on the trainer while I slept in. This is our little routine and I have gotten real good at the sleeping in part. When I finally get up I make coffee and get Kobi up. It takes a bit of persuading but in the end Kobi usually decides that it is in his best interest to get up and out of his crate. He rolls out of the truck and jogs around to the water bowl, drinks, looks for some food and then goes and pees.

Our day consisted of sleeping, playing fetch, going to the lake and playing fetch, eating, sleeping and then going for the nightly walk around camp. It was pretty hot today, in the 90’s, so we sat in the shade and honestly slept most of the day.

Kobi has started taking to this camping thing, he really likes the whole routine. We watched him quite a bit this weekend. We have been trying to figure him out. He is very smart and picks up everything we try and do in our training. Up until this weekend he seemed a bit distant to Linda and I. That is changing each day we are with him. We notices that he has started to come up to us while we sit and put his head in our lap, which makes Linda feel much better about our pup. Some times Kobi will just sit and watch everything around him. He looks mesmerized with a blank stare; I think he is just trying to take in so much that he gets lost in puppy thoughts. It’s interesting to watch and try to figure out what he is thinking.

On Sunday we packed up and headed back. The trip to Moscow took an hour and a half, with no problems. We visited Linda’s parents and picked up the Jeep. Then cruised back to Cd’A and did some shopping for the July 4th trip.