The Kingdom of Rufus!

King Rufus is lord of all he surveys, as long as it lies within the bounds of our new fence. Finally, finally, we were able to complete the fence around our back yard, and Ruf isn't the only one who's happy enough to roll in the grass!

Two years ago, Rufus had an unfortunate encounter with the neighbor's cat. Since then, he's been nearly banished from chasing his beloved Preciousss-es (aka tennis balls). We couldn't trust him to stay with us, in our yard, if temptation came mincing by on cat paws. It took longer than we hoped, but now there's a good fence to keep Rufie in and other dogs or coyotes out. If a cat hops over, it had better be able to run.

It's a beautiful sunny day, so I've got the kitchen door wide open. For the first time in Rufie's life, he can go outside at will. Amazing! Of course, he's on the floor at my feet right now. But he has gone out a few times, and loves the freedom.

What's a little surprising to me is how this fence gives me a sense of freedom. Now that I know exactly where the line is between our yard and the neighbors, I can boldly go right up to it and stand there. Amazing! Now that there is a tangible boundary, I see that for years I have stayed well away from any appearance of touching their property. It's been a respect thing, but maybe there's a little fear in the mix. I wouldn't want them ever to think that I was presuming to encroach on their lives, so I shrunk back. Our yard is much wider than I had let myself imagine!

Next time you see me, if there are grass stains on my clothes, you'll know I was reveling again in the vast expanse of green that is ours!

Just for Diane

I don't have a fetish for this kind of thing or these places. No matter what my friend thinks, I don't spend my days checking out new and unusual facilities. But...

In our quest to find non-automobile walking routes, Rufus and I took The Dad to a park in Seattle. We walked a 2.5 mile loop along the lakeshore and saw wonderful old vegetation and a panorama of civilization. At the beginning and end of the walk were these facilities for our convenience. I love old, unique architecture, so here they are:



This reminds me of the witch's house in Hansel & Gretel -- which is why Rufus was afraid when I disappeared.

And a detail from the other one:

We... are... exhaust... ... ... ed...

The big deal today was a hike up to an amazing viewpoint on Rattlesnake Ledge with one of my very favorite guys in all the world. Four miles total, but the equivalent of five miles straight up (well... actually, only 1000 feet elevation gain) and two miles down (the actual distance). Wet, sometimes rainy, cool, but the trail was still well-populated with hikers and dogs.

Rufus had a marvelous time, except that Andy keeps him on a much shorter leash than I do. He learned pretty well, though, thanks to Andy's supreme strength and persistence.

I had a fantastic time with my son and the dog, but MAN did I get winded on the uphill climb. Poor Andy had to adopt a snail's pace so I could keep up, but he was ever so patient.

And when we finally reached the top...

Today's Exercises in Musing

I've taken quite a few photos on my walks with Rufus, but when I get home and start looking at them, I don't have any that are good enough. Not good enough to post on the blog, not good enough to print, not good enough to send out. And yet, several of them are too good to delete. But if they aren't blog-worthy, what should I post here? Drat. A conundrum.

Therefore, without further picking and perfectionizing, here are some shots and thoughts from today's walk.


The air was calm today, and we couldn't pass up the pond reflections.


I love to look at the sky, and I love the texture of faraway trees.

Today was the first time I've seen the new fiddleheads this spring.

I watched two herons in flight. It was date night and they were heading to a dinner spot. So graceful, and such amazing wingspans. I didn't attempt to take pictures of them.

Up ahead, I saw a little critter run across the trail. It held its skinny tail up off the ground, so I think it was a chipmunk. When we came back to that spot, we saw it again, but carrying something large and brown in its mouth. Maybe a mama chipmunk, taking the baby for a swing in the park? Rufus didn't get excited about seeing her, but he sure did pick up on her scent each time. If I hadn't seen the critter, I wouldn't have appreciated his olfactory sensitivity. Later, he trotted nose-down for a good 30 feet, obviously on someone else's scent. Interesting.

Rufie was very pleased that I let him drink some pond scum. Ah, cold and wet, that's the ticket. He also got to go wading a couple of times when I stopped walking to take photos. I wonder how my car is going to smell tomorrow... Oh, well. We spent a fine hour together, and both of us came home refreshed.

A New Way to Walk

 

Rufus and I tried out a new trail this week. I had Monday off, but my second son had to go to work. He had told me about a riverside trail near his place of business, so I offered him a ride to work and brought Ruf along. Halfway there, even though I hadn't used the word "walk", Ruf had his chin on my shoulder. It was doggah-speak for, "AREN'T WE THERE YET?" (Emphasis his.)
 

This trail is in a more urban neighborhood, but there are a number of bird-friendly adaptations. Across the river is a nesting platform for hawks or eagles (it appears to be unoccupied, if anyone's interested.) There were three shelters from which to observe the avian public bathing area. (Who knew that crows like to play in the water?)

The one portion of the trail that Ruf did not like was when we passed under eight lanes of interstate freeway. Every time a tire hit a seam in the pavement, it echoed down to us and he would give a little jump. It was hard for his doggah brain to deal with phantom noise like that. Further on, the route is next to a retaining wall that keeps the traffic thirty feet above the walkers.
 

Overall, I still prefer my regular trail, but this one was very nice. We'll go back and walk the other direction sometime. That way parallels a different freeway, sans retaining wall. Should be interesting.

Amazing! I Like Endorphins -- and They Like Me!

It's finally happened. A couple of years ago, my eldest (and very buff) son told me that part of the fun of exercising is the endorphins that kick in and make you want to keep going. "Ha!" I snorted. "I've never met an endorphin in my entire life. Maybe I'm immune. Exercise is NOT fun."

Last fall, I loaded some of my favorite CDs onto my cute little MP3 player and decided to take Rufus for a walk around the block. Once around our block, side trip to the wetlands included, is about a half mile. Ten minutes. Three songs. Okay, maybe two laps, just to listen to a little more music. Hmmm... That was kind of nice, actually. After a few days of that, I decided to check out some new construction, a little subdivision that was half built before the market tanked. See that patch of weedy, rocky ground over there, with the cement foundation? The flyer says they can finish that house for you in five months, and maybe you could negotiate to get the price below $300,000. And then I had to walk a little farther to visit the new man-made wetlands next to another new development.

After a good month of walking three or four days a week, I developed foot and ankle problems. Ugh. I went to see the podiatrist, who told me to stretch and ice and stretch and ice and get a new pair of shoes. Eventually I eased back into walking, this time on a paved trail through wetlands and woods and neighborhoods. It's GREAT! Last week, I didn't want to stop, and the Ruf and I made a record-setting 4.5 miles in 70 minutes! We saw new territory, chatted with the owner of a gorgeous black-eared Dalmatian, sniffed countless sniffs, and took a few nice photos. (Unfortunately, I still haven't diagnosed my photo-transfer problem, so nothing to post yet. Grrrrr.)

It's just like Andy told me -- now I'm at the point where the endorphins kick in when I start planning my next excursion, and I can't wait to go! Before I even got out of bed this morning, I realized that if I drive Pete to work, Rufus and I can walk on a different trail today. Yee haw!

Hey, son, wanna get to work early? Do ya? Can we go now? I've got my shoes!

Rufus and I... Likin' Those Walks!

For the past couple of weeks, the Rufster and I have been walking three or four times a week, about 45 minutes each outing. We've gotten acquainted with some new micro-neighborhoods near our house, but once in a while have driven a little ways to find new views (and new sniffs.) Here are some photos I've taken along the way. If this were a scratch-n-sniff blog, Rufus would've been happy to share his impressions, too. Woof! (In case you can't make it out, that first photo is of branches with lichen. You know -- liking -- likin')?