brrrrr

beautiful clear morning- if a bit nippy. it always takes me a while to catch up when it cools off...

haven't seen the 2 dogs turned out lately- probably just a timing thing, tho. these look like the same ones i saw all last year, just running loose, turned out from a house somewhere. really annoying.

i saw a guy on this trail leaping in the air & swinging his arms- and his dog leaping and running. made me smile to watch them playing together and to see the guy so un- self consciously silly.

7 with, 2 without. every time i leashed the dogs or sat them off trail the other dogs owners also leashed their dogs or made them heel by us. it was awesome!

happy trails!

another fabulous day

have i mentioned lately how lucky i feel to be able to start my days with a walk on the trails? it's amazing to think about, that we have such a great resource so close.

another beautiful day.....

6 with, 2 without, all following rules & pleasant....

have a great day!

gray monday

beautiful, if gray, morning

it was a quiet day on the trails- 4 with, 2 without.

saw augie the akita, who we haven't seen for a while. as usual, when he saw us he lowered his head & the hair on his back went up. we were well off the trail. his owner, as always, said "he's friendly". well, head down, stiff legs, hair up looks like trouble to me. and halle isn't completely broken of charging up and echo & augie have had conversations. i don't want to go there. so i just said " i don't care, i don't want him coming over here. my dogs don't always react in the friendliest manner." and it was all good, but i bet we have the same conversation next time we run into each other.

let me contrast that to the guy with the black lab we passed who saw me heel the dogs & immediately called his and leashed him. as they walked by i said "i'm trying to teach them they don't have to say hi to everyone" and he said "the same here". perfect!

trails looked good- the opp i picked up (and there was some) was all fresh. i am starting to think that there are dog owners who just don't pick up because they know that there are those of us who do. pigs.

have a great week!

corrals

beautiful morning on corrals. looks like there have been lots of deer about.
lots of sheep up off of hard guy

and cattle, as has been usual later, farther down.

this gate was swinging open when we came up on it. maybe someone didn't know how to use the chain to close it? but since there is still stock about i'm thinking the gates should be closed.

and the scenic shots...... sunrise over boise-

leaves are turning

and the sky was big and blue and beautiful....

happy trails!

friday morning

another beautiful day. 7 with, 5 without. one woman with 2 large white dogs off leash in the on leash section coming down to the pond from red fox. toby's owner & i stood at the bottom and waited for the owner to show up. when she did and saw us there she leashed up. and i could see why she hadn't before- both dogs were pulling. now that i have fairly well trained dogs i will never go back. it is so much more pleasant for all of us!

happy trails- here's to a successful poop scoop tomorrow!

misty morning

the colors are just beautiful against the gray moody skies, and i love the way the mist muffles sound. the sage is really fragrant in the damp. great way to start the day!

6 with, 4 w/o. everyone nice, polite, following rules.

we even passed toby twice off leash on trail with no problem. the first time i hustled the dogs by & his owner (the man) looked at me oddly. but i have seen toby hump an intact male standard poodle (sam- who was awesome- he just stood there looking a t. evidently wondering wtf?). i am pretty sure that neither echo or halle would be that tolerant. toby didn't bother us- just kept on down the trail. the second go round, on chickadee, we all just kept moving and it worked great. love it when that happens).

folks using the playground equipment again- shortly after 9.

happy trails-

the hillbilly trail

sign seen on mt cove trail.

Please join us for a Poop Scoop Saturday, October 24 from 9-1. Weather permitting, we will have a table set up at Lower Hull's Gulch parking lot with some great raffle items including Earthpaw's no-smell bags & poop bag holders & goodies from esh.

All trails could use some TLC. If you have a group who can take part of Military Reserve or Corrals please let me know. I'll be sure to get you into the raffle.

Thanks for your help, and please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions-

it was a beautiful morning. 9 with dogs and 5 w/o. all polite & following the rules.

there were some moms & kids using the playground this morning 9ish. good to see.

happy trails!

fall

beautiful morning, beautiful colors

it was pretty quiet this morning- 4 with, 2 without.

one couple coming down chickadee with a yellow lab. i called the dogs & got their collars & stopped and the people kept walking toward me, no dog in sight. i looked for the dog and the woman said "we have a lagger, she's back there somewhere". rather than ask how they were able to pick up after her if she was behind them (yep, i am proud of myself) i let the dogs go & headed up.

there was the lab, sitting off the side of the trail. greetings all 'round, then echo decided to put his mouth on her throat, which elicited a high pitched yelp. she wasn't hurt, just not appreciative. the owners then decided to call her. they probably think i'm a big jerk. i, on the other hand, not knowing how the loose dog without an owner in sight was going to behave saw no reason to hang onto my dogs. i've tried that- it doesn't work. if a dog rushes or lunges it seems unfair to expect my dogs not to be, well, dogs. i knew they weren't going to hurt anyone, just maybe cause a ruckus.

anyway. it was a beautiful walk and a great way to start the day.

here's camel's back at 9 am.

happy trails.

soggy doggies

wet morning, decided to try the trails anyway because i just love the way the wet sage smells. red fox is usually pretty safe because it's sandy.

we turned up chickadee to avoid 2 runners with a leashed dog. thought i'd see how it looked- maybe, since yesterday was warm & dry the rain hadn't soaked in too much. but when i turned around & saw my footprints we turned around and did the dreaded out & back.

which actually wasn't too bad. much as i am not fond of rain i do love the dark moody skies, especially combined with fall colors. and the previously mentioned wonderful scent of wet sagebrush.

camel's back at 9 am. (i love working from my house- i can start the day at 6:30, take a break to walk when it's light out & get back to it- perfect!)

happy trails- have a great week!

friday

yay! dry! beautiful morning- and good to be out again...... leaves are turning

the light was nice

trees not changing so much in the valley yet, but probably soon.

as we were leaving and just past the pond 2 black labs, off leash, came running around the corner making snarly noises. we stopped. i quickly realized that the 2 dogs were playing with each other, but still wasn't sure how that would work with my 2 on leash dogs. soon a mt biker came in sight. he headed up the hill as one of the dogs ducked off trail behind the split rail fence to answer nature's call. so i helpfully asked the biker if he needed a bag.

he stopped the bike, asked "oh, did one of my dogs do something?" so i said yes, and pointed him in the direction. he looked down and said "there are a lot of piles here". and i said "probably, because lots of people don't bother to pick up." so he picked something up & tossed it & we both went our merry ways. hard to tell if behavior will change in the future- i hope so, but who knows? one can hope he was disgusted by the piles.....

anyway- happy friday, happy trails.....

soggy

too wet to hit the trails today- well, red fox probably would've been ok, but chickadee probably not & i am not a big out & back fan, so we worked on our leash manners instead.
still saw opp, still saw wildlife- that's a coyote trotting down 17th street-

hoping for a dryer manana so we can get back into the hills.

happy thursday!