Pache finally decided to grace his presence by the front door as I walked to the kitchen for my morning coffee. Unlike Bobby who meows loudly from under the Texas sage bush near the front door, Pache sits right by the door and quietly waits, keeping his eyes on the front door and listening to any movement inside. And waits. Did he wait for days while I was gone over the weekend? Relieved to see him once again among the living and endearing him with "Oh Asshole, so good to see you again!" I picked him up, hugged him close and put him in the garage with Guinny and Bobby, determined to lock him in the house for a while. How long had Pache been waiting to come back home? Not a word from the felines for the rest of the day.
It was another quiet, cool morning. Low clouds shrouded the peaks but it never rained. Later in the morning I entertained Minnie and Sadie with their new blue Nerf ball, which Sweetie decided is for her as well. She likes to make her toys squeak and will sit in the grass for hours chewing a rubber toy. The Nerf ball seems more pleasing to both Minnie and Sadie than the larger but lighter Chuckit GloBall.
I've been trying to get my trip report from San Diego done this past week, going through the photos and editing what I have been adding here. I'm also trying to keep up with my Amazon reviews. It was my goal this summer to get down to "Zero Reviews Due" on my "To Be Reviewed (TBR) list what was at 72 items earlier this spring. I'm now down to one book and five various brands of personal hygiene products. My ranking while I was in San Diego slipped only slightly, to #415.
It's so quiet in this house when Kevin is not here. He's due back Saturday from his week in Boston visiting his grandson Owen. The dogs nap all day anyway and the only time I see movement is when I go outside and garden, a sign for Minnie that it's time to play a round of FETCH! again. We certainly have enough balls now to keep all the dogs entertained.
My eyes are on Sammy. He's been holding on these last two years since Sara died. He's now showing his age, with his white muzzle and his droopy eyes and that cyst on his left eyelid. His daily pills of tumeric and glucosamine seem to help his mobility, but he walks slowly and whenever I take him for a walk, I go at his pace while the other three dogs run along.
It drizzled lightly in the afternoon, a gentle, tranquil rain that moistened the earth. I took the dogs out to Ash Canyon at 3:20pm for a short walk in the wash. No one goes here now that target shooting has been banned. I parked the van right off Ash canyon road and walked the dogs down to the wash. Naturally they all did the same thing as soon as they got out of the van: they pooped and peed, as if they were holding everything in for the last 12 hours. Let them poop and pee I say, as that saves me some time picking up the hardened turds from the back yard! Dog poop in the forest surely throws off the bears, coyotes and mountain lions who saunter down into the valley.
There was no water in Ash Canyon. The sand was cool as we walked a little downstream in the wash. This is an area that Sammy can maneuver around as there are no major stumps to jump over. I didn't want to walk too far to avoid hitting private property and perhaps territorial dogs, and took a trail up the northern bank that led to what looked like a dry cattle trough. I'd never noticed that before! We followed the jeep trail from the trough which led back to Ash canyon road and back to the van, making a loop hike of no more than a mile and 20 minutes.
The monsoonal rains are greening the fields and mountain sides. Flowers are thriving and so are the mushrooms. This is perhaps the prettiest time in the desert after the spring blooms. I love being here in late July.
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