A GOLDEN WALK WITH THE DOGS

One of our favorite things to do is to walk up in the hills by our house early in the morning with Alan's dogs.  For one reason or another we haven't done it for a long time.  It is the best thing the dogs get to do next to actually hunting.  They are like little children--excited and squealing and hard to restrain.  Believe me, Alan restrains them though.

At the head of the trail he takes their leashes off.  Can you see them shaking with anticipation?  They are poised but won't move until he says "Okay."

I don't think he actually got the "Okay" out this morning.  He just took the breath to say it and they were off!

He keeps his whistle handy and they return from wherever they have run to.  Often we just get a "fly-by" but we keep track of them. 

Right now the mustard weed has mostly kept them on the path.

They are quite obedient to the whistle, but sometimes are very far away.

We have never seen the mustard weed so high or thick.

We almost can't see the path.  This mustard weed leaves very high dense stems that dry up and look like ugly brown sticks growing out of the ground.  I have observed that in an area that has last years' sticks, no new mustard weed grows. It takes a couple of years for it to disintegrate unless someone comes and clears it.  We think it has been at least three seasons since we have had this kind of growth.  It will be a fire hazard in the fall but is beautiful unless you have allergies.  It  felt like we were in a jungle in places.

As we approach the top of the hill and there is a break in the weeds we can see the ocean...

... and behind us our house and neighborhood.

Time to start down the hill.  I love the view.

Dense growth on this side too.  We couldn't get over it--hence two similar pictures.

Bud is out of shape and just crashes on the path.

'

Man and dog heading home.

Too bad, we have learned that as we near the trail's end they must be on leashes.  Abby especially is not very obedient when there are so many places in the neighborhood to explore.  Hopefully we can keep this up daily.  The dogs and their owners really need a more rigorous exercise routine.  We'll see.