Big Bear Day 3

On our third day we did a hike to the Gunsight. We drove for a while on a dirt road. My non-off road car was a little confused as to what it was doing on a rocky, unpaved road, but mostly we had no trouble. We made it within about a 1/4 mile of the trail head to be blocked by a large puddle. I did not want to risk driving the car through it, so we got out and walked. The first part of the walk was the Champion Lodgepole Pine, a very big tree. Then it was onto the Gunsight. Not to sure what that is. We looked it up online later and found out it is a rock formation, but we are not sure which one it was. The walk started off flat and shady with lots of ferns, water plants and water. Then we had lunch at a rock formation and after that the trail went down hill, the water dried up and it got hot and dusty. Some of the dogs began to get tired so we turned around and headed for home. This was probably my most favorite hike.

The walk was good and long and afterward we had ice cream. We had the repair man come to fix the DVD player and we watched a movie, but I don't remember which one.


The puddle that I did not drive through at the beginning of the hike.



While we were still driving ffluffy spotted this plant and she jumped out to take a picture.


We started off on leash since we didn't know how many other people would be about. I'm not sure how this happened to the leashes, but it took me some time to get them untangled.



At the Champion Lodgepole Pine.


Starting off down the trail to the Gunsight.


At the same stump chair I sat in last year.


All dogs on the walk posing except Bacon.



Fancy in the water plants.


Pie checking in while in the water plants. Very green!


These marks were on a few of the trees. The strange part is the mark is also on the other side of the tree.


It is a great trail.


A pretty flower that I used the extra zoom to get a picture of since it was down a hill and off the trail.


The dogs always wanted to stop to play but it was disruptive and dangerous for the human bystanders so they were not allowed to play for long.



Dottie found this swimming hole and jumped in and began paddling around. She is quite the swimmer now!


Fancy on a log above Dottie's swimming hole.


Fancy and Bacon checking out the trail. Bacon was very good off leash.


A rock formation were we ate lunch that might or might not be the Gunsight.


Dottie hoping I will give her some of my lunch. I see Pie's tongue snuck into the picture.



Bacon lay on my Camel Bac during lunch. I think he figured I couldn't leave without it and therefore he would not get left behind either. He is very much one for laying down and having a nap as soon as we come to a stop.


Pie and Bacon resting in the shade while waiting for us to catch up.


Seems ominous. The trail got hot and dusty after this point.





There was still some shade, but not enough. Notice the trees are now oak instead of pine.



A huge tail.



Navigating the rocks.



Dottie leads the way.



This was a tree that fell on the rocks and is now decomposing. Science at work!


Pie thinks I should walk faster.







Bacon was getting tired at the end. But he kept trotting along. Mostly.



Now we are turned around and are heading back up the hill. It was a long way up. My 3 dogs. And Bacon who is not really mine. Anyone want a nice, small, pet?



On the way back when we hit the watering hole, this is as far as Bacon went in.




Pie of course jumped in and swam around. She also grabbed the branch in front of her face and tried to pull it with her, but is was attached to a tree. I think it is funny how both Fancy and Dottie clearly want to join her, but haven't committed to jumping in yet.



Now Dottie is in but Fancy does not want to jump off of the rock. Most likely she is too polite to land on Pie's head. Too bad for her both Pie and Dottie would not hesitate to land on her head.



After the dogs refreshed themselves at the watering hole we continued up the trail back to the car. Here Fancy wonders if we are getting closer yet.


Posing.



The pale moon was coming out as we finished our hike.



Bacon was very tired and crawled under the car to rest as we packed up the car.



All done and on the way back to the cabin! A super, 5 stars out of 5 stars hike.

Day 2 Big Bear

The highlight of Day 2 at Big Bear was our hike up Pine Knot trail. Well- watching Zombieland was pretty good also, but there are no pictures of that. Because of Zombieland and other things such as lunch, our hike began during the hottest part of the day. Therefore, we did not hike very long. Somewhere between 1 hour or 2.5 hours. I know that is a big time range, but I forget what time we started....

We started off on leash since we didn't know how crowded the trial would be.


As it turns out there was no one else on the trail so the dogs got to run around.



We had a view of the lake.


Pie had a view of me.



As anyone knows who views my pictures, I make my dogs pose on rocks a lot. And any dogs walking with us usually get involved also.


Pie investigates the trail. At a run.



Dottie says, "Whee!!"


I am happily surprised that Dottie is actually good looking. I thought she was a very funny looking puppy, and compared to what she used to look like, she is pretty now. Just ignore her structure. And her small head. And crooked tail. I do.


Maybe there are lots of pictures of the Mals in this post, but that does not mean they are more special than Fancy, and to prove it, here is a picture of Fancy. Looking cute, as always.


ffluffy checks out some weird sap. It did not smell piney. It smelled strange.


Good thing this bridge is here to get us over the huge river.


This was supposed to be a Malinos only picture but Fancy wanted to join in and I do not like to say no to Fancy. But that explains why she is peaking out from the back.


Dottie went snorkeling while having a drink.


Fancy is on a big rock. To get up she jumped/ climbed to the little ledge on the left, then up to where she is standing. Dottie though she should go up also, but I would not let her. Fancy is part cat, and Dottie is part AWTH (accident waiting to happen.)

A few additional pictures are posted here. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=460869&l=b27e2e7e53&id=100000152104007 Starting on page 2 to page 3.

After the hike we had dinner at a pizza place in town with Mom and Dad, and also Fancy and Hunda who got to join us since we ate on the patio. After dinner, Mom and Dad went to see a movie and ffluffy and I had some ice cream and walked around a little bit. I warned some small girls (who had their mom supervising them) not to pet strange, unattended dogs because you don't know if they are friendly or not (Fancy was waiting for me outside the ice cream shop) and the mom was unimpressed, as was a family standing nearby who claimed it was ok to pet Fancy because she didn't look rabid. Later we saw the same family who spoke up as we walked in opposite directions making snide comments about dog petting. Next time I will just say, "That dog has rabies, don't pet it."

I decided there are 4 things a parent should teach their kids. 1) Look both ways before you cross the street. 2) Always wear your seatbelt. 3) Assume all guns are loaded. 4) Don't pet strange dogs without asking. There are many more good things to teach your children such as always wear a hat and sunscreen, hold the handrail going down stairs, don't drink and drive, never do drugs, make wise investments for retirement, don't major in English, etc, but the four I decided are critical will most likely come up at some point in your life, while the rest may or may not affect you. For example, maybe you are lucky to never sunburn so you don't need to be afraid of skin cancer, and maybe you are not a klutz like me so you don't need to be wary and extra careful on stairs, but many people driving cars try to run you down, you are very likely to die in a car crash with out a seat belt, you can never be too safe around guns, and why would you look on as your child rushes up to a dog that as far as you know, has maybe never had a rabies shot in its life at got in a fight with a raccoon just last night? Why risk it? I love dogs, but I don't trust dogs I don't know and it is stupid to let your child pet a dog with out asking the owner. Most people agree there are many stupid people in this world. I should not be surprised.

Of course Fancy did not bite, and I would not step away from her side if I thought she would, and I took the extra precaution of keeping her in my sight just for the purpose of saving her from children, and as soon as I saw the three children RUN up to her and immediately start petting and putting their faces by her muzzle I came to her rescue and gave my lecture. Forget getting bit, what would they have done if it had been Pie, who loves children so much she probably would have broken her down (bad Pie) and followed them down the street when they were done petting?

It makes me wonder what I do that seems perfectly ok to me and makes other people crazy that I could be so stupid. At this point I can't think of anything, but if I asked that mother of three the same question, I'm sure she wouldn't report that she lets her children put their faces within inches of an unknown, unattended dog, and gee, I bet that makes people crazy because I'm so stupid. I'm sure people think that if a dog is unattended it must be safe because only a stupid person would leave a mean dog unattended and while that is very true, using that reasoning, you are counting on other people to be not stupid. And I just don't think counting on other people to be not stupid is a good idea. As evidenced by this very person. Ok, enough talking about that. Fancy does not bite, no one was in any danger, I watched her the whole time, and I hope those girls, and others who are uneducated about safe behavior around dogs, do not have the bad luck to get bitten.

After the ice cream we took a few dogs to the lake then headed home. Dottie amused herself by barking at the washing machine which was unbalanced and trying to shake the house apart, and then by eating a spider. Everyone is now napping and soon I will be sleeping as well. On to day three!

First Day in Big Bear

As we were driving up the mountain, my battery light came on. Twice before the car has had to be jumped, so in order to be prepared, I had bought a battery before we left, but did not have time to get it installed. I was worried we would be parked on a lonely mountain road and have the car die after a hike and be stranded. I did not expect the battery to die while driving. Our luck held and we made it to our cabin and unloaded our overloaded car. It is possible this time the car was packed even more than it was for AKC Nationals.



The first thing we did the next morning was to go running. Considering there were hills and we are at 9000ft, I think we did great. Next we had some yummy breakfast (ffluffy cooked- thanks!) and finally we- I did help, a little- got to work on replacing the battery. ffluffy has experience in these matters, but the battery in my 2006 Buick Rendezvous is in a difficult to reach place.


ffluffy loosens one of the many things that had to be loosened. A large bracing bar, the fuse box, some wiring and an electronic looking connection all had to be moved before the battery could come out.



The borrowed tools. Luckily we did not need the mallet.



Hard at work.


My dirty hands proved I helped. I moved the wires and the electric looking thing and helped lift the battery out (impressive, I know.)


Like any good supervisor, Pie watches from the shade.

I am very pleased to report the change out was a success and we did it in under an hour, unlike the poor sap who we read about on line who took 3 hours!

Next we headed into town with a selection of dogs. We met up with Mom and her two dogs. I brought 3 dogs and ffluffy brought 2. We got many comments about the number and cuteness of our dogs. Here we are having a watering break. Big Bear is very dog friendly.





On a down stay while we are shopping. Most of the dogs could be trusted to hold this even if we went inside but since little Dottie was there they had to be supervised.

It got quite hot durring the day. After we walked home we had a well deserved nap. Next it was onto the lake.


Pie gets the ball the most since she is the fastest. Dottie just annoys Fancy.


Molly takes to the water and hears some ominous "Jaws" music.


Dottie looks bored but was not.




Mom found a good place to sit.


Fancy is so happy to finally get the ball.



ffluffy and Hunda and Pickle.


Pie was on a down stay so Fancy could have a chance.










These cannoeers were quite taken with out dogs and paddled cloeser to take pictures. To me it was like they felt our dogs were wild life that they wanted to get up close with.

Now off to dinner and then next up, day 2!

Fourth of July

I know I am very far behind in my blogging. Things have been happening, I just haven't blogged. I painted a wall in my house (my first time!) and it turned out well. I had a Fourth of July BBQ on the 3rd of July and the food was great. The dogs did bobbing for hot dogs and Pie and Dottie had good speed but need to refine their technique. The key is to not come up for air to to chew the hot dog pieces. Just swallow them with your nose underwater as you go. Ffluffy's dog Pickle came in first, followed by a giant schnauzer, then Pie and Dottie were a second apart. I don't remember which Mal actually had the faster time.

Dottie's heeling is improving and I hope to get a video of that up soon.

On the Fourth of July ffluffy and I took the dogs hiking in the National Forrest above Ojai. We actually didn't get much hiking in, but we did have a yummy picnic and found a great lake for the dogs. Who knew there was swimming opportunities up there?

Dottie is now a good swimmer. First she wouldn't go in, then when she did she engaged in lots of splashing, but now she is calmer.



More swimming at the fun lake.


Dottie looking a lot like Pie. And Hunda with a stick.



The dogs only had eyes for the ball and did not notice the duck.


Ffluffy and I left my house after work on Friday for a 10 day vacation. We rented a cabin in Big Bear (more lake time for the dogs) then we are spending a day in Sacramento and onto Eureka, CA for beach walking and camping, then back home. Originally we were going to go all the way to OR, but then decided to stay in BB longer and shorten the trip up north. My parents are in BB for the entire week staying in a different cabin.

One other update is despite the raw diet I feed my dogs, Fancy's allergies are back really bad. Bad Fancy.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Obviously I am behind in my blogging but I can't let the occasion of my mother's birthday pass by with out saying, for all the world to read (or at least those who stumble accross this blog) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM (1 AND ONLY!!!!)