A Good Day-Beginning To End

First off, I need to give credit to Ann for taking the vast majority of the pictures in the photoshow. You will see that the photos are mostly a day in the life of our dogs, with a couple of us humans and how we get to be a part of their simple little world. Hopefully, it will give you the sense of just how easy they are to please. Maybe we can learn a little from them. I know that I always feel a little freer and a little more at peace during the times I am out with them.

Okay, now for the tale of the day. It started out great with Red Dawn Duna What a Good Boy Am I winning another point towards his championship. We are all very excited about that and look forward to a celebration when he is done. After the dog show, we all headed for the beach where we could give the little guy the best present we could think of, a romp with all his extended doggy family. The tide was high but we found a nice secluded spot that provided us with enough room to walk without getting overtaken. Of course, the dogs don't worry about those sorts of silly things. We spent a couple of hours there and really got the pups tired out, which was a good things since there was more fun ahead for the humans. After the long day at the show and then the beach, it was off to Kate and Jeff's for a fabulous evening of good food shared with good friends. What more could we want in life?

Black Diamond Hike-The Day After Turkey Day

Nothing like hiking (I mean really hiking) a couple days in a row. Today Susan, Eddie, and I took the dogs for a hike in Black Diamond. It was great hiking weather again. There was a lot of fog for most of the hike but it wasn't too cold. I know I have put pictures of this park out before but these pictures were taken on a different hike than the previous areas. Our hike was about 6.25 miles of up and down landscape. It was the first time Eddie and Susan had been on these trails and they were quite impressed. I am fortunate to live 10 minutes away so am here often. It is nice to take new people here to see their excitement at the views. It helps me to not take my good fortune for granted.

As with yesterday's hike, I am pleasantly tired and will sleep well again tonight. The doggies are also tired and are resting in their doggy sleeping bags. I could do this everyday and not get tired of it.

Thanksgiving Day-2008

Well, another Thanksgiving has been spent enjoying a hike and meal with friends. I can't think of a nicer way to spend it. Today Christine, John, Suzy, Stephan and I took the dogs to Morgan Territory Regional Park for a nice hike. We all arrived at about 9:30 to complete an approximately 6 mile hike. As you will be able to tell from the little photo show, there was quite a bit of clouds at the start of the hike. This is wonderful because it helps to keep all the hikers and dogs cool. It certainly did that for the dogs. They ran non-stop. We are really lucky to have places like this to hike with the dogs. They are much happier creatures with the right amount of exercise. Although the hike was long, the company was wonderful. Conversation flowed about numerous subjects. I had a great time. We had planned on having our Thanksgiving meal at the park after the hike. Once we got to the vehicles, we pulled out the food-cornish hens, potato salad, green salad, and a wonderful carrot/leek soup. There is nothing more satisfying after a long hike than a hearty meal. Boy, did we have that...hmmm. Christine was gracious enough to make a wonderful vegan pumpkin dessert. Very tasty!!

So now that the hike and meal is over, the blog entry is complete, I can go and take a little nap. What a satisfying day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!

Good Friends, Good Food=Good Times

Thanks to Suzy and Stephan for throwing a fabulous get together. It was really a great mixture of people and the food was great. I had a great time. I love being able to share time with all my friends.

Lunch With Tom and Patty

Met with my fellow ex-Schwabbies (actually Patty is still a Schwabbie). Hadn't seen them for awhile. We had a little bit of a spirited political conversation. I guess that is to be expected given the time and circumstances around this election. I've know Patty for years. I used to audit her team. Tom was a co-worker. He has a wicked sense of humor. It was fun. We also had a good time catching up. We agreed to continue to meet periodically for lunch. Let's keep it up you two!

Ft Funston and Whales-Nature is a Wonderful Thing

Today I met up with Kate at Ft Funston. It was a foggy day which is always great for the dogs. They play so hard and enjoy themselves so much. It was a relatively quite day for this type of weather. Not many people or dogs out. Fine by me. I like the tranquility. We walked for about 2 hours and were heading back to the cars when out of nowhere Kate noticed a whale jumping up out of the water about a hundred yards off the shore. At first she wasn't sure if it was a whale because neither of us has ever seen them off Ft Funston. It was definitely a whale though, There were sailboats in close proximity and both the sailboat and the whales were about the same size. Besides that, the whales (yes whales) were blowing water out of there blow holes. We were both in awe of seeing these magnificent creatures that we stood on the cliff for a good twenty minutes waiting for them to blast out of the water. We weren't disappointed. We got to see this about five or six times. My biggest regret was that I didn't bring my digital SLR and only had the point and shoot. No pictures of the whales. One thing Kate and I talked about was that if more people got outdoors and saw things in there natural environment, people would be more respectful of the impact humans have on this planet. Let's face it, dead zones in the seas, rapidly melting glaciers, weather changes. We really do need to think more about our carbon footprint my friends.

Freight & Salvage-The Final Act

After the intermission, we listened to the headliner. His name was Steve Forbert. I had never heard of him but he has over 20 records out. He would be what I would consider a social protest folk songwriter/singer. He apparently has quite a dedicated following, not quite to the level of the Grateful Dead, but they are out there. His show has a lot of audience participation which includes singing a certain parts of his songs. None of our group knew any of his songs so we obviously didn't sing along. I am quite the people watcher and just let me say, there were quite a few interesting people to look at. There was a woman doing upper body interpretive dance, her butt never left her seat. There was a man down on the floor snapping pictures with his flash, basically blinding poor Steve Forbert. But the most interesting character was a woman who was there by herself. Throughout both singers' sets, she was bobbing her head, doing the snake with her arms, and snapping her fingers as though she had castanets on them. One may think she was not all there or if she was, her mind was in an altered state. Anyways, about three quarters of the way through the set, Steve began talking about his next show and that he would be appearing with Al Stewart (Year of the Cat). Well, this woman screamed "I love Al Stewart. He is my favorite". She got out of her seat, went straight up to the stage and began having a conversation with Steve Forbert as though they were the only two in the building. This went on for a good five minutes. It was funny and sort of sad at the same time. We all laughed partly because it was such a funny situation but also because of the uncomfortableness of the situation. That passed. The concert was over and we hung out with Wendy and Trina for about a half hour. It was finally time to say goodbye. The visit was too short but I was happy to see that Wendy seems to be truly happy with her job and her life.

The above pictures are of Wendy helping Steve Forbert with his adoring fans, Stepan and Suzy chattting with Trina, and then a group photo with all of us (except for Jeff and Doyle).

Freight & Salvage Part Two-Trina Hamlin Plays

So the Trina concert finally kicks off. I was excited. Wanted it to be good because I know that Wendy has put a lot of effort into helping this talented woman be successful. Trina was the opening act for Steve Forbert so with the exception of us, that is who most of the audience was there to see. Here music was very catchy and it didn't take long for this engaging entertainer to reel in the audience members. I definately think she added a number of new fans including our gang. The biggest disappoint for us was Trina's set was too short. I hope that Wendy has an opportunity to book her in the bay area again. It would be nice to see her play again and to see Wendy. In the meantime though, I have her new cd to listen to.

After Trina's set, we had some time before Steve Forbert played to take a few pictures. Besides the picture of Trina on stage, there is Jeff and Doyle, Stephan, Suzy, and I, and Stephan and Suzy (cute, aren't they).

Freight & Salvage Part 1

The night to meet up with Wendy and watch Trina Hamlin finally arrived. I was afraid I may not be able to make it because it didn't seem I was ever going to kick the sinus infection or get rid of the fever. Thankfully, the last of the fever seemed to leave me on Friday morning. I was really looking forward to the show for a number of reasons. I was excited about getting together with so many of my friends at one time (we were ten strong), excited to see Trina Hamlin for the first time, and really excited about seeing my friend Wendy for the first time in about 15 years. Maris (my sister), Tanya, and I drove together. When we made it to Berkley, we found a parking spot about 100 feet from the location. How often does that happen? Our timing was great too. We saw Wendy crossing the street to pick up some food. I was able to visit with her for few minutes before the concert which was a good thing since she was quite the busy one and I knew we wouldn't have been able to chat otherwise. It was great to see her and she looks great. We met Trina too. She came across as very personable, really friendly and greeted us as though she had already known us. After our brief visit, we went to stand in line for the door to open. The rest of the group of ten began to arrive and we all hung out and had a few laughs. It was all good. The doors finally open and we went and took our seats. It was a small venue. It seated about 200 people at the most. As we were all chatting, who walks in, Steve Wozniak. I thought that was pretty funny. Of course, I know him primarily from the "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List" as Kathy's boyfriend, but my more techy friends were excited because of his Apple connections. Funny to see him there really but cool. We chatted a little more and finally settled in for the entertainment.

The first picture above of Wendy plying her wares and the second is of Kate and Mark.

WALL-E The Movie

Suzy, Stephan and I went to see WALL-E yesterday afternoon. First off let me say, I don't know how Pixar has hit after hit. They are amazing! But enough about Pixar and the movie for now. I want to set the stage for our little movie outing. We went to the 4:40 showing. I don't usually go to the movies during daylight but made an exception for this movie. I thought it would be less crowded. Actually, the theater was only 3/4s of the way full so we had a good seat selection. We were quite surprise at the number of kids that were at the showing. I don't know why we would be surprised because it is a "kids" movie. The ages of kids were between 2 years old and teens. I was really amazed at how well behaved the kids were. I didn't hear any screaming, crying or talking. Of course it could be because I was so engrossed in the movie but I don't think so. Speaking of the movie. I thought it was another brilliant use of animation. It is really a movie that entertains both kids and adult. The animation is up to the same high standards of the previous Pixar movies and the plot was excellent. The story takes place in the future (700 years later) and describes what earth and the human race is like at that time. It subtly shows us how our minds & bodies have changed (evolved is not the right word as that implies positive changes). There is also a love story that Suzy and Stephan thought was unnecessary but I liked. It is between WALL-E and EVA (another machine). The interesting thing to me was that they were more human like than the humans. WALL-E maintains the bridge between what humans had been and what they have become. I will buy this for my movie collection once it comes out on DVD.



Today, I headed back to the beach. I met up with Eddie and Susan (see picture to the right). They own Sasa (a Sara puppy from the second litter) and Anise. Kate also joined us. She owns Jasper (another Sara puppy from the second litter. The weather was on the cool side but from my perspective it is perfect for the dogs especially at this time of the year with the heat and rattlesnakes out at my neck of the woods. Dixy was her usual self. She found every abandoned tennis ball and had me throw it almost non-stop for three hours. I felt like I was going to need Tommy John surgery near the end so thankfully Eddie took over for me. Dixy would play this game until my arm fell off and then she would bring the ball to someone else. She is non-stop until she stops. Amazing. Grady (picture below) is like a pesky little brother. Always trying to get Dixy to pay attention to him. Even if that means taking Dixy's tennis ball just because he can. He did that quite often today. Colvin is the other dog pictured below. She is going to be 11 at the end of July. She holds up really well on these walks. She loves them And I think she would be miserable if she was not allowed to come.

Updates and Thoughts

I feel very fortunate to have some really fabulous people in my life. As I

grow older, I realize how important it is to allow myself to get close to people. I have included a couple of photos of some of the people who mean so much to me. To the far right are my sister Maris and her hubby Charlie. The picture was taken on a hike in Morgan Territory. It is the first hike I have been able to take him on in long, long time. Charlie usually exposes me to a wonderful hike on my somewhat annual Christmas trip.

To the immediate right are my friends Suzy & Stephan. They are originally from Switzerland and our my primary movie buddies. I have known them for 10 years. We met at a dog show when they were looking for a vizsla and found out we have much more in common than our love for our red dogs. I have grow to love these folks very much.

Obviously, there are other meaningful folks in my life who I will showcase periodically. Hopefully none of you feel slighted.

This picture of Sara was taken on June 7th. She won her veteran's class and was handled by my dear friend Walter. She is also a fabulous pet and I am thrilled to have her be part of my life.

Walter is also one of my field training buddies. He and is wife Sue have been a pleasure to get to know. BTW, Sue makes a fabulous tuna salad. Sara is my first show dog and she has done really well.

To the right is a picture of Sara (mom), Grady (son) and Sasa (daughter). Sara and her gets won the Brood Bitch class at our Specialty. I was pretty proud as the competition was fierce. The handlers (from L to R) were Walter, Kevin, and Susan.

There are a lot of fires around the bay area right now. The causes seem to be primarily due to lightening. It is really smokey outside. The fires seem to be so close although I know they are many, many miles away. One thing the fires seem to be doing is keeping the outside temperatures down. I guess it is a side benefit but it doesn't seem so when you consider the damage done to folk's property. We are bound to have a busy fire because of how dry our spring was.