A few days of sunshine…

January 30, 2017

We interrupt this weather system to bring you a few days of sunshine….

The Golden K is thawing out. It’s a relief that our reservoirs are finally filling up and the snow pack is at or above average both after five plus years of drought. But I’m looking forward to thawing and drying out for the next few days before the next storm system arrives in a few days.

We have no choice but to take what Mother Nature gives us. Here at the Golden K we’re ok with that as she continues to fuel my romantic perspective of life at 31oo feet.

This was Monday. The Golden K frozen in time.

This was Saturday. The pines look happier and healthier already!

This is Kloe burning off a little energy while sister Kali watches from the deck.

And so it goes with my Golden Kali…

January 26, 2017

Me: “C’mon Kali, do something”.

Kali: “I am. I’m sleeping”

Me: “No I mean, romp, play, give me some fodder for a blog post”.

Kali: “OK, post about this nap I’m taking and wake me when there is a biscuit in your hand with my name on it”.

Me: [sigh…]

And so it goes with my Golden Kali. Since the day Kali arrived in America almost three years ago she has been low key and very content to just hang and be with me and observe the world around her.

So this past weekend, after a few days of steady snow, when we took Kali and Kloe for a walk up to the back section of the Golden K I was smiling to see Kali exhibit a little bit of puppy in her. I’m still very much a kid at heart and it was great to see my Golden Kali, who is just about my contemporary in dog years, act a little bit like a pup as we romped through the snow.

As we got off the path that circles the inner section of the property around the house and began “off roading” to the deeper snow Kali began acting like, well acting like a dog. She romped, she pranced, and she threw herself down on the snow and seemed to make a snow angel, although in reality it was probably something dead she smelled and wanted to roll around on it as she loves to do…

Kali is about eight and I find myself doing the “numbers game” and thinking ahead to the day when Kali will be gone. I know there are still – God willing – four or five years until that inevitable day arrives. For Kali, like with my human kids, I would not ask her be something she is not or doesn’t want to be. She doesn’t have to fetch, she doesn’t have to romp, and if she prefers to nap and just observe this is ok with me because she usually chooses to do these things at my feet, by my side, as a truly loving and devoted companion.

But when she does choose to romp and play, as she did this past weekend in the snow, I will cherish it and be happy for her because I see that she too is very happy to be alive with her pack at the Golden K.

Kali’s Romp In The Snow

Snow day at the Golden K

Kali first snow

The Golden K Dressed In White

January 15, 2017

I imagine that snow and ice is especially unwelcome when one has to dig out, drive to work, and cover every inch of their body including their face as a regular part of their daily routine. I can only imagine because I have never lived in such a place. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and having lived their all my life until earlier this year, I didn’t experience any extreme weather elements. The temperature was rarely below freezing, there was no real humidity to speak of, and never snow.

I realize that much of this country and others in the Northern Hemisphere get plenty to a lot of snow and that it’s not always a welcome element. I’ve seen pictures of Syracuse, NY in the winter. I’ve heard about Duluth MN in January. Mother Nature is probably not any kinder in Grand Rapids MI and Quebec City in Canada during the winter months. I would probably perish after a winter week in any of these cities.

So when the Golden K gets an inch or two of snow and it all melts by mid-afternoon can I really say, with a straight face, to anyone who lives or has lived where snowfall is 60 or 70 inches per year, that it “snowed”?

We’ve had three days of snow this year which I understand is about average for our area up to this point in the season. I feel very blessed to be living at the Golden K in the middle of a forest covered by pines, oaks, and cedar trees. With each change of season so far (Summer, Fall, and now Winter) I appreciate a different type of beauty on display that I once only dreamed of waking up to each day. This morning after several days of rain and one day of snow the sky is blue, the air is crisp, and leaves and pine needles are shimmering.

The snow day we had this past Thursday was magical to wake up to. I didn’t have to dig out. I didn’t have to bundle up. And I didn’t have to drive anywhere because I work mostly from home. I know I am blessed because instead of digging out I was free to take a walk (OK I did bundle up a bit…) about the Golden K and explore the beauty with a romantic perspective of life at 3100 feet.

Mother Nature was very kind to us on this morning!

Winter Dance

January 14, 2017

I thought we were getting a Golden Retriever but we got a bucking bronco, a race horse, and at times a bull in a china shop. At least that’s how it’s seemed the past several days. Kloe is the bull and the rest of us and the house is the china shop….

A recent series of much needed storms has grounded “Air Kloe”. If we could somehow harness and store (externally) her unused energy it could potentially serve two good purposes. First, we could sell the stored energy to power companies and make a few bucks while the energy was put to good use running power tools in a factory or local lumber mill. It would probably last them weeks. And two, and even more important, the energy would not be in her body (hence the reference to external storage) and our world would a much safer and saner place to ride out these storms.

Golden Kali’s last post was called Rain Delay. And the rains have continued to delay and preclude Kloe from spending any significant time outside. The Golden K has a lot of places for Kali and Kloe to roam and explore. There are a series of gates, chain fences, and farm fences that connect our wrap around deck to several large areas that the girls can roam and run in. Well Kloe can roam and run, Kali mostly just roams for a few minutes and then quickly lies down and enjoys the scenery. The rain makes these areas, except for the deck that just gets icy, mud bowls. We’ve learned a lot of things this first year at the Golden K and one of them is that we need better drainage throughout the areas the girls have access to. There is definitely a Spring project or two having to do with grates, drains, and pipes in there somewhere…

Although Kloe is impervious to rain the house is not impervious to mud.

~~A decision to allow~~ Succumbing to Kloe’s pretty brown eyes and relentless pleas to allow her outside in the wet and mud is usually followed by 30 or 45 minutes of getting her cleaned up and house worthy. We’ll try to work in walks when it’s not raining too hard but this past series of storms has been very wet and walks have been few during the past week or so.

The girls have always had unlimmited in and out privileges so Kloe is very used to going out for a spell, coming in to see what’s up inside, and then asking to go back outside again. She’ll do this several times throughout the day but when it’s wet and muddy, depending on what we’re doing at the time, it may not be practical for Holly or I to sign up for the clean up rotations. We were talking about this the other day and were saying to each other that other dogs spend the day outside rain or shine and the owners are ok with. Why aren’t we ok with it? This in itself doesn’t make us good dog owners or make them bad dog owners. Like us they love their pups. In fact those dogs may be happier than Kloe (or our perception of her happiness?)…

But that’s not how we roll at the Golden K and that’s not the type of relationship we want to have with our pups. They sleep next to us at night, lie under the table when we eat dinner, wrestle at our feet when we watch TV, and are lavished with treats (healthy treats of course!) throughout the day.

It finally stopped raining and things are drying out. Kloe was able to spend significant time outside yesterday and will again today and tomorrow. Clean up rotations will be much shorter and “the bull” will be happier outside the china shop where she can burn off some energy, chase a ball, do a little “Tazing”, and be able to take some long power naps when the energy is finally spent.

But alas, the rains will back again by Thursday and apparently in full force. China will need to be protected in the shop and clean up rotations will be longer. Our 70 pound puppy bull will stare out the window, look at us with pleading eyes, and of course we’ll relent and let her out for a short while.

Rain, pleading stares, relent, clean up, and repeat. This is the Winter dance we do at The Golden K. We’re’OK with it.

Holly, the puppy bull, and the stare

OK with it.

Rain Delay

January 8, 2017

A series of storms over the next several days should deliver 7 to 10 inches of rain to the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Great for combating the last several years of drought but not so great for one “little” 70 pound puppy named Kloe.

If Kali and Kloe were human children Kali would be the child who was content to stay indoors and read on her bed all day. Kloe would be the hyper-active kid who had to be outside riding bikes, playing sports, or climbing trees. The extra wet weather has made outdoors off limits except for taking care of “business” a few times a day. This has been just fine for Kali. For Kloe, not so much.

First thing in the morning after breakfast Kloe looks at the door and then looks back at me as if to say, “Go ahead. Open it – I don’t mind the rain. In fact I love the rain because it makes the dirt turn into mud and you know how much I love the mud!” She eventually gives up and just lies in front of the windows facing the back yard and sulks. Today, to add insult to injury, I spent much of the morning shoring up drains and doing various chores outside in the rain. I see Kloe through window looking me and I’m sure she is thinking, “What’s up with that? Dad gets to play in the rain and mud and I don’t? Not fair!”

This afternoon Holly and I drove into town to run a few errands and spent about 50 dollars on new dog toys. Yes they are spoiled but this is another form of “rainy day recess” to keep Kloe occupied and so that she can chew off a little energy. Kali is content to ~~read~~ sleep but Kloe does a pretty good job of getting Kali to engage in tug-o-war and wrestling when new toys are brought out. This is good for Kali otherwise she’d read the entire collection of Harry Potter in a day or two before coming up for air.

As the afternoon turns to evening Kali sleeps out of ~~harms~~ Kloe’s way and Kloe for the moment is content being inside. But this rain delay may be more than Kloe can tolerate and at some point I suspect we will let her out to belly flop in the rain and mud.

Thank goodness we have an outdoor tub.

The Outdoor Tub (earlier this year)