Larrabee State Park

I think Tristan is eyeing his dream dog house. It's a very contemporary house hanging on the edge of a small bluff next to the park. Can you imagine the glorious 180 degree plus view?










We headed north on a day trip. As usual we were chasing sunny skies. North of Marysville I started to see clear skies - in my rear view mirror. Drat! What to do? Turn around and hope the band of clear weather would still be there or forge ahead with eternal optimism? We are a stalwart team so onward we went to our destination of Chuckanut Drive. Great virtue (mine, of course) is rewarded and thus we were. The sun came out and it was a spectacular drive.

I managed the trail down to the beach by going very slowly and the trail back up with Tristan's help. Tristan really wanted to romp but there were folks around so he had to content himself with dragging driftwood logs around and getting lots of pats from everyone.

New hat, new leash, I'm a stylin' guy!

Tuft times

Tristan is blowing his coat again so I get to trot out all my hoary tuft puns. Too bad tough times isn't a joke these days.

Club training starts again

Training started up again today. After the usual December training hiatus it's still been on hold due to the terrible floods in January. I've been working with Tristan a bit every day when we do our park outings to try to maintain his obedience. It's great to be back officially training with the club.

Tristan and I tracked on our own. I had to go quite a distance to lay his track so it would be beyond tracks already laid. Tristan did pretty well considering the field seemed to have a lot of cross tracks on it. He only had trouble on one turn where he lost the scent but he quickly regrouped and was back on it.

On the way back to the car one second I was walking and the next I was face down in the mud. Splat! I didn't even see it coming. Tristan was there to help brace but the mud was so slick my feet kept slipping out. Luckily another member had joined us and gallantly helped me up. Later in the day I took another nose dive at the training field but it was on a small bank on the edge so I easily righted myself from this not-so-big tumble.

In obedience I worked with Tristan on the hurdles. He loves jumping and especially scaling the six foot wall. Another member helped by showing me a better way to get Tristan back over. It's important the dog learns that going around on the return is not an option.

Tristan had a hard time waiting for protection. It's his very favorite. We stayed out of sight until our turn but super dog was super whiny. He knew it was protection time and he wanted it now! Tristan hasn't done a blind search for so long and it was fun seeing him go to the empty blind when directed without hesitation even though he knew the helper was in the blind right behind him.

The weather was great and it was fun getting back on the official training fields. It started out really foggy and then cleared to our first sunny day for ages. On the drive home late in the afternoon there was a lot of low lying fog rolling in which is always magical.

My knees have been better recently but my acrobatics today didn't do them any good. I can barely walk tonight. I know I overdid it and I'm hoping it's just a minor setback.

Safety first:


It's bird hunting season and hunters are in the area where we track. It's a bit disconcerting to hear shotguns nearby so I'm making sure they don't mistake us for Big Bird..

Where In The World Is Chamberlain Lake?

After our visit to Magnolia Manor Park, we went in search of Chamberlain Lake. I recalled a lake on the Google map I looked up for directions but what was a lake doing on the top of Magnolia? I knew it was within a block or so of our errand but I hadn't brought the map with me. We drove up and down the streets until I started to have a vague suspicion that the lake could be part of the park or perhaps a reservoir connected to the park; but even though I walked and drove around the boundaries as much I could - no lake, pond or reservoir. Hmm.

I looked it up again when I got home and, yep, there's the lake - right where the park is.
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By googling I found a single reference to Magnolia Manor Reservoir Dam. I was on the hunt. Finally digging through the Seattle gov utilities pages for information, I had my answer. Poof, it's gone!


Here's the picture Seattle.gov labels as "Open space at Magnolia Underground Reservoir". It's the entrance to Magnolia Manor Park. Seattle reservoirs are going underground and Magnolia took the dive in 2005.

Google is messin' with me.

New dog park for us

We visited a new park for us today, Magnolia Manor Park. Tristan thought the folks visiting the park must be very generous and polite. They leave tennis balls in the fence ready for the next visitor. It's a bit too refined, in fact, for his preference since he likes to do search and rescue missions to round up all the balls but he was quite willing to partake of the generosity. I'm hoping it was a nice lesson in manners for him and that he'll pass it forward.

Yea, more snow!

I might have missed it. Tristan politely reminded me it was dinner time and when I went to feed him, I found the backyard is once again a winter wonderland. It's about 3 inches now.

While driving in the neighborhood earlier today, I noted there were still some little pockets of snow in the streets and on some lawns although it's all gone at lower levels. Looks like we have a refill.