Tomokee is no more

We lost Tomokee to cancer in early November.  Since we're dog people, we have found a new companion, Kargo.  Kargo was adopted from the wonderful folks at SFSPCA.  If you followed Tomokee, please consider following Kargo.

Still drooling after all these years

It's hard to believe, but Tomokee's eighth adoptiversary flew by recently.

Neighbors

In San Francisco, one of the backyard neighbors dog sits for three dogs that belong to his son and his son's girlfriend. I don't know the spelling of their names, but from left to right, they are Molly, Micah, and Rajah. These are the events that happen throughout a day:

• 1. Molly and friends come out to the deck to enjoy some sunshine.
• 2. Molly starts barking, probably because she saw a leaf fall, or something like that.
• 3. Tomokee runs downstairs to the back fence area.
• 4. Molly sees Tomokee and barks more loudly, causing the other two dogs to do some barking also.
• 5. Tomokee gets up close to the fence to see through the gaps and Molly no longer sees Tomokee so she shuts up.
• 6. Tomokee walks away from the fence, Molly sees him and starts barking again.
• 7. Repeat steps 5. and 6. many times until either I drag Tomokee away or the neighbor calls the dogs inside and off the deck.

For the record, the neighbor is a very nice man and finds this all very amusing.

Spring has sprung!

Tomokee is decked out in his new spring hat, and he wishes everyone a happy spring 2014!

Open source Christmas tree

While walking around Golden Gate Park's Stow lake, we noticed that this same tree-bush has been decorated by random persons for the second year in a row. Happy Holidays!

Carmel, September 2013

Last weekend, we took our September trip to Carmel-by-the-sea and its environs. We always take a hike in Garland Ranch in Carmel Valley. Here we are at one of the scenic spots on the hike.

In Carmel itself, we always make a trip to Diggity Dog to pick up some of Tomokee's favorite biscuits. This time around, I loved their window display.

Guard Kitteh

In San Francisco, there's this shop that has a cat that hangs out by the front door every evening. Tomokee loves to stare at cats, so when we can, we walk him past the shop. He will pull and pull towards the window, and then he will be in a trance staring at the kitteh. There's generally two phases. They stare at each other in phase one. We then pull Tomokee along for a couple of feet and the cat will make a move closer to the window and they stare again for phase two.

Carmel-by-the-Sea May 2013

We made our usual May visit to Carmel recently. Here we are on the Scenic Drive walk above the beach. It's always lovely in Carmel, even it it's a bit chilly.

Only in San Francisco

While walking around the Inner Sunset district of SF, I spotted this sign denoting an area as a dog "pee-atorium". On the other side of the sign, placed on the dirt area, are these odd little sculptures. There are several other dirt areas that have the sculptures. It must be urban art.

New Year's hike

We took a hike on Monday in Arastradero Preserve. It was a lovely sunny day. In the background is Felt Lake. Tomokee is staring at the holes in the ground that lead to some form of ground-dwelling creatures.

Happy 2013, everyone!

Ornament bombing

While walking in SF's Golden Gate Park around Stow Lake with Tomokee this weekend, we came across a few shrubs and bushes that had been decorated by person or persons unknown. This is sort of like yarn bombing, but with ornaments.

Birthday

Tomokee turned seven recently. This means that in terms of dog years, he is a "mature adult". We don't know if he's actually there yet. Happy Birthday, Tomokee!

New balls

Tomokee loves tennis balls. From immediately after breakfast to about 9PM, he's got a tennis ball that he's fetching, dribbling, or just holding in his mouth. He slobbers them pretty badly and they also get coated with dirt from playing outside. We clean them frequently by giving them a light wash in the washing machine without soap and letting them air dry. Eventually he pops them and that's the end.

What he loves more than anything are new tennis balls. By new, we mean balls that are new to him. This bag of balls is a gift because they have been determined to be no longer suitable for competition practice. Usually we hide them in the closet and just pick one for him, but this time we let him select one hmself. I don't know what are his criteria, but he managed to select one after some snuffling around in the bag.

Carmel Poodle Day

We went to Carmel-by-the-Sea this past weekend, and unfortunately it was Poodle Day in Carmel. I say unfortunately because the poodle is Tomokee's least favorite breed. We spent most of the time dodging poodle encounters. Here they are on the beach enjoying some off-leash play time.

Here are a couple of them in the garden of the dog-friendly Cypress Inn.

These two are named Boo and Bailey.

Here's a close-up of Boo's hair style, which is apparently called a mohawk cut. The pink stuff is ribbon and other trimmings.

Bagfoot

Not long ago, Tomokee got some sort of scrape or something on one of his toes. We needed to prevent him from over-licking the toe because that can cause a hot-spot of irritation. A cone of shame would normally do the trick but not so with feet or toes. So, I sewed up a bag to cover his foot. I put some Neosporin on the toe and put the bag on, and off he goes. The bag has velcro fastening at the top.

Transfixed

Tomokee was in this frozen posture by the side fence for most of the day. He was staring at some sort of hole in the dirt and once in a while he let loose with some barking. We finally decided to dig out some of the area but we did not see anything obvious. There appears to be a tunnel along fence, so we plugged up this one end.

Is that a camera? I must be in this shot!

The other half's new shoes warranted a photo.  T-dog does the old AOL "Me Too!" bit.

Dog toy as pillow

One of Tomokee's recent favorite toys is this squeaky toy that is shaped like a donut. For some reason, he also thinks it works as a pillow.

Carmel visit

We recently went to the lovely Carmel-by-the-sea and it was a gorgeous day. Tomokee enjoyed his walk along Scenic Drive overlooking the water.

Bison

Last year, the bison paddock at SF Golden Gate Park gained some new herd members..
The old and young bison are all mingling now. I don't think Tomokee actually sees them. If he did, I'm sure his reaction would be very vocal.