Hike & Horror

Yesterday, we went for a 5+ mile hike not far from the Hoodoo Ski Resort in Oregon.  FUN!!  With the exception of Wye who lives with friends near Olympia, all of the InPhenite Hounds were there (Opa!, Appley, & yours truly plus the Greyhounds, Mintz, & the annoying puppy, Wicka).  Our friends Max, Bert, and Lucy joined us with their people.  Bert is a Black Lab; Max & Lucy are "All-American" mixes.

The weather was mild & bugs are minimal at that elevation this time of year, and at the end was at one of the Patjen Lakes for a splashing -- or swimming if you are into that sort of thing.  Perfect!

Once we were far from the campground all (except for Max who had a surgery recently) got to be off leash for much of the time.  There was much zooming - especially between Opa! & Wicka.  When at the lake and among all the trees, this made J a bit queasy.  Wicka is a yelper & screeched a couple times stepping on branches or when darting through rough underbrush - but there were no collisions.

I don't think Lucy actually has any water dog or retriever in her mix, but she is crazy about sticks & is an avid swimmer - as long as a stick is involved.  Her person would throw big sticks into the lake for her.  As Lucy leapt into the lake, Opa! & Wicka would bound after her.  Every time, Wicka would bound after her until the water was over her head & then turn to swim back in . . . every time.  You think she's learn where that 'cut-off' was; Opa! did.   After her one & only inadvertent swim, Opa! would dart into the shallow water to a log that was partially submerged & then tightrope walk along this further out.  Perhaps, she is a SmartAss bitch in training after all.

The initial thought had been to walk to the further Patjen Lakes, but J put the kibosh on that.  Mintz had been limping slightly (old recurrent injury), & she thought that would be too far for both him & Appley who was not doing any zooming.  Fine.

Unfortunately, yesterday's joy led to today's ORDEAL.  Yes, we got to do our usual river walk near where J has a lot (a future InPhenite home), but then it was time for "Spa Day" at Grooming by Cherie (that is Silken Dove's mom).

HAH.  This is not a spa . . . she says "Spa" but we all know she means "bath" . . . and this is not Bath, like the spa town in England.  It means sprayed water & soap suds, then rinsing, and blow drying (the horror).  OK, I kind of like the blow drying behind my ears, it tickles; but I HATE it when they blow dry my toes.  You should have heard Wicka (only 6 months old & a Greyhound) screeching again.  You would have thought they were doing a Poodle cut - but they were just trying to get out all the debris from her wild shenanigans at the lake.
Then they trimmed our toenails -- ugh.  No one likes that.

Now we are resting back at the "Greyhaven" as J likes to call it, or the "Big Cock Ranch", as Rob likes to call it.  There is a lot of rooster folk art (J insists I point out that much of the rooster stuff was here when she bought the place; Rob "embraced" the rooster theme.  J poopoos it, but she has added rooster additional imagery.
Whatever . . . I point out both that this is not a Ranch & that the InPhenite Hounds are no longer all Greyhounds.  The complaint falls on deaf ears, but as I lie in the sun looking at mountain views from the patio J has enclosed with x-pens, I think I can cope with such inconsistencies.