I'm sure they meant to invite me

Tristan crashed a children's birthday party this morning. He got out of the back yard and took off to the park a block away. There he apparently tried to join in a soccer game the kids were playing.

Tristan was recovered quickly. I check on Tristan frequently when he's in the back yard so it was only about five minutes before I discovered a gate was open and he was gone. I grabbed my cell phone and after a quick look on my block, I hopped into my vehicle to search the neighborhood. As I headed to the park as a likely place, I got a cell phone call from a man saying Tristan was there at a birthday party.

I retrieved Tristan and then went home to get my purse. Tristan was okay but the soccer ball wasn't. I gave the birthday boy's dad $40 for a new soccer ball.

It was such a quick recovery that I really didn't have time to get fearful and upset that something had happened to him. I'm quite sure it was the meter reader who left the gate open and I'm pretty upset about that. I always check that the gates are latched after garbage and recycling is picked up but I don't know when the meter reader is going to come. I have signs to shut the gates and it's very frustrating that the utility person doesn't use more care.

I'm so happy Tristan had an ID tag on. I recently discovered Tristan had lost his tags so I got him a new ID tag (pink heart shaped) and, in fact, just replaced his rabies tag Saturday. Even though Tristan is microchipped and tattooed, neither of those methods would have reunited us so quickly. I'm also going to put additional latches on the insides of the gates so only I can open them. I'll leave them open on garbage day and the damned meter reader will have to let me know when he's coming.

We took a road trip today which ended up being longer than expected. I was planning to hit some parks and roads off I-90 but it was overcast in that direction. We chased blue sky north until we reached Arlington and then headed toward the North Cascade Highway. We reached Rockport and then returned via Darrington. It was more driving than playing although we managed to get some fetch in along the way.

Definitely a dog paddler

We found another nice spot today. It's Olallie State Park off I-90. The initial entrance didn't look too inviting since there's a big gravel parking lot and a small power plant further in. Above the plant, however, is a picturesque falls and there are some huge old growth logs which Tristan would leap onto with a single bound.

















The best part is that a very short trail leads right to a scenic spot on the river. Even with my bad knees I can easily get to the river. Tristan and I had a blast playing fetch in and around the rocky outcrops of the river. It doesn't show on the picture but the rocky island in the middle is very high at the end. I'd throw the ball over the island and Tristan would scramble over to retrieve and then run to the top playing king of the mountain.

















Our game ended a bit prematurely when Tristan's yellow ball sank. Here's Tristan swimming to get it. He could see it and kept pawing at it but he wouldn't stick his nose under water to pick it up. Finally Tristan started making a huge ruckus clearly voicing his frustration. All this because he won't put his nose in the water. As much as he loves the water, a lab he is not.

What a big baby! I don't know where he gets that behavior. I dropped and broke my camera while we were there and I certainly didn't make such a fuss. Saying the F word multiple times doesn't count.

Still a swinger

Another visit to Tristan's swing set. He got his head and chest on the swing seat but he hasn't managed to get his paws through so that he can take a real ride. I tried to help but he's too heavy to give a boost. One of these days...

Sorry, I'm tied up right now