And a good time was had by all

Boy, does that vacation seem a long time ago! Like it wasn't even this summer. I don't know why we couldn't stay there all the time in those nice, cool mountains. Now I'm confined to the house most of the day as it's HOT and STICKY here. I don't like it one bit.

You're probably wondering if we chased off that coyote yet. Well, it's still around, but hasn't been too bothersome recently, which is good, because the Fish and Game people have been a bit busy with another visitor.

This guy doesn't live around here anymore.

But let's get back to my vacation.

Of course, I got to ride in the front seat most of the way. It's my favorite place to ride, even though my travel bed is in the back, I just go there if I'm really tired. That's usually on the way home. Actually, I think Mum should ride in the back because she takes up more than her fair share of the front seat when she insists on riding in it with me.

Some of the time I do have to be in the navigator's seat, helping Dad by keeping my eye keenly on the road, and my paws pointing the way. You never know when I'm going to have to leap to action and take over the driving.

This is where we camped, near the lake. I had my very own special camping table. Yes, it's true. The keen-eyed among you may have noticed this is in fact my ramp for getting in the back of the car. Apparently, it weighs quite a lot, and took up some of the luggage space Mum and Dad had reserved for (in my opinion), frivolous and unnecessary items. A second cooler for wine and beer, for example - see what I mean? Who needs that? Anyway, it meant it had to serve double duty.

I could have run for miles on the mountain. This is the place with the biggest meadow in the world where we went last year. You can't even see how big it is in this picture. I think it would take me a whole day to run from one end to the other, but I didn't get a chance to find out. Mum insisted on keeping me close by, because we saw a bear on one of our trips up the mountain road. I've never seen a bear, but I smell them a lot when we're up there.

Although there are lots of lakes where we go camping, no one is allowed to swim in them. They're for fishing only. I love to fish, so it seems a bit unfair. To make up for not getting any water time, on the way home, we spent a whole day at the creek with the blue/green water. I swam and swam, and fished and fished, and finally got so tired, I had to find a shady spot on the beach to recover.

Now, that's what I call a vacation!

10 Years Old and Still Getting into Trouble!

Mum call this one of my "butter wouldn't melt" photos, and says that looking at me here, you wouldn't believe the trouble I've been in recently.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember me mentioning a particularly bothersome coyote that stalks our neighborhood. I wrote about it here. I haven't seen too much of him this winter, that is until about a week ago. Dad took me for my first walk on that day because Mum was teaching a class and had a lot to do. Usually, when Mum takes me in the morning, we walk around the neighborhood and I'm on my leash, but Dad thought it would be nice for me to run around, so we went to the trail instead. Well, we certainly got to run around, but I think it was a bit more than Dad was expecting.

"My" coyote was up there and we spent an hour chasing each other back and forth all over the place. Dad was very mad at me and was trying to keep up, but I was even madder at that coyote. Dad got very muddy and I got very tired. Mum and Dad gave me "the talk" when we got home, and the next day I could barely walk.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm going to be 10 years old. Apparently, that means I'm supposed to be more dignified and not go around getting into trouble by chasing coyotes or barking at javelinas. I have been trying. Especially since Mum and Dad said they would take me on a special outing for my birthday if I was good. I'm keeping my paws crossed that I've been good enough.

A Walk on the Wild Side

(Photo: Lamb, A. & Johnson, L. (2004). Coyote Walking. Naturescapes Starters.)

It's almost full moon and the coyotes in our neighborhood have been particularly vocal the past few nights. It *really* bothers me when they come so close to our house. They mock me from the street and dare to run across our land right by the living room windows.

Last night, when Dad was taking me for my bedtime walk, I saw a really cocky fellow waiting for me at the bottom of the driveway and managed to slip my collar to take up the chase. I could smell him as soon as Dad opened the front door and it made me so mad! This coyote always has a good laugh at me when I'm on the leash, and taunts me something rotten. 

Well, last night I'd had enough. I chased him down the driveway, then back up the side of the hill and around behind the house. I really let rip with my barking, and we were almost on the other side of the hill near the wolf-dogs' house - they were howling like crazy - when out of nowhere I heard Mum's blood-curdling yell down on the street and a light a thousand times brighter than the moon shone right in my eyes. 

If you've never heard my mum yell, consider yourselves very fortunate. There was nothing for it but to admit defeat. She had a flashlight trained on me and there was no getting away, so I slunk down the side of the hill to the street and Dad snapped my collar and leash back on me.There was a lot of talk when we got home about how naughty I'd been, and how dangerous it was to go chasing after coyotes at night. And coming so soon after my escapade the other day when I tried to chase a snake swimming across the creek, I think Mum and Dad are going to be keeping a very close eye on me from now on.

The worst of it is, I've got to wear this stupid contraption now when I go for the nighttime walks.

I feel suck a dork! I'll never live it down if word gets out, and those coyotes are such gossip mongers. Grrrr!

On a much happier note, The Woof Gang has given me this lovely award for my services to the greater dog community, and for generally being the swankiest dog around. Okay, I may have embellished a bit there, but it is a pretty cool award, don't you think?