Linus and I walked the 1-mile Bay to Barkers walk today in Albany. We had a great time, and raised $250 to help homeless pets. The walk was a blast. Earl came to cheer us on (he’s still on crutches, so no walking for him for a few more months- uck), and we even met some fellow corgi owners during the walk.

As my computer is still broken (I’ve actually bit the bullet and decided to just get a new Mac in a few weeks once school starts), I am hogging Earl’s laptop right now to write a quick update while he takes a snooze. Here’s a quick Race Report:

We got a little lost on the way there, so were running late. We arrived and it was right to registration and the walk was starting right away!
Also, my phone was somehow set on “black and white” mode for a bit without me noticing… hope you don’t mind the lack of color:
OFF WE GO!

The walk went along the Bay and was a really gorgeous route. It was at Golden Gate Fields, which was a pretty cool park! Would be fun to come back and check it out solo. There were lots of people just enjoying the park not affiliated with the Humane Society walk. Runners, people walking dogs, hikers…

About a half mile in, lo and behold Linus met a new corgi friend. I swear, corgis flock to one another!

This little guy was Max. He is 2 years old. His momma and I walked together for the rest of the walk and chatted.

When we were done with the walk, they had lots of fun games and activities for Dogs and Humans. There were various stations set up where you could play games with your dogs. One of them was “nose hunting.” Basically, they would hide hot dogs under various boxes after the dog had a chance to get a good sniff in, and then gave him a “FIND IT” command and let him go to to work. Linus surprised me and displayed a really natural affinity for this! I never knew he was much of a scent hound. He found the hotdogs in three progressively harder set ups, all on his first try. The lady running the booth was so impressed she was trying to recruit him into a tracking class. I might try and look one up near us- seems like a fun, relatively low impact activity that he might really enjoy.

They also had a Rally setup where you could try out an obstacle course with your dog, although we skipped that one because it seemed a bit high-impact for our fragile woof. Linus, did, however, thoroughly enjoy playing “Bobbing for Hotdogs.” He hunted for a submerged hot dog bit a bunch of different depths of dog dishes. He loved it! He made it all the way to the deepest dish and got his whole head underwater to get the hotdog.

Finally, we did PAINTING!!!! This was super fun! Basically, you put your dog’s paws in the different colors of paint, and let him walk through a “canvas” poster to make a work of art. So cute

Linus wasn’t very excited about putting his paws in the paint (as soon as a sniff revealed the paint not to be edible, he wasn’t interested anymore), although with some treat utilization, we were able to create the following, which is now proudly hanging up on our fridge (so dorky, ha ha):

Check out those painted paws:

Some other dogs really got messy with the paint! A few of them we completely covered in paint head to toe. Some had it over their entire rear ends from sitting down in the paint trays. heh heh When we got home, I gave Linus a full bath and got most of the paint out, although one paw is still slightly pink.

Here’s Larry. He won the Dog/Owner Look-a-Like Contest. We’ll just say his owner… had hair like Larry. Hopefully she styled it specifically for the occasion

All in all, it was a wonderful event for a great cause. A very big, sincere thanks to our wonderful and generous donors who chipped in to sponsor our walk! The dogs and cats of the Berkeley Humane Society- as well as Linus and I- give you our deep gratitude and many tail wags of appreciation.

Cheers,
Courtney and Linus the Corgi

Anyways! Today linus and I found ourselves in the south bay between meetings with about 4 hours to kill. I brought homework and found a nice shady spot under a tree in a park to spread out in the blanket and get some studying done. However, why read boring egghead medical studies when you can get fast food and post photos of your dog eating it on your blog?? Priorities!

Actually, I didn’t even • know• in-n-out made things for dogs until i rolled through to grab a burger for myself and the nice lady taking our order suggested, “would your dog like a single plain patty for
himself?” Gee… Would he?! “people get them all the time for their dogs,” she added.
Well, then!
Hmm, something smells good all of a sudden!

Maybe its coming from in here?

I’ve been a good boy, ivebeenagoodboy, IM A GOOD BOY!

Gone in a single gulp

Oh Linus, we love you so much and you are such a spoiled woofer!

OMGSQUEAKBALL MUST POUNCE!!

I find it very cute how he “plays” with the ball all by himself. He actually rolls it away with his nose and then will pounce on it!

We enjoyed ze sunshine! In fact… I even got a *teensy* bit of a burn, which faded into a nice tan today.

We whiled away the afternoon and into the evening sipping coffee and reading at a cafe (one of E’s very favorite activities) and then caught a late dinner at The Mountain House, which was romantic and wonderful. We had a candlelit corner table overlooking the redwoods- it was so gorgeous!

I busted out my new flip video camera (I found it during spring cleaning yesterday) that I had won at my company Christmas Party last December.  Hope you enjoy my very first video creation!

ps- there is some surprise bonus footage at the end shot by Earl when he was testing out the camera

There are so many hiking areas over in that area! Zooming around on Google Maps checking out where I would be for the meeting (I am still learning the Peninsula at this point), it seemed like there was park after park after open space preserve. I couldn’t narrow it down! I finally just picked one randomly. Skyline Ridge it was.

What a special hike. Linus and I did a 7 mile loop which goes by two pristine alpine ponds and hits a couple absolutely stunning views. It wasn’t too steep or too strenuous, but it was a great walk and you felt so isolated and alone in nature. This is a hike I’d absolutely love to bring Earl on sometime in the future.

Have I mentioned before that Earl sort of hates hiking? He considers it “just walking” and also “a waste of time.” That’s often the problem you run into when you date a mathematician- they tend to be so pragmatic! If I play my chips correctly I can luck out with getting Earl to agree to … oh… 1 or 2 hikes every six months. The rest of the time, I am happy to go with other friends (who actually ENJOY hiking) or don’t mind spending hours in the woods with my dog walking (or running) around solo. I just like getting out in the woods and getting exercise. To me, anything with such fresh air and such sweeping skyscapes could never be a waste of time! Conversely, reading an advanced algebra book for 4 hours straight could be a waste of time for me, so hey…

The drive up Route 35 (Skyline Boulevard) to get to this hike was an adventure itself. Such twisty, turny roads we have in California! They make the “twisty, turny” roads I grew up on in New England seem like drag strips. Sometimes we respond in the ambulance to calls up in these hills, although I have yet to go Code Three through a road like that. I think I would just put the lights and sirens on and still drive it safe and slow. You’d have to- the roads swerve and turn so much, you could never get any speed up!

Once we made it to the park, it was a very basic trailhead. My faithful buddy is ready to go.

We started with some subtle climbs through a lot of grasslands and Christmas tree “escapees” from a nearby Christmas tree farm.

Looking back you could see the parking lot where we started. It was a beautiful, clear afternoon.

Even in the “dead” of winter, the sides of the trail were peppered with wildflowers. I believe these are thistles?

This tree was even producing some fruit. I think it’s pears.

Yikes! Watch out, Linus!

A Christmas tree farm escapee.

After about two miles, we reached the first pond of the hike. This is Alpine Pond. Boy, was it silent and pristine. No wind, no street noise or other humans around. The only thing I saw moving were a couple ducks.

There was a visitor Educational Wilderness Center on the perimeter of the pond. They had some binocular stands set up so you could zoom in and look at wildlife on the pond, and also a bunch of displays talking about the area. I found out the area used to be filled with hog farming.

The setup of the pond was entirely handicap-accessible. If you are looking for somewhere to take disabled loved ones who want to enjoy the outdoors and wildness, this spot is highly recommended. You can drive to the visitor center at Alpine Pond on a dirt fireroads and the pond has several wheelchair access ramps, viewing spots and trails.

Can you tell the reflection vs. the actual?

We found some (rasp? olallie?)berries nearby. Was tempted, but figured it would be safer not to sample.

Upon leaving the visitor center, the trail climbed a but more and opened up, offering these gorgeous skyscapes of the Santa Cruz Mountains:

Linus was more interested in what was climbing around on the rocks than appreciating the view.

These poofy (germinating? Geeze I need to study up on some botany, it would really help me appreciate things on these hikes a whole lot more!) plants were blowing the puffy white material all over the trail. You could even see them floating through the air over the valley.

I also spotted two hawks circling over the valley, although they were too high and my camera not high quality enough to capture them correctly. Watching their swooping dives as they hunted was mesmerizing; Linus and I stood there for a long while just appreciating the poetic beauty of their elegant flight (flight of DEATH for some mouse… lol).

A few more miles, and we descended down to pond #2, this one called Horseshoe Lake. It was a little less picturesque than alpine pond, and felt somewhat less isolated (perhaps because it was nearer to the trailhead and also at a lower elevation? Not sure), however was still nice. I saw some fish jumping and ducks swimming.

At this point in the hike we were almost done (under a mile to go) so Linus and I attempted a self portrait. Linus was not really cooperating.




I give up!

When we got home I gave Linus a bath and thorough combing checking for ticks. I feel very adamantly that dogs should be allowed to run off leash in the woods (as long as pets are allowed off leash and also they remain under voice control), because that’s such a big part of their doggy nature, however I worry about ticks. Plus, if I ever bring Linus home with ticks on him, I get read a big riot act by Earl who despises them and thinks they’re very gross. So Woofer gets a very thorough checking in his scruff and ears, plus an all over combing and often a bath after every time I take him out in the woods. Despite his tick collar that I put on him for hikes (and also tick powder), I generally find about two buggers on him which promptly get flicked off if we’re still outside or flushed if not. Ticks are so awful. Do they have any net benefits to the eco system? Can we just exterminate them all with no negative results? I know one dog (and one boyfriend) who would be a lot happier did they not exist.

Regardless, this was a great hike and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re on the Peninsula and want gorgeous views, not *too challenging* and also seek the peaceful feeling of being alone in the wilderness.

One of my favorite recent memories of my aunt is her munching on some cheez-its as Linus sat afoot. She asked me, “can I give him a chip?” “Sure,” I told her. She tossed Linus a chip and as he inhaled it, she was delighted. “Oh boy, look! He liked it!” ….. as if there was ever any doubt??! Lady, ye know not my dog. To this day, she always gets a thrill when she’s eating something, gives some to Linus, and he “likes it.”

ha ha. You could give Linus a rock, and if you pretended it was edible, and he would eat it.

Another funny thing Linus does at their house (now that we are wise to this, we don’t let him do it anymore) is wait until we are all distracted, then wander into her flower garden outside near the driveway AND EAT HER STRAWBERRIES OFF THE VINE. I find this hilarious. I’ve never seen a dog eat strawberries directly off a plant before. Guess he learned how to forage well during his time in the wild!

Additionally, while out in Pleasanton I have to run the thrilling errand of arguing at the Verizon store to get a new phone for free because the one I have now is a total dud which has been shutting off randomly and giving me a very static-y connection.

Finally, I’m hoping to sneak in a little hike/run up Pleasanton Ridge, time permitting.