Back to Houghton's Pond

Yesterday, Mom was in a real rush as she had to take the cats somewhere, but she insisted that it was very important that we go somewhere. She loaded me up into the car and we went back to Houghton's Pond. It was a quick walk, not like the hikes we've been taking, but it was fun and I got to meet some new friends . One of them was a dog, who is also too exciteable to be allowed to go off-leash. We played for a while and then our leashes got badly tangled. We even tangled up Mom! We had a blast - even Mom couldn't stop laughing.

A short trip to the park

Yesterday Mom was out for most of the time when we would have gone for a long walk. By the time that she got home she knew there would be a lot of traffic, but she wanted to make sure that we went somewhere. I'm glad. We were starting to get on each other's nerves, I think. Wednesday we had bad weather, and I got very excited and she got annoyed about the things that I got excited about and about how I got excited. But yesterday we went for a walk around Houghton's Pond, and it was good. It was just a little walk, but I got in and out of the car by myself, and we met some nice people, and it was good just to get out and smell what was there to be smelled. Then we came home and both fell asleep together. It was a good day.

The Park Headquarters Adventure

As you probably already know, Mom and I tend to spend a lot of time at the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, MA. We usually just walk around Houghton's Pond, but the place is much bigger than that. Mom knew that there were more trails than just that - we even took one once - but she doesn't much care for the idea of getting lost. She knew that trail maps were for sale at Reservation Headquarters, but she didn't really know where that was exactly. Yesterday we set out to find out.

First, though, we did walk halfway around the pond. We passed a bunch of guys raking leaves and stuff. There was a big van there, and it said "Tria Court of the Commonwealth: Community Service Program." Apparently these guys had gotten into the garbage or stolen one of the cats' toys, because they had to rake leaves as punishment. They seemed like nice guys, though. At least a couple of them seemed very friendly towards dogs, and I really wanted to play with them (and their sticks) but Mom thought they would get in trouble for this.

We continued on. We followed a sign for Reservation Headquarters, but came to a fork in the road that had no sign. We decided that Headquarters was more likely to be uphill, because downhill led to a busy street. This was the wrong decision, but we had lots of fun anyway. We climbed the hill and romped through streams. Then we turned around, when Mom figured out that there was to be no Headquarters in this direction, and went down the hill.

Down the hill, and across the busy street, was the right direction. The busy street cuts right through the park. And do you know what else is at Reservation Headquarters? The stable for the State Police horses! That's right, lots and lots of horses! I've never met a horse, but I find their scent very exciting. Anyway, Mom bought the map and we went back up the hill and walked the rest of the way around the pond.

Ball

Yesterday we went to Houghton's Pond, but we did something unusual. Mom wanted to make sure that I was good and tired, because today's weather was supposed to involve flooding and we weren't likely to be able to go anywhere today, so we went around the pond twice. I only realized that because she told me, though. Otherwise I would never have realized, because there was always something (or someone) new to sniff. I made friends with a little beagle about my age, and I met a couple of other dogs and a small child who was terrified of me despite insisting to his grandma that I was his brother. Two-leg children are weird. Oh well. I'm weird too.

Anyway, the people and the dogs and the kids aren't what I wanted to tell you about. There was this one spot on the trail where you can get right down to the pond. It was fabulous. I splashed around, and I drank the water, but do you know what really caught my attention? Balls. They'd been frozen in the snow and the pond for a while. There must have been about six tennis balls floating in that one spot, but Mom wouldn't let me have them. She said that they belong to Reggie. She did let me have the giant, sodden, waterlogged soccer ball. We kicked it around for a few minutes, in and out of the water. It didn't go very far, but it was such a wonderful and surprising find!

New Friends in the Old Park

Yesterday Mom and I went to the usual park, the Blue Hills. It was a clear blue day, cold but not as cold as Thursday, and we had a great time. There is something in the park, on the wooded side of the pond as you come around toward the end of the path and the parking lot. Mom doesn't know what it is either, since its tracks were so smudged as to be unrecognizable. Whatever it was, though, the smell really excited me.

The best part of the trip was that I made two new dog friends, in the same place. One was a beautiful, smiling, happy Pit Bull named Cody. Cody wasn't very playful, he just wanted to play with his ball, but that's okay. He was friendly with me and we sniffed each other. Cody's mom probably loves him almost as much as my mom loves me. After we met Cody we walked around the park and when we got back to the field near the parking lot there was another dog, playing with a different kind of ball, in his place! This one was a Boxer and he was there with his dad. He was a little more playful and we ran around and around. I was so tuckered out when I got home that I just went flop right on the bed!

School vacation week in Braintree

It is school vacation week here in Braintree, and even though there've only been two days of it I can see that this is going to cause some Issues for me and Mom. See, I love people. I love kids most of all. I don't even tend to jump up on them, probably because I don't have to go as far to lick their faces and get kisses in return. I'm generally really good with kids. The problem is that every time I see a new person or kid, I want to go meet them and play with them. Everything else goes out of my head. Mom seems to think that this is a problem, possibly because I don't listen to her. I'm not sure how this is going to play out during school vacation week, but it did make our walk at the Blue Hills yesterday a little less enjoyable.

Speaking of which, I made a new friend named Buddy at Houghton's Pond. I'm not sure what kind of dog he was, but he sure was friendly!

A world made new....

Yesterday I had school. It went better than last week, although I suppose that's not hard. My friend Stephanie was having car trouble, so class started with my new friend DJ. Stephanie came about halfway through class, and I was very glad to get to see her.

After school, Mom took me to the park because I've been cooped up in the house because of the weather. Tuesday brought a lot of snow to Boston, and Wednesday brought a lot of rain. When I say a lot of rain, I mean Dad started talking about building a boat and finding two of each kind of animal. I wonder where he would find a girl Golden Retriever? I'd like that very much, I think. Anyway, a lot of the streets in Braintree were washed out. Thursday, though, the worst of it had receeded so we could go to the park. It was still pretty muddy, but it was like a whole new park! There was a lot of water - deep puddles, full gutters, and even a nice little stream that wasn't there when we were last there on Saturday! It was so much fun! I ran around and around, and I splashed in the water until my whole self was all wet. I wagged my whole body. I love the park, especially when it's all wet!

Seeing an old friend

Yesterday morning the sun was out. I think that it was the first time that it hadn't actively precipitated since last week. It was cold, but Mom decided that we had both had enough of being inside and that she was taking me to Houghton's Pond, in the Blue Hills Reservation. By the time that she'd had enough coffee to be allowed to drive, the sky was no longer sunny but gray. Mom said that we were going anyway, and we did.

The woods were so pretty, all covered in snow as they were. Mom says that snow is never, ever pretty, but honestly, it looked like something from a postcard. We walked the usual route, counterclockwise around the pond, and do you know what happened? We met my buddy Reggie! It was so good to see him! We were so happy to see each other, we ran around and barked. Reggie is a barker. This is normal for Springer Spaniels.

Regggie and I played for a while, while Reggie's person gave Mom some ideas on where she could take me to practice being off-leash safely. Unfortunately they were all in Easton. Mom isn't entirely sure where Easton is, but she's very excited to find out.

After that we finished our walks and came home. Do you know what happened after that? We went down to the lake! The lake is behind our house. I can see it from inside, but there's a fence between the top part of the yard and the bottom, which goes down to the lake. I broke up some of the ice down there, and I splashed in the water, and then I came back up on land. Mom wouldn't let me off the leash; she says that the ice is too thin and that the people we see out on the ice will only get what they deserve. Anyway, Dad came down to the lake too, and I ran around his knees until my leash wrapped around them twice. Then I ran away, pulling the leash very tight. It was fun! He cursed.

It's always the little ones

Yesterday Mom and I went back to the Blue Hills and followed our customary walk around Houghton's Pond. A dusting of snow on Sunday made it a lot less slippery for poor Mom! Anyway, we'd gone maybe a third of the way around the pond when we met a tall, thin man and his little dog. I'm not sure what kind of dog it was, but it kind of looked like a little imp. Maybe it was a French bulldog? It was smaller than my head, whatever the little demon doggie might have been. At any rate, the little critter was snarling, hissing spitting, straining at the leash and making this horrible sound that might have been a growl and might have been the Beasts of the Pit trying to emerge and steal my soul. I didn't care. I showed it that I wanted to play, but its person just picked it up. "This one is very poorly socialized," he told my mom. Yeah, you think? A little later we met another dog. This one was very big, maybe a Boxer or Boxer cross, and was brindled with a bobbed tail. It hid behind its mom and did not bark.

So I didn't meet any new four-legged friends, but I did meet some two legged friends. A man was walking his two nephews in the park, and they were very young and very happy to see me. They liked dogs. They told me about their dog at home, who is an English Spaniel and barks "all the time." She also Does It on the floor. She does not sound like a very good dog.

The Stars Have Aligned!

Yesterday the stars aligned just for me. It wasn't actively precipitating, it was cold but not dangerously so, and Mom was feeling well. Do you know what that means? She finished her coffee and got dressed, and then she put her boots on. I thought she was going to go someplace dull, like the supermarket. Then she grabbed my scooper, and I just smiled and wagged my tail like anything!

We went out side and brought in the trash cans. I tried to lead her back out onto the sidewalk, but she still outweighs me and was able to get me to go toward the car. I was so happy! I wasn't sure where we were going but I knew that I would love it. I always love anyplace we go in the car. She got me up onto the seat and I wagged my tail the whole way there. She had to turn up the radio.

We got to the Blue Hills Reservation, which was a frozen paradise. We got out of the car and were almost immediately greeted by a very excited English Springer Spaniel named Reggie. (Reggie's person gave a huge grin when he heard my name, but he and Mom didn't talk baseball. That could be dangerous in Boston!) Reggie and I ran around and played for a good twenty minutes. Reggie runs fast. He's about a year older than I am, and he's so well behaved that his dad doesn't need to keep him on a leash. Mom says we're working on it but I'm not there yet, but Reggie didn't seem to mind at all. He was content enough to stay where I could reach him. I loved playing with my new friend, and I made sure that I leaned on his person good and hard to show my gratitude.

After Reggie and I had played for a while, it was time for him to get going, so Mom and I went for a little hike. It wasn't a particularly challenging hike. We just took the trail that went around Houghton's Pond. Mom said that given how icy the trails were she wanted to stick to relatively flat terrain, and I can understand that. I was able to pull her along like a dog sled in a couple of places, which you'd think she'd enjoy. Two-legs - go figure.

The short, flat, icy trail didn't hinder our enjoyment much. There were plenty of things for me to do. Last week's ice storm knocked more than enough sticks for all the dogs in the metropolitan Boston area. One of the first ones that I found was a huge stick, with lots of little sticks sticking up off of it. I carried it around for a while. Then I tried to drop it, but I couldn't! Some of the other little sticks had gotten tangled in my collar. Mom was nervous - one of the was stuck across my throat, so she broke that one off. Once I was unstuck, I picked the stick up and trotted off with it until I found something else to sniff.

I also learned that the cold weather hasn't kept the horses out of the park either. One of them left a huge deposit. I tried to roll in it, because that would have been just the best perfume for the short ride home! It would have stayed in the car forEVER! Unfortunately, or fortunately from Mom's frankly incomprehensible point of view, the deposit was frozen absolutely solid. It might have been a rock. Oh well. I guess one can't really have everything.