Rusty goes swimming

Monday, July 26th was Rusty's 6 month adoption anniversary (he has lived with me 7 months total)! I decided what Rusty needed in celebration was some water therapy. :)

Today was our first appointment with Cindy Hickman of Aquadog Spa in Kent. Really great place, I liked the spa tub quite a bit and the room was open and dog safe. And Rusty made me proud by not marking in the building. As a side note, he also hasn't tried to mark any of Nim's accidents. Considering this is the dog that lifted his leg on my wall, that is impressive.

It was almost a little emotional (in a good way) to watch him go through this session. He has come so far and I have put him into so many new experiences. He was pretty high stress at first in the appointment, but you can tell by this photo he relaxed into it wonderfully. Then he was interested in making eye contact with me and interacting with Cindy. Cindy did a great job reading him and letting him work through the experience.

And as it turns out Rusty can swim - actually pretty well. The spa tub is a good size for him to swim a lap but not overdo it.

This is another great option for Rusty's aging body. Next appointment we will introduce Nim to the pool as well. Dobermans are not exactly known for their love of water or swimming so this should be interesting.

Bear in the apple trees

I wish I was a better photographer and these had come out better. It was also dusk and in the dark part of my yard, so it was a no win.
I could hear the tree crashing from my detached office and once I walked out the door I knew what it was, so I got my ladder and got on my main house roof to try and get better photos.

There are two apple trees (at least) right behind my fenced area and behind the main house.
Then I could also hear better once I got on the roof and realized there was more than one so I got back off my roof and sat on the stairs next to the office door. Nim could also hear them vocalizing (it was actually very neat, I have never got to hear that) between each other from his kennel in the house and that was some pretty low barking coming out of him. Rusty on the other hand probably a. couldn't hear them, or b. simply didn't care (doesn't show any house protection). I am sure he just slept through it.

Jailed

Today while frantically trying to deal with my homework I suddenly lost my Internet connection. I reached down to restart the computer and when I looked under my desk:

X-pen was set up in the office shortly thereafter. Nim is not pleased.

Fluffy

Right now Nim's top toy is a toss up between the fluffy above and the small squirrels out of Rusty's Squirrels in a Tree.

Turns out he is worse than Rusty when I knit...but we will keep trying. :) Last night was only the first night he was aware that I knit.

I keep trying to get the cats used to Nim. I came around the corner and was almost ran over by the two running cats and Nim slowly ambling behind them. This is one of many times I miss elder kitty (Chloe) she would have taken care of training Nim in under 12 hours.

Introducing Nim

The permit driver (who is now licensed)/high schooler (one more year) turned 17 on Saturday, July 10th. In celebration of her birthday, I took her with me to pick up my brand new puppy Nim! (No older sister of the year award for me!) She got to hold him on the drive home (just prior to this photo he threw up):

Nim was born May 12, 2010 and I am very excited to have him. It has taken me this long to write about him just because we are still trying to find our schedule. Not to mention, the first two nights of kennel training were pretty brutal. He will be the 4th dog I have crate trained (the quilting doberman (Odin) as a puppy, and two seniors) and he definitely win the award for best temper tantrum.

First moments in the house, and he checks out the toys:
Yesterday (Tuesday, third day of car riding) I decided it was time to settle on a car riding system and I decided to introduce him to his first harness. He did well with it. And aside from the very first time in the car; no more car sickness so far.

On Tuesday he had first day of puppy school and his vet visit.

After puppy school and vet visit, there was no waking him...

Still no waking him...

Today, it is day5 of Nim and we are getting more of a system going. You will notice a lot of the photos are of him sleeping. Don't let this fool you; it just happens to be the only time I think to get a photo.

This afternoon, under my desk:

I am looking forward to the hiking partner he is going to be.

McLeod Lake Beaver Dam

A beaver dam broke today letting a bunch of water down the North Fork Snoqualmie River. It has been pretty much been pouring all day so I figured it was a good day to drive and see how the road had fared since it is an area I hike regularly.

It didn't take me long to find the damage:

This is the creek coming from the McLeod Lake and now crossing the North Fork road. There were a bunch of people back there doing road repair and surveying the dam so I was able to find out exactly where the dam used to be.

At first I just spend time around this part where it was draining across the road. Since I hadn't remotely dressed for hiking, I didn't plan on making my way to the beaver dam - but then I accidentally sunk ankle deep in mud.

So once I was already muddy and soaked I decided I should go check out the source - because you know I was dying to anyway. Besides, how else was I going to clean the mud off my shoes.

Nice and clean after crossing the creek in the road:

The trail up to McLeod itself is probably only 1/2 mile. The creek runs along the trail.

The photo doesn't really show the former site of the beaver dam well. McLeod Lake has a miserable swampy growth all around it which is why you can't see the actual lake but it would be off to the left in the photo and the guy with the red pack is somewhat marking the creek outlet.

Because there were witnesses who were far better dressed for the situation I stayed on the high ground for photos rather than go down into the hole which as you can see was incredibly muddy.

Monday Surprise

This morning I was going in the front door and thought I heard a very familiar low level peeping. And looked up to see two baby bird sticking their heads out my wren nest.

Since I hadn't seen the adult wren with a mate; this caught me off guard. All my other wren families have been a 2 parent system. Makes me think that maybe he got killed at some point which is too bad.

By the afternoon there were 4 heads. Doing some online photo comparison, they might be a few days old?

When I first got Rusty and would try and lay next to him he would look at me confused and get up and walk away. He has come a long way (those are my legs he is laying against).