Wordless Wednesday

Blue Flax Flower

 

A cool swim and marking with gusto by a big bear near Lab Valley

In a new bear hot spot that I recently found near Lab Valley, a big Black Bear thoroughly enjoyed a swim in a pond. Then, he rubbed his back on a marking tree with gusto. He also repeatedly did "straddle marking" on a small spruce tree. That means that he walked over top of it so that he left his scent on it (both from his skin and urine).

One person joked that she'd never again look at her small Christmas tree cut from the forest without remembering what bears might have done to it!

Check out the video!

The Hachi Chronicle

This was the week of Hachi's vet appointment.

On the Hachi grading scale, he did really well. Our vet made so many accommodations, and I was deeply grateful. Hachi went into a larger than normal room via an external door so he didn't have to go through the reception area. He was wearing a muzzle, which he is totally comfortable with after years of training him to wear it. 

He hesitated to go through the door into the room due to fear but he eventually chose to cross the threshold. Our vet was standing in the corner of the room, not making eye contact or talking to Hachi. Despite that, he had a couple of outbursts toward her, barking at that fast cadence that he uses when he's stressed. For the first 30 seconds in the room, it felt like it was all that we could do to keep him under control.

Then, we got into the rhythm of the game that we use in these situations. It's called "engage-disengage". He looks at the person that is scaring him and then looks back to me ("disengages" from the trigger) which I reward with a click and treat. That game was working beautifully. Then, he took a couple of longer looks at the vet, and he managed to disengage before he went over threshold. That was the most encouraging part of the visit. 

Then, with him calm, we tried to play the bucket game with the Runner holding the treats and me examining Hachi. That was too much for him - he was too stressed to take his eyes away from the vet and keep them on the bucket. As we tried, he had one more outburst at the vet, and we decided to take him back out to the car.

So, I call it a good visit on the "Hachi scale". The good part was that he managed to calm down for long enough to visually examine the vet and then look back at us without outbursts a couple of times. However, it certainly hammered home to me that Hachi is still a long way from normal.

A piece of good news is that there haven't been any very bad lingering effects of the visit. He seems just slightly more stressed than usual, and I think that it'll pass. If our behavioral vet agrees, we will start doing happy vet visits. Hachi will go into a room where there's a tech or vet and get lots of treats to help him to feel better about going to vet offices. The bad part of this is that it requires close to 2 hours of driving for each visit.

We love our Hachi, and we'll keep working at helping him with his issues.
 

Black Dog Sunday

I remember this day well. We were camped just below the Continental Divide. We'd heard that the wildflowers were stupendous up near the Divide. The Runner and our Black Dog left the LabMobile first, planning to run along the Divide. As they departed, R did his usual celebration - leaping vertically into the air while barking as loud as he could. He was happy to be going running in the mountains.

Shyla and I left a little later under cloudy skies with thunderheads already starting to form. The trails were so steep that I was pushing my bike up some of them. We met the boys after they'd turned around and were running toward our campsite along the Divide. This field of Asters was next to us when we met. I convinced the Runner to take a short break to let me take photos of our Black Dog frolicking in the flowers. Oh, what fun!

Our Black Dog was so happy to be running through the flowers. He made me smile ear-to-ear. He was the definition of joyful.

Happy Black Dog Sunday.

Shyla Saturday

Shyla and I found a meadow of yellow flowers. And this one has the Continental Divide in the background!

We've already had such fun there! Our wonderful neighbors own this meadow but have enthusiastically welcomed us. We are lucky to have such good new friends.

Happy Shyla Saturday!

Tiny and a Tiny Cub both at the same marking tree!

 There's a bear marking tree next to a small stream that Tiny loves to cover in his scent. After he marked it in June, a cub was fascinated by it. He sniffed it, almost climbed it, and even tried to do a stomping gait like the big bears do. It led to a very funny gait because the indentations made by Tiny's paws were very far apart for a little cub.

I believe that this was Mohawk's cub. I suspect that she was foraging down by the stream very nearby. You may remember that Mohawk traveled with Tiny during last year's mating season. Therefore, this cub may be Tiny's son!

Check out the video to enjoy the cuteness of this little cub!

Thankful Thursday

I needed a break from the endless series of tasks that trying to make our new place into a home has entailed. So, I rode my mountain bike almost all day.

Storms chased me all day, and at times, it seemed as if the heavens were about to open up onto me. I'd start to hurry toward shelter. That's what I did right after taking this photo.

Then the storms would recede. After one of the storms, I veered off onto a path that I've never taken before as a whim. It was so worth it. The path and the places that it took me are going to be favorites of mine for a long time.

I feel rejuvenated and ready to take on the tasks again tomorrow. I am so thankful that I have this mountain world to explore and make me feel light again.
 

Wordless Wednesday

 

A new bear oasis

Explore, explore, explore. I was riding along on my mountain bike, and a path caught my eye. I turned onto it, and I instantly knew that I'd found the best spot yet for bears near Labrador Valley. It's taking these almost invisible turns that often leads to the best finds.

There's water, there's a stomp trail that extends a long distance, and there are marking trees. Soon, I had a cam there, and the activity has been fascinating.

This was the first footage that I got in that area. It includes a bear swimming in a small pond, and then two bears at a marking tree. I was so overjoyed when I saw the footage on the cams!

Check out the short video. I might call this spot "Bear Land".

The Hachi Chronicle

Another good week in the books for Hachi! He seems like he has a softer personality when things are going well. He's wiggly and affectionate when he greets us. His eyes literally look softer than usual. You can see that in this photo with Shyla.

We've been getting ready for his vet appointment this week. We met with his behavioral vet with whom we identified a series of factors that would make his appointment most likely to go well. Then, it was my job to convey these to our regular vet. I felt very uncomfortable about it because a number of things would require her to bend some rules for us. They included: 1) allow both me and Runner to go in (the limit is one human per dog right now due to Covid), 2) use a big room for the exam, 3) have the vet already be in the room when we bring Hachi in, 4) no techs or other workers should come into the room while Hachi is there, 5) let us do as much of the handling as possible, 6) play the bucket game when we handle him.

That's a lot to ask! And, I'm not good at asking for special treatment. But, for Hachi's sake, I did. Our vet was so receptive and said that we could do all of those things. She also wants to see our videos of the bucket game so that she is ready to play it. I feel really good about this!

Let's hope that Hachi's great state of mind helps him to have a peaceful appointment.

We will be having some workers here this week, and I really hope that it doesn't ratchet up his anxiety. We'll do our best to help him stay relaxed.

We are so happy for good weeks!
 

Black Dog Sunday

We are having a flower year like 2019 - when I took this photo of our Black Dog almost dwarfed by the flowers. 

Just today when I was playing with Shyla, I remembered how R used to opportunistically plunge his snout into my treat bag. He'd snarf treats as fast as he could until I managed to extricate his mouth. One time, I was squatting down, and he dove into the treat bag with such force that he flipped me onto my back (I was fine). He was a Character!

Happy Black Dog Sunday!

Shyla Saturday

Shyla loves to swim and she especially loves to swim to retrieve sticks from the water. We had fun this week in our new neck of the woods using our daily mountain bike ride to visit a spot where she could swim and play fetch. We were both so happy about it!

 

Having water along our regular routes has made our summer outings better for Shyla. She can cool off along the way which makes her much peppier on warm days.

We have both loved the lush meadows and the wildflowers. They're amazing!

Shyla met a pair of our new neighbors one evening this week. She was so gently friendly that she made friends with them instantly. Somewhere along the path of her life, she became a totally happy and outgoing dog. I still glow when I see her making friends with strangers.

Happy Shyla Saturday!

A mother bear and her cub near Lab Valley

 A black bear sow and her cub are living near Labrador Valley. My cam spotted them on a path with a lot of bear marking trees - but remarkably few bears yet this year. The mother checked out a marking tree and rubbed her scent on it. This is just like what I have seen with Mohawk and her cub near our old place. The cub was very interested in the tree and what his mom was doing. He was so cute!

Check out the short video!

Thankful Thursday

This phase has been one of the busiest and most frantic in a long time. We are in the process of selling our old house, and we are trying to get things set up at the new house. We don't have all the storage places that we need yet (cabinets, closets, etc) so there are a lot of boxes placed willy nilly as we bring them from the old house. All the while, we are planning more renovations... but we don't know when they'll start.

I have wondered out loud more than once why we decided to uproot our lives like this. Fortunately, there's a good answer so it all feels worth it. Labrador Valley is so beautiful, wild, and makes us feel free. That's why it's worth it.

The flowers are stupendous, and the pollinators are hard at work. This reminds me of a person deciding to stick her whole face in the ice cream bowl!

The Columbines are opening!

 

And some are fully open!

Columbines are my favorite flower. They are sprinkled throughout the valley but there are none right by the house. At our old place, I spent a long time getting a Columbine garden to thrive, and it has been hard to leave it. So, last fall, I collected seed pods from my Columbine garden and planted them at Labrador Valley. Many of them are growing but, as I knew ahead of time, it'll be a year or two until they bloom. Until then, I'll nurture them and enjoy the wild ones.

One evening after yet another frantic day of trying to make headway on my to-do list, we hiked up to the viewpoint above Labrador Valley. The sunset was stupendous! That's called a "banner cloud". They occur on very windy days. The cloud dwarfed the mighty Continental Divide.

I am thankful that nature keeps showing her beauty and reminding me why we're working so hard to make this transition.