ainawgsdoutdoors

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#rebagel #cliff #hiking #im actually not sure if id be fine on this trail

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

21 April 2024

Ivan and I visited Ribsby's dog park today (named after Beverly Cleary's dog character) and did a slow meander through the trail. This place is basically heaven for an old dog like Ivan. There's rarely anyone else here and the trail is all soft surfaces. This time of year there's the sound of meadowlarks and camas is blooming all over. Ivan took his time and enjoyed his slow sniffies. I'm starting to see what looks like ataxia in his gait and it really worries me. I'm not sure if its weakness (although to me he seems to have enough muscle that this shouldn't be the case) or if it's the new pain control regimen (Gabapentin can cause some wobbliness but I only give it to him in the evening) or if there's something else going on. His parents are both DM clear so I doubt it's that but I guess there are many diseases that can cause similar symptoms. Yet again I'm trying to just be okay with seeing him get older and slower and weaker but man it's hard. It hit me today that his days of playing chuck-it or doing competitive obedience are long behind him. It happened so much faster than I could have imagined. But, a slow walk through a grassy, sunny path with birds singing and flowers blooming is certainly still nice and definitely more relaxing.

#rebagel #trail dogs #ivan #ribsby's dog park #dogs #sr dogs #german shepherd dog

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

Trout Lilies (Erythronium americanum) in bloom at Barking Slopes Conservation Area in New Kensington, Pennysylvania

#rebagel #hiking #spring wildflowers #yellow trout lily

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Trilliums at Barking Slopes Conservation Area in New Kensington, PA

There were definitely two different species here but I'm not confident on the Id. They climbed all over the rocks and hillsides in a huge carpet mixed with Dicentra.

#rebagel #hiking #spring wildflowers #trillium

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Trillium

#rebagel #PNW #spring wildflowers #trillium

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

15 April 2024

I managed to find a used Help Em Up Harness so Ivan can go on car rides again. He is quickly losing the ability to jump into the car, in spite of our increased walk frequency and his 6 pound weight loss since the beginning of the year. I also had to buy a box of potty pads, since he wet the bed last week-- first time that has happened since he was a puppy. He is not thrilled about either of these developments but is hanging in there, enjoying his short sniffy walks and his new routine of eating his kibble scattered into the grass in the morning. Last week we explored another new park, and Ivan enjoyed wading into the water. It was a short 20 minutes until he was done, and he needed me to lift him into the car-- which is not easy for me to do without a HEU harness. I'm excited to be able to resume our park explorations again!

#rebagel #ivan #trail dogs #german shepherd dog

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

Mount Rainier, Washington by Gabriel Miller

#rebagel #mt rainier #landscape photography #i wanna go there

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

On today’s edition of rocks and creatures:

#rebagel #landscape #bighorn sheep #i wanna go there

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#rebagel #landscape photography

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

let me tell you driving from Ohio to Washington in a SmartCar with everything I owned was funny enough on its own but once I got west of the Rockies, every. single. time. I stopped ar a gas station, random dads would just spawn beside my car. like there was some sort of dad portal following me. and they’d see my ohio plates and go, “did you DRIVE through the mountains in that?” and every. single. time. I’d go, “well, they didn’t airlift me!”

it killed. it absolutely cleared ever time. never failed to make the dads laugh. they were obsessed. i said it the same every time. it was like I was in a groundhog day timeloop on interstate 70 westbound gas stations. and i you know what? I was happy.

#rebagel #road trip

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

He knows he's cute

#rebagel #røst #omg look at his little fox sweater! #trail dog

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

The temperatures went up this week, probably for good, so Pandolf and I went on a quest to find the Last Snow of the Season.

(We found it. Sorry for the spoiler)

But it meant climbing some serious slopes, without knowing what we were going to find at the top.

Every time we reached a plateau and found an unsatisfactory amount of snow, up we went again.

It was a long and tiring quest but worth it, to see him prancing happily when we finally found our graal ! A modest north-facing expanse with, hopefully, some cow nests (indentations in the ground where the cows lie down to ruminate in summer = good spots for Pandolf to snow-dive in winter)

He immediately set to work, looking for diving spots.

We only found one cow nest, and even in there I could tell Pan wasn't quite satisfied with the amount of snow (he could only bury about 60% of his head); but I told him we would probably find nothing better (and in fact nothing at all) until next winter.

Which completely demoralised him.

I waited until he was done burying his snout and his grief.

We had another very brief snowfall the next day but it was clear from the start it wasn't going to be head-burying material. Both Pandolf and the hens hated it for opposite reasons.

It was the snow saying goodbye!! You have no sense of poetry.

#rebagel #pandolf #snow

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“Can I haz this very big stick?”

We had a windstorm, and the Imp discovered that someone had broken one of his trees. I had to explain that this tree will now be a horizontal one…and that it would have to remain where it was. Not sure he got the concept. :)   Sadly, this was the home of our resident woodpeckers and now they will be having to relocate. Life in the woods is ever changing….

#rebagel #the Imp #silken windhound #sighthound #fallen tree

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

for my birthday I got the gift of going with @millenniallust4death and the dogs to one of my favorite places. every minute of it was magical and I can’t wait to go back.

#rebagel #olympic peninsula #ruby beach #trail dogs #i wanna go there

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

"I know a place"

#rebagel #trees #landscaping #lovely

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

Old man walks from the last couple months. I haven't been updating here much lately but Ivan is doing well. We're making progress on his prescribed weight loss and he's about 3 pounds from his goal. He's still going for his short walks, we're still hanging in at about 1.5 miles at the longest before he starts fatiguing. He'll still sprint across the yard after a squirrel but his poor body is so sore afterward. I can't believe this dog got so old so fast.

#rebagel #ivan #dogs #german shepherd dog #other peoples dogs

[ainawgsdoutdoors]

Photos of Torch from our photography trip to lake Michigan earlier this year.

#rebagel #dogs #trail dogs #torch #photography #other peoples dogs