Bisbee 1000 with Wolfie

Bill and I finally met up again for a walk around Bisbee.  We agreed to meet at 6am and we both got to the parking lot on time at the same time.  It was 42F at the start, but it warmed up fast.  Two hours later I took off my flannel jacket to stay cool.

I took Wolfie this time. He did well as long as no other dogs were in sight.  He  walks well on leash unless he sees another dog, but otherwise does not pull.  I know I need to get him and Fritz some reactivity training, but I have so many other things to get done this month.

The big thing today was seeing so many Irises in bloom, of all colors:  purple, yellow, white.  Yellow Tombstone roses and orange poppies were also in full bloom. Cottonwood trees were  blowing their seed. 

I let Wolfie drink from the drainage and later from the fountain by the courthouse.  He later sat in the CRV when I went for coffee at Kafka Kafe, which was unusually empty until 10am when the musicians came in.  Not even  Frank was around.  I'm glad once I left that it was quiet, because I had dropped my wallet by the front window and it was still there when I walked back a few minutes after realizing my wallet wasn't in my back pocket. 

 

Wolfie then went back to the house when I got back there, showing some trepidation around Hansel.  I'm glad he got one-on-one time with me for 24 hours. 

I worked to bag three more bags for tomorrow's trash pickup at CC's and even I felt overheated by late afternoon.  We went from cool and cloudy to hot and sunny overnight.

Wolfie goes back to the vet

 Wolfie was due some booster shots and there were no vaccine clinics in town.  So I took him to Tucson and made it to th ABC pet vaccine clinic by 2:47pm, the same place I went last month.  The place closes at 3pm on Saturdays.  The two women up front recognized Wolfie from last month and took him to room #4 right away.  One of the vet techs noticed a strip of plastic under his tail, and when I pulled on it, a foot-long strip of plastic came out of his anus.  And boy, did that stink!

He now weighs 93.4 pounds, a weight loss of five pounds in one month.  Those long walks have been helping!  Despite the weight loss, though, the DVM who treated him today said Wolfie was obese and needed to lose 15 more pounds.  The irony in her comment is that she was overweight herself, but I kept quiet.

I know Wolfie wouldn't be so heavy if we all lived under one house and I could spend time with all the dogs, who all seem to vy for my attention.  He is a gentle soul to me, but he needs training around other dogs.

I now made the rest of the day all about Wolfie.  He needs one-on-one time with me.  And he needs his exercise,

We went to Transplant Pizza for our meal.  Someone on Facebook recommended that place for its Detroit-style pizza. I ordered a small 8x10 triple cheese with mushrooms as I sat outside.  The pizza was good, with the buttery, crispy crust unique to Detroit pizza.  Next door is the Craft Drinkery, owned by the same people, that sells their beer under the Mosaic brand.  It's brewed in north Tuscon off Oracle Road.

So, I extended my stay to try two different beers, both fruity.  One was an American Wheat with hints of strawberry and guava, the second one was an apricot blonde.  There were a few more on the taplist that sounded good.  I'll leave those for next time.

To top off my stay in Tucson, I drove to Reid park four miles away and walked the perimeter path around the entire park.  I parked by the activity center on the northeast end and walked south, past the golf course, continuing east on 22nd Street, past the zoo and the ponds.  Wolfie kept a good pace.  We did four miles in 1:08 hours.

The entire park was busy, even after sunset.  People had picnics, classic car displays, dogs in the dog park. a baseball game in action. Most of the path was lighted.

When I got back to CC's house, we did another mile around the block.  He never once complained.  To keep peace between him and the other two dogs, he slept in my Honda with the windows down.  It was a cool night in the 40s.

Mural Hill with Ellen and Fritz

The initial plan was to hike Chiva Falls but I was running late again this morning. I was supposed to meet Ellen at 7am by the Pizza Hut Bistro in town. I got there just before 7:30am. When I asked her if she were ok to hike Mural Hill instead, she gladly agreed. Like me, she didn't want to spend four hours round trip driving. Ellen had never been up Mural Hill. Fritz was my canine companion. 

It was a cold morning for me. It was a mere 39F when we started. I kept my flannel shirt on as I never warmed up. It only got to 55F when we were done. 

Fritz did great once we were on the trail and away from town. He never strayed far from me. The cool breeze kept him from overheating in the sun. A few times he caught a scent, but never took off. 

It had been a while since I hiked this trail. I had no trouble finding my way. It was well-maintained, with no overgrown catclaw piercing our nylon clothing. 

There were no wildflowers to color the landscape, though.  All I noticed were some lower fields of green where rain water probably saturated the soil.  

The views are rapturing. I like the perspective of the Mule Mountains along this route, mostly abandoned mining roads dotted with ocotillo (which were all beginning to bloom). Most views are to the north and east with several other reefs nearby.   "This is caving country" commented Ellen at one point.

It took us 1:30 hours and 3.5 miles to make it to the reef overlook. We gained nearly 400 feet in the last hal-mile and most of that was scurrying up the steep slanted reef.  Total elevation gain was 1900'.

We took a short break on top. I fed Fritz some food and gave him water (there was none along the way. He explored the reef, gazed out over the cliffs, but just wanted to relax a bit. We signed the registration book kept in a plastic jar on top.

We didn't linger for long. We turned around, going back the way we came, and were back at our cars in three hours. I put Fritz in the Honda while Ellen and I stopped at the Bisbee Coffee company where I had a Mexican mocha, and then 30 minutes later we went our separate ways. 

 

I stopped for lunch at Dot's Diner, a place I had always wanted to try out. It did not overwhelm me. My cheeseburger was good, but not worth $17.64. I was seated under a tent canopy where the cool breeze kept me from warming up. I finished my time in Bisbee with a quick walk through the town's historic cemetery next door, burial site to one of the early prospectors, George Warren. There is one section of the cemetery dedicated to Eastern European settlers with Slavic names as well. 

I took Gretchen out on her walk at 7am. We walked for two miles. At 7:26p, as scheduled, we saw the launch of the SpaceX satellite from Vandenburg AFB. The bright contrail it left across the sky as the rocket traveled south was impressive. It lingered for a good 30 minutes.  This was the third launch for SpaceX and my first one to witness.