Another (partially) off-leash hike

Tomokee got another off-leash-for-some-of-the-time hike this last Thursday. Here he's shown with our friend, Bob. Bob is sitting, appropriately, on "Bob's Bench" near the peak of Windy Hill.

T-dog got to see two bunnies (didn't chase 'em, just sniffed the greenery into which they vanished) and a deer (he was on leash for this, fortunately -- I think he wanted to go romp with the deer).

The dog's got a big yawn going because Bob & I were trying to figure out how the Democrats could screw things up any worse, then seeing the "38 page legal opinion" saying something to the effect that Michigan and Florida broke the rules, but leaving 'em out altogether disenfranchises people (which is what the rules were supposed to do, no?) so we'll seat the delegates and let each have a half a vote or seat half the delegates.

No wonder the democrats have so much trouble in presidential elections... their process is opaque yet horribly vague. Yeesh. Politics bores the dog... he'd rather see more critters.

Hiking off-leash at last!

We took a trip to Carmel this last weekend, and went on our usual morning hike with Tomokee to Garland Ranch. This time we let Tomokee hike without being on a leash, and it was wonderful. He could sniff as he pleased, and he didn't even want to eat the horse poop, as he did the first time we hiked there.
We're still a little hesitant to let him off leash on a beach because he can get a little crazy on a beach. We did do so on the next day at the Carmel beach, but we we kept him on a leash here at the Garapada beach. Most of the other dogs on this beach were on leashes also.

Nail Time!

Tomokee has these rear double dewclaws with nails that can grow too long. They don't get contact with the ground when he does all his wind sprinting ball chasing exercises. Not too long ago, he needed sedation in order to get them trimmed at the vet because one of them was curling onto his foot bad. To avoid this problem in the future, I now give him frequent pedicures and file the nails down. He responds to "nail time!" and just lays down for his pedicure. He gets a treat afterwards, which is probably the only reason he is so agreeable.

The lawn is still alive!

We've been re-doing some landscaping recently. We've got a new back patio and walkways -- can you say Connecticut bluestone full-range flamed sawn ashlar? We also now have a grown-up lawn. It's only a small lawn, but we still have to take care of it. This is sometimes difficult with Tomokee around. He doesn't dig or anything, but he does generate a lot of output, and this can be detrimental to a lawn. It's been a week and the lawn is still green. We're proud of ourselves.