Treading where others have been . . . . 

 

Gloop!!

"Hey, the ground is sinking!!!" 

Splash!!!. Glooooop!!! 

"OH NO!!! There's no more ground. It's just water. HELP!!!! 

Oh boy, I gotta keep my head out of the water. Oh boy, is it ever COLD too!!! Oh boy, maybe I can get my paws onto something solid and pull myself up. There . . . my paws are up and . . . . . GLOOOOP!!!! Rats, darn and stuff. The ground broke loose again.

HELP!!!

I gotta try again. This is cold swimming in the lake when its frozen and there's no ground and the ground breaks off when

you try to get out. 

Oh, Oh. Here comes Rick running down the hill. I'll bet he's mad cause the water's up to my neck and I'm just hanging here. My back paws can't even feel any ground. What kind of place is this?

And it's very cold in the water. 

Now he's coming out on the lake. Hey Rick, I'd be careful if I were you!!!. The ground sinks out here!!!!

Oh boy, he looks mad. He's grabbing my leash and now he's starting to pull.

GLOOOP!!!!

Oh boy, my paws went through the ground again. But Rick says try again so I will. Oh boy, he's got the leash and he's pulling and it's around my bum a bit so I can use my paws and he's pulling on my bum and hey, I'm getting outta here!!!. Oh boy, oh boy, I'm up on the ground again it's not caving in anymore. 

I'm getting offa this thing. Gangway!!!! 

Brrrrrrr!!!! That was cold. I'm a water dog and I got a winter coat but that was too much!!! If I want to swim I'll look it over first. I don't like them surprises!!! 

Rick says I was darn lucky and that I'm not supposed to run so far ahead but I'm a dog and I gotta run ahead to see what dangers there are and such.

The things that Rick doesn't understand!!

 

The first step . . . . .

But now we're going back home and we've been walking for almost three hours now. We've been on an Epik Journey and we've been in the forbidding forests, crossed the vast plains, thrown ourselves in the deepest canyons and climbed the steepest hills.

Abby and me got to lay down in a stream and in a shallow pond too.

There's still a little snow around to roll in to keep cool cause its awfully warm. But going for that surprise swim tired me out a bit.

We are resting now, on the side of a hill not far from home. Abby is in the canyon, laying in the stream but I'm sitting beside Rick and we are watching some cows off in the distance. The baby cows are out now and they run back and forth and kick up their legs and play among themselves.

The bull cows get in fights during the day and make lots of bellowing noises. The deer are now starting to come out more and a few nights ago when I was on patrol I saw some by our fence in the dark and I chased them and boy are they fast!!!! I got plum tuckered out then too. I chased them around the fence from one side to the other. They were on the outside and I was on the inside so I couldn't get them and teach them a lesson. 

But I couldn't catch them anyways. Yesterday they were walking around in broad daylight at the neighbour place and Abby and I sat and studied them for awhile. They come by in the winter sometimes and eat our tree bark so the trees don't grow in the summer so Rick and Carol don't mind if we chase them away. 

Our neighbour, Paula, says she likes it when we bark at the deer because she doesn't have anyone protecting her trees. And the neighbours on the hill honk their horns and yell at the deer too.

  

Keeper . . . . . and patterns

The birds are coming back, you know, the hawks and such. We watch hawks circle our place. Sometime little birds, like crows and blackbirds and stuff, go up and circle with the hawks. Except all the little birds are doing is bugging the hawk, nipping its tail and wings and yelling at it. The little birds are better fliers than the hawk and so the hawk can't do anything about them except go "Skreeeee."

But Abby and I must have forgot that we can't catch birds because the robins and bluebirds and chickadees are back and they walk on the ground and sometimes we will chase them but we are pretty slow, just like the hawk, so we don't capture them at all. But then we go over to the birdfeeder and eat the birdseed that's on the ground so we get even that way. 

But right now we are sitting on the side of the hill and the sun is warm and so I'm feeling better. Abby looks pretty comfy laying in the stream so I'm going to attack her now that I am warmer.

Run, run, run down the hill and splooosh again all over Abby. But this time the water is only up to my ankles so that's ok. 

We have gone through another forest now and we are pretty close to home, just one more forest and one more hill. 

HEY!!! What's that!!! I'll bet that's one of them horses!!!! I've never chased a horse before. LET'S GO!!!! Run, run, run and run somemore, the horse is running too and kicking up its heels. And, maybe, possibly, I think I hear Rick faintly bellowing for me to get back there but who is he kidding. I'm chasing a HORSE!!! 

Well, it ran too far. Abby and I better go make sure Rick doesn't get lost. Oh, Oh. Oh, boy, he looks mad. Oh, oh. I guess we're going home, he's grabbed us by the leashes and now we got our marching orders. Back home, quick time. 

This is the confusing part about humans. They don't know what's fun!!! But I guess I better not chase horses no more or I'll be on a leash for the rest of my life. Anyway, Abby and I like to eat their poop. 

It's the best!!!

When we were halfway done our Epik Journey Abby made a lunge into the weeds and came up with . . . . a hunk of hide complete with fur. I don't know what it's from but I wish I got to chew on it instead of Abby.

And she won't share. She never shares.

Keeper . . . . . up high

And, oh yeah, Rick tried to get it away from her but she's pretty possessive about her trophies and like I said, she never shares. Well he let her keep it for awhile and she was carrying it in mouth for a mile or so before we scared up some partridge in a forest and . . . . . well, you just gotta chase partridge. And then she forgot where she dropped her hunk of hide and Rick grabbed her leash and dragged her away but she wanted to stay and look for it.

No way says Rick. 

There sure is a lot of squeaking that goes on when you are running across the vast plains. There is a squeak on your left so you run that way and then there is a squeak on your right and then you run that way too and then left again and . . . . . well, that sure turns into a lot of running. I could swear there's some kind of critter out there. We can smell them too when we stick our noses in holes in the ground where we think the squeaks are coming from but we never see the squeakers. Not ever!!! 

Well, we are coming to the end of our Epik Journey. The gate to our place is just ahead and I guess we are pretty tired cause it's been almost three hours we've been walking and running. We didn't see any mooses or coyotes or even deer this time. Just partridges, loose fur, squeaking sounds, snow, hills, plains, streams, horses, forests and oh yeh, lakes. 

The more I think about it the less I like to swim. 

Keeper . . . . in the footsteps of the beasts who came before her