Mom gave me permission to write on her blog this time. She says she wasn’t even going to bring this up. And she doesn’t want to talk about it. So now it’s up to me.
You see mom and I have been working really, really hard on obedience. At first I tried my darndest to get her to be more obedient, but that wasn’t working, so I decided maybe I could get more treats if I tried to be more obedient myself.
A girl can grow intellectually even when she’s already full grown physically.
So anyway, mom and I have been practicing in my basement training room and out at a friend’s training barn. I like training a lot. When mom starts chopping up cheese I get all excited and run to the top of the basement stairs, ready to run down to my cheese training room as soon as mom turns the lights on down there.
Then mom and I went to a ‘fun’ run on Sunday, to see if what I am learning would translate to an obedience trial setting. Mom was pretty sure we’d do OK, maybe not perfect, but definitely OK.
Mom was wrong.
I didn’t like the noisy place with all the other dogs and when it was my turn I wanted to run somewhere safe, and I forgot how to heel and I certainly didn’t remember I was supposed to sit when mom stopped. Mom, for her part couldn’t read the signs right and was flustered with my inattention and tripped over her own feet.
And when it came to my recall, when I get to run to mom (I love running to mom) I decided it was safer if I just made myself as small as possible and sat very still. Very very still. On my behind. Not moving.
Even when mom moved closer and offered me cheese.
Mom says she was very discouraged and also worried about me because I was so scared and she felt bad for putting me into a scary situation.
But then!
The next day she took me to the groomer! What was she thinking. After that I got really mad at her and barked at her all the way home.
And then!
We went to my Rally class in my regular building last night and in between running rally courses mom took me to a back room and we heeled enthusiastically and I sat when she stopped and I did three different recalls almost perfectly.
So mom thinks I’m OK and not scared anymore. Which is good because the real obedience trial is this coming Saturday.
Mom says it’s very possible we will still NQ (Not qualify) but she says that’s OK as long as I’m not scared and get used to working in different places. She says this is not a sprint. She says it’s a marathon. I don’t even know what that means.
I’d like to remind mom that I’m still a puppy. (I’m going to milk that concept as long as possible!) And that I love her and daddy and I want to be a good girl. Sometimes I just need more time.
SO… please think about mom and me on Saturday afternoon!
PS: Pictures are stuff mom took of not me in my yard. Silly mom. I’m still the prettiest thing around.
When I left you and the birds last I was headed to the back regions of Kensington Metropark in search of deer. It’s almost guaranteed to find one or two back there if you’re quiet. If you’re not quiet you won’t see any. But they’ll be watching you.
This little guy was the one that got my attention by his incessant whining as I was walking through the woods.
As I worked my way toward the back a woman coming the other way said she had seen two beautiful does in the furthest back corner of the longest loop. Since I was headed that direction anyway I smiled my thanks. I knew they wouldn’t still be there when I arrived, but I also knew there were some back there.
This guy chimed in, so I had to stop and feed them for awhile.
Somewhere.
On the way I had a few birds begging for treats, so I stopped and tossed them a few peanuts. I was busy doing that when a guy came up the path. He apologized for interrupting my bird photo shoot. I said no problem, there would be lots of opportunities to get more pictures.
This one was quite insistent too.
We talked for awhile. He said there was a thicket to the right around the next corner where he often saw multiple pairs of cardinals. I thanked him and got back to work shooting my birds.
I had only seen a couple of deer far off in the woods so far, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see many more. But a whole lot of cardinals? That would be fun!
She was pretty far away, but I was glad to see at least one deer that morning.
And then I rounded the corner, and saw the guy down at the end of a long slope, taking pictures with his phone of several deer that were standing around quite close to him. I stopped so as to not startle them.
There was a group of about six does hanging out together.
At first they were focused on him, hoping for a handout. Then they noticed me.
She decided to smell the air to see if I was a threat.
The guy moved on and now I was the main attraction.
There was a buck too, but he wasn’t interested in me.
I know they wanted something to eat, but all I had was seed for the birds. Not nearly enough to feed the herd. I moved on trying not to startle them, until I came to the thicket around another corner, quite a ways from the herd of dear, where the cardinals lived.
She could flip one ear back to listen for things behind her, while keeping one ear and her eyes focused on me.
There was only one that I saw that morning, but he delighted me by flying up to a sunlit branch.
He was posing for me.
I had the camera up to my eyes, trying to figure out the best shot when I heard footsteps. I thought maybe another person was coming along the trail so I pulled off a few shots of the cardinal, knowing he’d fly away.
And then I lowered the camera and glanced back to see who was coming.
The whole herd was coming down the trail, following me.
I guess they hadn’t given up on me. I felt even worse that I had nothing to give them. One in particular was out front. I thought he was a youngster, less wary, perhaps more hungry.
She was asking with her eyes. I imagine some people do feed them, but I don’t think very many people walk this far back in the woods.
I stood and watched them as they gave up on me and wandered a bit looking for something to eat.
I’m sorry, girl. I hope you made it through this cold snap out there.
Then I moved as swiftly as I could away, climbing a hill and making a couple turns as soon as I could to put some space between me and them. I found myself next to another thicket that had all sorts of birds, including a cardinal couple.
They were interested in me but not interested in getting too close. In fact, Ms. Cardinal took great delight in not giving me a clear shot to a great image.
Yep, that branch across her face was deliberate on her part.
She flitted from here to there.
She moved and her face was showing, but now the branches covered up her beautiful body.
Always making sure there were twigs and branches between her and me…
Different branch, same story.
…while making sure she showed enough of her beautiful colors to keep me intrigued.
She had a lot of spots to hide, but she couldn’t hide her beauty.
She let me chase her down the trail, always keeping something between us.
Yep, she won the game, bet she’s still smiling.
After awhile I just gave up and went on down the trail. It was getting late and I was a long way from the car.
My artsy fartsy picture of the day
But there were a whole lot of birds waiting for me, so it wasn’t a fast trip back to the car.
“Hey lady!”
No, they dropped out of trees and flew around my head as I walked, landing on my camera lens if I ignored them.
Missed the bird, but I liked the image anyway.
They were everywhere. I was surprised because usually that far back in the woods, where fewer people walk, the birds are not as eager to engage.
Such cute little ones.
As I got closer to the parking lot the birds because more assertive. I emptied my pocket of seed, sharing some with a squirrel or two along the way.
Pretty sure he knew I had seed in my pocket.
Eventually I made it out of there, completely stripped of all treats, but with a full card of wonderful images, and great memories.
Getting his own lunch.
Even though I didn’t gain an audience with the Queen of the Boardwalk.
It all started early one morning when we noticed a visitor breakfasting in the back yard.But wait! Look who else has arrived!A young buck enjoys our house special, succulent turf du jour.Are you looking at me, lady?Just a moment…do I hear something over there?I guess it’s nothing. If that lady is going to be taking pictures I better spruce up a bit.Meanwhile, another visitor approaches the buffet.Just one moment! Who are YOU?Why, no one important, sir!OK then. Just so it’s clear who’s the big buck around here.Yes sir, of course sir!Shhhhh! Just a word of warning, watch out for the big guy over there.Thanks for the tip!And another thing, you two youngsters need to show more respect!I swear, this younger generation has no idea. The things I had to put up with when I was a kid. Why I walked to school in blizzards, uphill both ways!I’ll just grab a quick snack to go…Need to find me a quiet place for a nap.Kids today…gotta keep em in line. Yep, always something….
I feel as if summer is sliding away from me, days turning into minutes, weeks into moments. Yet it’s only the beginning of August, there’s plenty of summer left, especially for a retiree. Right? Being retired is enough to make me smile, but my walk on a midsummer’s morning made me absolutely grin.
The dreaded first sighting of goldenrod.
I was out at my favorite park this past Thursday, while it was still July, while I could still consider it mid-summer, and yet I felt fall encroaching.
Beautiful, but I’m not ready for leaves turning yet.
I went with my biggest lens, the better to see birds in their natural space versus standing on my outstretched palm.
But of course I did have a few birds in my hand. Can’t not do that.
But what I found instead was a whole forest filled with youngsters. And I don’t mean the busses of preschoolers that arrived as I was leaving. Thank goodness.
I don’t know what this is, but it was pretty.
I have so much to show you from my walk in the woods, I don’t know if I should break it up into two posts, or if you’ll have the patience to read one long post.
Joe Pye is beginning to bloom.
I don’t even know if I have the patience to write one long post.
The grasses are maturing.
You can always scroll through and just look at the pictures. I have a feeling the words will be minimal anyway.
Wild grapes are beginning to pink.
I got to the nature center early in the morning, but on the drive through the park I noticed my favorite willow tree island had a beautiful swan. So after I parked I walked back along the bikepath to capture her as she preened.
Was she using the water as her mirror?
Notice the grey pile of fluff off to the right? That is her baby, or maybe more than one, I couldn’t really tell. Her partner is swimming behind the island, couldn’t see him well either.
Her little one (or more) are well hidden in the shade.
But she (I’ve decided it’s a she, I really don’t know) sure was taking her time getting beautiful that morning.
Looking stunning that morning.
Then I walked back to the parking lot at the nature center to get the rest of my gear, and found this exhausted and hungry mama, right beside the bike rack.
Eating at the parking lot salad bar.
With my long lens I was able to get quite close without interrupting her breakfast.
And beside her, on the other side of the bike rack, were the normal crane parking lot greeters, getting spruced up for their shift of collecting the lot fee from everyone arriving to enjoy the trails.
Hurry up Henry, we’re going to be late for work!
Lucky for me I got there before they clocked in.
So I headed into the woods…
The bridge to the woods.
…and met this guy right away. He already had breakfast so I didn’t offer him anything more.
You’re not going INTO THE WOODS, are you?!
It was right about then that I noticed a sense of fall seeping into air. I shook it off and ventured further into the dark cool green, and interrupted two moms and their little ones having some breakfast of their own.
Family brunch interrupted.
I stood there a long time watching them watching me.
Mama and her mini-me.
This little one was intensly curious about me.
Should I run or should I stay?
And then I heard a titmouse, just over my right shoulder, angrly asking why I wasn’t providing a snack. So I handed off a peanut and moved on.
Hey Lady! Fork over the peanut! I know you have one!!
I only saw one other person my entire walk in the woods, and that was another photographer.
I see something right over there…
As soon as he got down from the bench and moved on this mama came out of the brush.
Is he gone yet?
I took a different trail and moved deeper into the woods. The long lens wasn’t really the right choice with so little light. But I didn’t want to stop to change it because you just never know what you’ll see.
Oops, thought it was another deer!
Or how far away it might be.
Way over there on that ridge is another exhausted mama, chewing her cud and watching me.
But the mosquitos were beginning to follow me. I pictured myself running out of the woods with a swarm of bugs trailing me, sort of like a Bernstein Bear cartoon. I moved faster.
After clambering over a downed tree that crossed the trail I was shooting an image of a tree damaged in the recent storms where the fresh wood had a similar color to deer, confusing me for a moment…
Kind of the same color as the deer roaming these woods.
…when out of the corner of my eye I saw more of that reddish brown.
Another mama and her baby hoping to have an undisturbed meal.
These two didn’t seem to realize I was there. Until mama did.
Lady, you need to move along now.
The baby didn’t seem too bothered by me at all, but I went on down the trail so they could enjoy mama/baby time alone. Plus I was beginning to get hungry myself, it had been a long time since my own breakfast, and I was still deep in the woods with a long walk back.
See you later, lady!
I tried not to stop anymore as I booked it out of the deep woods. Except when I saw something interesting. Or fun. Or both.
This says late summer to me for sure.
But mostly I was trying to get back into the open where the breeze would keep the bugs from swarming around my head. Yes, I had applied bug spray before I left the car, but not on my hands, because I knew I’d be feeding birds. I guess that made me fair game for the mosquitos.
Bet you didn’t know crocodiles lived in the woods!
Back out in the open I had a nuthatch and a chickadee makeing big noises about getting a treat, but they wouldn’t come down to my hand. I finally figured out that maybe they were this year’s young, and not quite confident about the whole process of coming in for a snack.
Tell me how this works again, lady?
But eventually they both came down, after doing a fly over or two to check me out.
This peanut is almost as big as me!
The sky was getting dark and I figured it would soon rain, so I headed back to the car. Climbing the stairs to the parking lot I could hear people, cars and busses.
Change of shift for the swallows.
I was glad I’d gotten my walk in the woods finished before the masses arrived. Time to head back home to the princess who would just be getting up from her morning nap.
Earlier in the morning there were deer and cranes.Now bikes rest while their people explore.
Change Is Hard 