I didn't do it!

This morning I took Taz out at 4 am for his morning walk and he dutifully did his business. Since he did such a good job I let him run around the living room playing while I sat down at the computer in the den to check our email.

My coffee got cold so I started to the kitchen for a warm up, but I stopped when I got to the living room. It was a disaster! The entry rugs were pulled into the room, wadded up into a tangled pile with dog toys, slippers, socks and anything else Taz could find. He sat there looking up at me as if to say, “Look at what I made!”

I shook my head, half-heartedly scolded him and straightened things back up. At least he didn’t poop on the floor, I said to myself. I got my coffee and decided to put my shoes on. They were sitting between the two easy chairs where Carol and I watch evening TV. I sat down, put my left shoe on, tied it and shoved my foot into my right shoe… right onto a lump that squished under my foot!

“TAZ! You little rat! You crapped in my shoe!” I yelled as I hopped around trying to get my shoe off without falling down and breaking the coffee table or a hip or something. I made it to the kitchen, got my shoe off and dumped it out into the trash. A smashed purple grape fell out. Carol had dropped one of her late night snacks.

I finally found the puppy hiding in the den where I picked him up, petted him and apologized. He licked my face so I guess in puppy talk that means “apology accepted.”

Tony

Friday morning my kayaking buddy, Tony Moony called and asked if I wanted to go kayak fishing on Olalla Lake. I jumped at the chance, even though it was kind of cloudy, and a bit chilly out. (40 degrees) He arrived about 8:am; we loaded my boat and hit the road.

We stopped and picked up some new line for Tony’s reel on the way and when we arrived at the lake I unloaded my kayak while he replaced his old line. “Go ahead and start!” he said, so I drug my boat down to the ramp and got ready. The lake was really low for some reason, (certainly not from lack of rainfall,) and the ramp was steep and muddy. The kayak kept trying to launch itself because of the slippery mud and the incline, so I decided to get in and slide into the water. I got one foot in and the boat took off with me half in and half out, the paddle in my right hand.

What a disaster! The kayak hit the water on its side and no matter how frantically I pushed on the water with my left hand, the boat rolled on over and I went for a swim. The first thing I thought of was the camera in my sweatshirt pocket, and I grabbed it and held it above water as I waded back to the shore. I laid it on a rock and looked back at the disaster; the kayak was upside down and full of water, my little tackle box, my creel and dry bag were floating, but my fishing pole and sunglasses were on the bottom in about 6 feet of water. I waded back in and started retrieving my gear. I was chest deep in the lake trying to drag my favorite fishing rod toward me with my paddle when Tony backed his truck down the ramp to unload his heavier kayak. He took one look at me and said “Uh Oh!” (At least he didn’t say ‘Whatchya doin, Bob?”)
After we retrieved everything, I said, “Let’s go ahead and try this again, I’ll dry out eventually.”

Tony, being a Paramedic and a lot smarter than me, said, ”I don’t think so!” I took off my sweatshirt, which had soaked up enough water that the lake had dropped several inches, and started to wring it out, still thinking about toughing it out and going fishing. It was then that the cold hit me and I started shivering and shaking. I realized that Tony was right.

“Get out of those wet clothes,” he said, “ I’ve got a sweat suit on under my outer clothes and you can wear that.” So after promising each other not to look, we undressed and I put on his triple x size sweat suit. I can’t describe how good it felt to put on that warm clothing.

I sat in the truck with the heater going on high while Tony loaded everything up, and as we headed home I realized how lucky I am to have a friend who is willing to literally give me the clothes off his back.

Taz

The puppy is getting pretty good about letting me know when he needs to go out and do his thing. He wakes me up by coming up close to my face in bed, breathing puppy breath on me, and issuing a low growl Sometimes it causes the weirdest dreams, and when I wake up he's looking into my eyes as if he's trying to send me a hypnotic message; I need to pee!
I get up and let him outside, keeping an eye on him from the door in case a coyote or an owl wants a midnight snack, and when he's done I let him in, put him back on the bed and try to go back to sleep. Last night I read the message wrong, it was I'm thirsty!
One of these days he'll get me... I mean I'll get him trained.

Happy St. Pat's Day

Good company, Green beer, Green wine, (courtesy of food coloring,) and a great meal of corned beef, cabbage and potatos. What more could you ask for on St. Patty's Day?

Moss Capital of the World

Walking the puppy in the backyard this morning, I realized that moss is growing everywhere. Where the grass used to grow, soft velvety moss has taken over. (At least you don't have to mow it and it is nice and green.)
Even the trees have several new kinds of lichen and moss creeping up the trunks and hanging from the limbs. I think we need some sustained sunshine or pretty soon I'm afraid it'll start growing on our feet and legs like something out of a horror movie, eventually covering everything.

Quads

Tony and Lindy Mooney invited us to go Quad riding with them yesterday. We drove to a large clear cut on Howell Ridge, a few miles from our house, and Tony showed me how to operate a Quad. They're pretty easy to drive, even if, like me, you've never driven a motorcycle. Carol had to sit it out because of her broken hand but the weather was nice, we had a picnic lunch, and we even found some beaver ponds to check out for trout fishing. It was a fun day.