Thursday, April 28, 2016

Minnie is fat

I've told Kevin this past year that Minnie is fat. He always said that she was muscular. A photo I took a few days ago convinced me that Minnie's girth is alarming. Her chest is now 34" (neck is 22"). She's gained 35 pounds in the four years we have had her.

This past week Kevin has changed his mind and now has called Minnie "LardAss" and is more impatient with her. Her more incessant growling at the other dogs are always food related. She doesn't want anyone else getting to the food bucket. She does have a food obsession that I must work on. She is active but she also likes to eat. She has become food aggressive now toward all the other dogs, including mellow Sammy who barks back at her because that is all he can do at his age. We've separated Minnie at night from the food bucket. With Minnie out of the area, Sadie feels more comfortable and has been eating the dry kibble when Minnie is not around. But when she sees Minnie approaching to claim the food bucket as hers, Sadie backs away. I think her fear of Minnie attacking her is why she lost weight earlier this year; she was afraid to eat! I've now seen her eat well late at night when she is alone. Our dogs are grazers, so they can help themselves at any time to the kibble, but both Sammy and Minnie are obese. Walking them alone isn't going to make them lose weight. It's time to crack down before we kill Minnie with food.

Kevin said that Minnie was growling at Sweetie earlier this week when he was in the kitchen, then growled at HIM when he reprimanded Minnie. That's when Sweetie almost attacked Minnie, as a way to protect her "dad." She is a fearless, tough fighter. This is a first, Minnie growling at either Kevin or me. We can't have aggressive dogs in this pack. So I must do something constructive that won't harm us, the dogs, Minnie, or jeopardize anyone's safety.

I must now try harder to keep Minnie's diet regulated better. I must remove the food bucket at night, or I have Sammy and Minnie separated in the main bedroom while I linger in Eric's old room and stay up and read. I love reading late at night when things quiet down. I will also force Minnie on more walks late at night, down the dirt road and back, to give her special attention. I don't want to take the dogs to the Oaks all the time as I don't want to put attention on myself. Two Tuesdays ago an unmarked county sheriffs vehicle drove down the road while I was walking Sadie, Zeke and Minnie off leash. The sheriff deputy said nothing and just waved at me, but now there's proof that I hang out there in the late afternoon, after all the other dog walkers are gone.

I am even thinking of taking Minnie with me on my summer road trip. I had planned on taking Sadie and Zeke already, though, and a third dog would be too much. Is a third dog in the van even feasible? My plan was to leave in early June for Washington state and explore more of the coast, the border with Canada, and come down the eastern desert. I must be back before Kevin leaves for his flight to Boston in mid-July.

Of course, the weather always plays a factor. Two weeks ago the local meteorologists predicted another hot fire season, as we haven't had any significant rain since early February. That storm we had on April 10th didn't bring much moisture in the valley, and what fell in the mountains quickly was soaked into the soil. We have had strong winds for most of this month, too, and leaves continue to yellow on our area trees.
Tonight's walk was just a mere mile though. The winds kept me from going out earlier, and I should have. It was close to 6:30pm before I got to the Oaks, and started the entire five-dog pack on the single track along the creekbed. We weren't far into the walk when I spotted a curious coyote across the creek stare at us all. Oh shit. Coyotes like to prowl right before dusk. I was curious to see what the dogs would do. My curiosity was quickly answered: only Sweetie took off after the coyote, who revealed to have another dog by her. She yelped with excitement, much like Zeke does when he's chasing rabbits. The other dogs stayed by me and watched. I'm assuming the dog was her older pup. The pup seemed wanting to play, but mom wanted none of that. What started as Sweetie chasing after the coyote quickly turned into the mom dog turning on Sweetie. Even the pup then chased after Sweetie. For a few seconds she was lost behind a few distant trees and tall grass, so I didn't see all that transpired. She showed no fear, and luckily she outran the coyotes and came back to me. The coyote did not cross the creekbed to get any closer to me. I had my arms raised and yelled in a deep voice "Arrrrrr!" which must be Coyote for "back off, bitch!" because the coyotes kept their distance from me.

While this incident lasted only a few minutes, it was a reminder that I must not endanger my dogs by taking them into coyote country. This area around the Oaks is open fields of tall grasses, studded with gambel oaks. Lots of critters live out here. Sweetie's rear left thigh was wet from coyote slobber, which tells me the mom dog did try to snap at her legs to bring her down for the kill. No blood or puncture marks, thankfully, and she didn't seem bothered at all, or shaken up. The other dogs kept sniffing at Sweetie's wet spot, then continued running around the coyote-free area while I finished the 1.2-mile loop slowly with Sammy. Once we got back to the van, we drove home. I was in no mood to walk the usual 3-mile distance so late in the day.

This is my first encounter with coyotes so closely. While I hear them howl around sunset, I've never had one get so close to any of my dogs.

Lesson learned. Again.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Spring storm

We are having our first spring storm for the season. It couldn't come early enough. Rain that was forecasted for Friday never got south enough to hit us, but this morning I work up to high winds and overcast skies. We need the rain and the forest will be happy for some relief. A 6am radar photo showed heavy rains over southern California and western Arizona. Yuma was already getting hit.

I was up early again. I putzed around the home, wrote a few overdue reviews. After a visit with the cats in the garage I went back into the kitchen and discovered a young mouse stuck on some insect tape I had placed by the sink to trap flies and roaches. The insects have been out early this year. The mouse had just stepped on the tape, because a few moments earlier it wasn't there. The poor creature was breathing hard as it struggled to free itself. Its head was stuck and it couldn't move.

I never intend to trap mice with these sticky glue strips. I use them for the roaches that come out of the sink this time of year, or for the flies that come in through the back patio. I carried the strip outside, armed with a knife to tear away at the stickiness, and a few rocks for the mouse's stability, and then plucked away to free the thing. I had to hold the knife in such a way to keep the mouse's head from falling back on the sticky strip. Its front right leg looked pulled out of its socket, though, yet the mouse remained still while I cut away around it. Small rocks around the critter kept its head up so that it wouldn't fall back down on the tape. The mouse lost a lot of fur on its right side, but amazingly enough, once its tail was off the tape, it regained some movement, squeaked, and I was able to pull its body off the tape with a butterknife and it was able to scammer off. The front leg looked broken or sprained as the poot thing couldn't run straight up, but run it could and it was soon gone in our front yard. I don't want mice in the house and we do have a good mouse trap in place, but I hate seeing critters struggle and die a slow death.
The winds continued to howl against the southern face of our house. At 10:30am the radar showed the storm now over half the state of Arizona. That was the signal for me to stop reviewing and start taking the dogs out for a walk. Minnie hadn't been walked since Thursday so I piled all five dogs (!) in the van for the short drive to the Oaks. This was my first morning visit there. I'm normally here an hour before sunset when few people are out. Would there be other people there?

My fears were unsubstantiated. The complex was as void then as it is in the late afternoons. There was plenty of trash left in the same general area as where the USBP vehicles hang out. I picked up all the plastic bottles (for recycling) but there is some paper trash still left behind that I'll get next time.
I walked the one-mile road-dirt road path, staying away from Three Canyons Road and traffic. This route is more secluded. While I've come across two dog walkers, a cyclist and a group of skate boarders in the last year while walking in the Oaks, all the encounters were on the pavement. I've never come across anyone walking along the burned-out creek bed.

Sammy kept up the first mile but then rested under an oak and let me know that he had had enough. I walked him back to the van where he rested while the other four dogs and I walked three more circular miles. My chin strap on my boonie hat came in handy today! By the fourth mile, even Minnie was exhausted and panted all the way home.
I've now let Sweetie walk with us at least six times in the past month. She is our wildchild, roaming at her own will and stubbornly obeying my commands. She likes to run off for quite a while before turning around to get back into my line of sight. She has to be worn out with exhaustion before she listens to me, but she also seems to allow me to pick her up by the collar to pull her back into the van, so she is showing some progress with proper pack behavior. But her wild, unpredictable side is still not safe enough for the public. She is only four years old. Will she ever calm down?

I got back to the house at 12:40pm. By 1pm the first raindrops fell and the sweet smell of creosote filled the air, but the rain wasn't as intense as hoped and no rain flooded the area.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Canelo Pass South



Hike Statistics:
   Distance:  11.64 miles (Garmin 600 GPS odometer).
   Elevation: 1565 ft. (4997’– 6033’).  2313 ft. accumulated elevation including all ups and downs.
   Hiking Time: 8:12 AM to 2:35 PM (6 hrs, 23 min)
  Calories: 1120
Drive:  42 miles via Elgin from Mustang Corners or 22 miles via Ft. Huachuca from Sierra Vista.
Weather: clear, breezy, temperatures in the 60s and 70s

Participants (7): Rod C (hike leader), Steve Sch, Kent R, Paul Ph, Me with Zeke and Sadie, Holly O, , Cole M. 

Hike Narrative by Rod C:

Steve Scheumann coordinated the carpool from Sierra Vista, and departed for the trailhead at 7:00 AM by driving through the Fort. The hike leader waited at Mustang Corners for possible hikers from St. David.  Departed Mustang Corners when no one showed up or phoned at 7:30 AM.  Apparently an email was sent, but this hiker did not see it until after the hike.  The hike leader used lead-footed driving techniques to arrive at trailhead by 8:05 AM. This hike was scheduled to do a section of the Arizona Trail not visited by the club since 1 January 2008.

Heading south from the Canelo Pass Trailhead, we saw a sign indicating it was 15 miles to Parker Canyon Lake.  We also encountered a bunch of empty water bottles stashed near the trailhead for thru-hikers.  Not sure why the empties were left here, but we assumed they would eventually be policed up.  Pat Scully, being absent in the Pacific Northwest, would have been the only person in the club who readily volunteered for “police call” details.  So the empties were just hung on the sign indicating the distance to Parker Canyon Lake to make it easier for whoever is responsible for policing these up to retrieve. 

The trail starts out relatively level for the first ¾ of a mile, and then climbs steeply over 500 feet to the first gate about 1.2 miles up the trail.  This hiker’s memory of the 2008 hike was foggy at best, so any information put out about this hike ended up not matching the ground truth we experienced this day.  The old Alzheimer’s joke about being able to laugh at the same joke because memory lapses was certainly evident today for this hiker. Just wait 8 years and the hike becomes a new experience. The next 1.3 miles of the trail contoured around hilltops before descending a gently sloping ridgeline to Middle Canyon, and topped out at 680 ft. above the parking area (according to a Casio watch altimeter).  Nice views of Meadow Valley to the west, the Mustangs to the north, and Canelo Hills all the way to Collins Canyon to the east.

Nine switchbacks and a descent of over 600 ft. brought us down to the Middle Canyon drainage after 3.4 miles of hiking.  In 2008, that was as far as we went.  The young whippersnappers in the group (Kent, Cole, Holly, and Connie) wanted to continue down the trail, so the hike leader suggested we hike another 2 miles to the Pauline Stock Tank near the road to Turkey Creek.  The single track trail became a two-track road at a blue salt lick bucket around the 4 mile mark. At the 4.5 mile mark, we found another salt lick container.  This hiker dubbed this portion of the hike as the “Salt Lick Road”.  Before the road descended into another drainage (Pauline Canyon) we met a AZT thru-hiker heading north from the Border.  This was his second day of the hike, and he was originally from Switzerland, but now living in Ohio.  His trail name was “Roadrunner”, and he was moving along pretty good.  We asked him to say Hi to the two thru-hikers we had met in Scotia Canyon 2 days prior on our Arizona Trail work event when he caught up to them.  He mentioned the difficulties of getting to the start of the trail from the Benson Greyhound bus stop, but he was successful in his hitch hiking efforts  - he didn’t have to call Bernie for a ride.  The Arizona Trail was busy this time of the year.

We arrived at Pauline Stock Tank around 11:30 AM for lunch after 5.75 miles of hiking.  The stock tank was not very pleasant to be near because it smelled like cow piss according to Connie.  The dogs went swimming anyway. The group headed back around noon, and the whippersnappers and Steve disappeared quickly, and the lollygaggers (Rod and Paul) took their time returning back to the parking lot arriving a good 45 minutes after the whippersnappers arrived back at the trailhead. Observed lots of vehicles in the parking lot that afternoon, though.  We were not the only hikers using the trailhead today.