I lost my job too!

Well, I knew it would happen soon. I lost my paying sponsor for my blogs and therefore my blogs will not be regular anymore. I need a rest anyway. So, check back in a month or so and I'll try to bring you up to date on my life. Meanwhile, thanks for reading my blogs and enjoy the rest of your summer.

Dad was hiding while taking my picture yesterday on Red Road in Island Park, Idaho.

Dad said that a lot of people were losing their job thanks to a lot of greedy humans, so it's not surprising that I did too!

Walking down RedRock Road.. a goodbye for now.

Arf,

Reggie, the RV Dog

Riding around the Centennial Mountains

You might think that I get tired of driving around with Dad on his many trips. Well, I don’t. It’s always fun to jump into the Jeep and lean my head out the window to smell all the animals along the road. I also enjoy jumping out at every stop that Dad points his black box at the flowers or other animals. I guess it’s the freedom to explore that makes me happy. Laying around the RV Park all day is OK, but driving with Dad is great.

We stopped in front of the west Centennial mountains. It's a beautiful day in Montana state!

This time Dad said we were going to drive completely around a big mountain range. I wasn’t sure what that meant but it sounded fun the way he said it. I took my favorite toy and jumped into the back of the Jeep. It was at least 15 minutes later that Dad finally came out and we left. (I get a little nervous that he might change his mind about taking me, so I like to hop in early and wait.)

The mountain range that we were going to drive around is called the Centennial Range in the states of Idaho and Montana. Dad said our RV Park lies at the NorthEast end of the range so we get to see the Eastern part quite a lot. We are going to circle it so we will get to see some of the western and southern part too. We should see some animals and of course, lots of flowers for Dad to point his black box at. I’m ready.

Dad found this Wild Rose that smelled so sweet!

Dad always drives slow so he won’t scare away the birds and the animals. The first bird that we saw was a big Red Tailed Hawk. He was sitting on a rock in a meadow looking for breakfast. It would be really hard work if I had to look for my breakfast every morning in the forest or meadows. It’s nice to have Dad fix it for me and serve it to me in the motorhome.

We spotted this big Red Tailed Hawk looking for breakfast at Red Rock Lakes Nat'l Wildlife Refuge.

Soon I spotted one of my favorite animals, a ground squirrel. He wasn’t on the ground though, he was on a fence post looking around. (Maybe he’s called a fence squirrel?) I barked and he ran away. I was proud that I could protect Dad from such scary creatures.

Dad loves the Western Bluebirds. He says they are so blue. (Duh!)

Dad stopped when he saw a Western bluebird flying. Dad pointed his box at the bird and he flew away. I don’t think birds like to be pointed at. There are lots of bluebirds here. Dad loves the bluebirds. I guess he like the color blue?

Dad said this was a ground squirrel. I think it is a fence post squirrel!

We drove along the mountains and stopped from time to time to let me sniff and Dad pointed his box at flowers. There were lots of flowers. I could smell them and most of them smell really sweet. I guess I like the flowers for their smells and Dad likes them for their colors. I don’t do color well and Dad doesn’t do smells well, so it fits!

I met a new friendly human on his bike machine. His name was Michael. He was going a far way.

We reached the Upper Red Rock Lakes campground and Dad stopped for a rest. I met a new friend named Michael. He was riding his bike machine from outside our country in Canada to Mexico. A very long ride. He liked me and I sniffed his bike machine. He was from a country far away called Switzerland. Dad says they have lots of high mountain there too! Dad pointed his black box at a Western Tanager, we walked down to the lake and then we left.

We saw a big black vulture bird eating a calf. Dad said a bear killed it. I bet the vulture paid him to do it!

Once we stopped because Dad saw a big Vulture (this is a big black bird with a sharp beak) eating a small calf. I was scared of the Vulture until Dad explained that a big Grizzly Bear probably killed the calf. (Then I was scared of the bear.! I wondered if the Vulture hired the bear to kill the calf, because I didn’t see the bear. If a bear killed the calf, shouldn’t he be eating it?)

We took a side road into the mountains once. I saw a creek flowing with water and lots of trees and flowers. I smelled a bear but didn’t see one (darn!). We reached the end of the road and I peeked over the end to see another road, but we couldn’t get to it in the Jeep. I guess the humans that owned this land didn’t want us to go any further. We turned around and went back to the main road, but we did stop a couple times for me to sniff.

On the south side of the mountains we saw a few deer. He just stared at us until I barked, then he ran away.

On the south side of the mountains we saw a lot of deer. I wanted to run after them but Dad wouldn’t let me out of the car to run. I enjoyed sniffing for the deer and I let Dad know when I saw them.

Dad said the willow trees that grow by the creek along the road is a great place to see Moose. But.. he also said they usually can only be seen near dark. They are afraid of humans and only come out when the humans go in. I don’t blame them since I understand that humans are allowed to shoot them. I bet it would be different if Moose had guns! I would also hide from humans if they were allowed to hunt dogs with guns. I was sorry that I couldn’t see a Moose. They are big and scary, but awesome to see and smell. Maybe another time.

A white Retriever was protecting the sheep. I wish I could do that!

I got tired looking out the window, especially after about 8 hours of riding so I laid down and tried to sleep. Suddenly I smelled something familiar, jumped up and looked out. I saw a whole field of sheep. I like sheep. There’s something about their smell I like. Then I saw a fellow Golden Retriever out with the sheep. He was a white retriever. He was in charge of the sheep and ran towards us to keep us away from the sheep. Dad says he was a working dog. I want to be a working do too! I could have lots of fun running after the sheep and protecting them.

Some big mountains were on the south side of the range too!

The mountains were nice on this side of the mountain range too. Dad stopped several times to let me out (and to point his box). By this time I was pretty tired so I laid down and slept. Before I knew it I was home and was happy to see Mom. She was sewing in the motorhome and soon I was asleep outside. Life was back to normal again.

There were lots of Sunflowers along the road for Dad to look at. They did smell sweet to me.

If you want to drive all around the mountains and creeks and lakes and see a lot of wild animals and wild flowers, come see me at RedRock RV Park this summer. Ask for Reggie. Most humans know me.

Arf

Reggie

Into the Montana Wilderness

Dad says that wilderness is a place that used to be everywhere before there were so many humans. It’s where humans don’t live and rarely mess up the place like they do in cities. Some wilderness allows humans to visit but under strict rules of behavior. They have to behave just like us dogs do!

So Dad said we were going to drive into some wilderness today. That sounded fun to me. I was expecting to see a lot of animals that live where humans don’t. I love to smell and see non-human animals. It’s good for my soul.

We drove to a place Dad called Gravelly Range in the State humans call Montana. First we drove for a long time along a highway that follows this long river Dad said humans call the Madison River. There were men standing along the river with those long poles with strings attached to the ends that they dangle in the water hoping to attract fish. I stuck my head out the window of the Jeep and let the smells of the countryside fill my nose. Cows dominated the smellscape, but I did smell some Elk, Moose and even some coyotes and bears. But alas, I didn’t see them along the highway. I did see the cows and I barked at them to keep them away from us.

We crossed the Madison River on our way to the wilderness.

We turned off the highway and drove over a bridge to cross the Madison River. Dad stopped to point his black box at the river and I felt the fresh spray of the water hit me in the face. I liked that. We climbed a hill and were soon on a bumpy road up a road named Johnny Ridge road. There were lots of wildflowers and lots of trees along the road. We stopped and Dad took my photo next to what he called Wild Blue Flax wildflowers. I don’t mind since he always gives me a treat when I’ve posed for him. It’s boring, but I like helping Dad with his pointing box.

Dad paid me to pose in the Wild Blue Flax wildflower patch. We stopped a lot!

Dad stopped a lot of times and almost every time he let me jump out and sniff around. Dad just lay on the ground with his black box pointing at flowers and I had all the fun running around and smelling things. Once, I knew that a skunk had been there recently. (That’s not hard to know!) I also smelled a bear but he wasn’t close by so I didn’t tell Dad about it. It gets him too excited. Dad said there were lots of beautiful flowers. You remember that one flower is about the same to me as another, but Dad gets his jollies shaken with each different flower he sees. However, there was one flower that had a very strong smell that I remember. Dad called it Hooker’s Onion.

This Hooker's Onion smelled really strong. Normally, I'm not interested in wildflowers.

We drove over really rough rocks and I bounced around in the Jeep. I hit my head once on the top, but it didn’t hurt me. I was kinda fun as I put my head out of the jeep to look around. Once we got near the top of the road I saw snow. It was the middle of July and there was snow on the ridge. I love snow. I was born in a place with lots of snow, so I miss it. Dad said that was quite a view, with blue sky, snow, green grass and finally yellow wildflowers.

I was happy to see some snow up here. I missed the snow. It's in the middle of summer.

We turned onto Gravelly Range Ridge Road (according to Dad’s expert sense of geography) and soon were on a wider less bumpy dirt road. There were views of mountains and fields of wildflowers and lots of animal smells everywhere. We stopped many times and I could look over the valleys to see the whole world from up here. There were fields that I could run and jump and smell. It was lots of fun up here.

We got to the top of Gravelly Range road and you could see forever or at least to Black Butte mountain.

Dad said the yellow flowers were called Old Man of the Mountain. They didn't look like humans to me!

The most common wildflower up here Dad called Old Man of the Mountain. They were all over the place and Dad pointed his black box at me when I was standing in them. Dad said they were yellow and resembled sunflowers with a big eye in the middle of each flower. Another very common one was called Sky Pilot. Dad said enjoyed the combination of the purple and the yellow everywhere he looked around him.

I got to see a lot of wilderness from the Jeep window along Gravelly Range Ridge Road.

We stopped to eat at Black Butte. There was even snow there.

We stopped to eat lunch next to a big rock growing out of the ground. Dad said it was called Black Butte and that it was the insides of an ancient volcano that once spit hot rocks from the Earth. Wow, I’m glad I wasn’t here then!

I could get out and run around and look into the valleys below. It was fun.

We drove for almost 60 miles along the ridge of this mountain range. We saw about 2 other humans, so I guess it qualifies as wilderness. There were a lots of small birds and Dad saw a red-tailed hawk too. We didn’t see any bears, but we did see some antelopes and deer. In fact, once two of them were eating together. Dad says that’s pretty rare to see them together. I didn’t even scare them away and Dad pointed his black box at them.

We saw deer and antelope grazing together on our way home.

We turned off the ridge road and went down into the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (whew, that’s a lot to type!) and followed a sandy road home. We stopped once in this large field with millions of wildflowers called the Lupine. Dad and I saw an Antelope and Dad pointed his black box at it.

Pronghorn was grazing in a field of purple Lupine wildflowers.

It was a nice day, but a long one. Dad said we drove 145 miles and it took us 11 hours to do that! I was tired of jumping in and out of the Jeep all day, but it was worth it. All the smells and the images will keep me busy dreaming outside the motorhome for days.

Arf

Reggie

Here's a map and virtual tour of the Gravelly Range Ridge Road that Dad made.

Canineland, a new country for dogs

Dad was telling me that today is Independence Day in the United States. It’s like any other day to me. I went out this morning, peed, pooped and sniffed. A normal day for me. But, Dad seemed to want to tell me what Independence Day means to humans. He seemed to want to talk, so I listened.

He mainly said that Independence Day is the day that humans celebrate the birth of their country, their freedom from paying taxes to another country and just a lot of happiness that the USA is here today, a place that humans can call their own.

I was thinking about a canine independence while watching the 4th of July parade at RedRock RV Park

Well, that got me thinking about how us canine members of the USA should feel about Independence Day and the concept of Independence. What do we dogs gain from this arrangement? I do my best thinking outside of the motorhome. I concluded after a long afternoon outside looking at the strange humans waving flags, drinking smelly potions, making loud noises with disgusting little scary things (Dad said they were called firecrackers) and stuffing themselves with more food than they should eat in a whole week that dogs don’t benefit too much from this holiday or from the Independence that humans have.

We are very dependent on humans. We are limited to eating 3 scoops of the same food every meal, every day of the year. We are tied and kept on leashes (most of the time.) We must do stupid tricks to impress the friends of our owners. We can’t drive a car, ride an ATV, or fly in a plane except in the cargo hold. We are subject to hearing our owners tell other people how stupid we are. We must endure a lot of things that humans don’t endure.

That led me to think that dogs should have their own country too. Humans who were unsatisfied with their owners in 1776 because they had few rights wanted to start their own country to gain more rights. I want to use this blog to rally support for a new canine revolution (Dad told me this word meant fighting for your rights.)

Now you must know that I am a non-violent dog. I like to think I’m even really friendly and I even like most humans. I don’t want to hurt them. But they need to know that we have much bigger, stronger and sharper teeth than they do. In fact a dog’s front teeth (humans call them canine teeth, but to me that’s all my teeth) are vicious weapons. Every dog has a set and needs no license to carry them. We can tear meat faster than you can blink, if we want. Our legs and neck are much stronger than a humans, and in my opinion, we are better hunters than humans. We can jump in an instance and push pretty hard. What that means is that we could (if we wanted) make quite a mess with a human’s life (not to mention his face.) So, we are not without bargaining means to accomplish this task of making a new and independent country for dogs. I think if we ask politely and make our needs clear, the USA government would give us a new country. If not, we could form an army of dogs to make our threats clearer to those that would not listen to our reasonable demands. After all, there are about 73 million of us in the USA and almost 63% of human households own one of us. That’s a pretty big group to bargain with.

There's plenty of room for a Canineland in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah.

The way I see it, humans in the USA have a lot of land they aren’t using in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah. In fact, Dad says most of those states are owned by the USA government. We could make our country in those places that humans don’t live. Our only request is that humans have our permission to enter it. Owners could come to visit us anytime, but they would have to walk. No cars, no ATVs, nothing noisy or smelly like that is permitted in the new country. Us dogs enjoy the fresh air and humans don’t seem to respect that.

I think Canineland could be made from unused lands in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah.

I propose that we would call our new country Canineland. That would leave no mistake about who it belongs to. I would gladly serve as the Supreme and most Dominant Pack Leader of the land, at least to get things started. I’d get some of my canine friends to agree on rules and we would build a large pack of canine protectors of our land. (Dad says a country needs an army to make sure other countries don’t take it back from them.)

Humans could visit Canineland but not on ATVs.

Canineland would not have many rules. We would freely form packs of friendly canines and find places to live that give us shelter from the cold and plenty of food to hunt. We would only eat as much as we need (this would eliminate most of the fat dogs that you see today.) There would not be any leashes or tie ropes of any kind allowed. Any dog could live in Canineland as long as he or she got along with the other members of the country, or at least in their own pack. Those that were too greedy or too violent would be given back to their owners in the United States.

Humans could walk or ride a bicycle to Canineland. No cars, RV's, or ATVs.

Humans that visited us could stay for maybe 14 days and sleep in caves or on the ground, but no motorhomes or RVs would be allowed. Humans could come visit us using their bicycles. Humans could bring dog snacks if they wanted to be nice. Those that brought snacks would be allowed to visit more often. Humans could not bring those noisy and dangerous things called guns or rifles into Canineland. Also knives (those sharp shiny sticks that some humans carry) would not be welcome. Humans could not hunt. That would be the job of the dogs only. All other animals (except humans and maybe cats and cows) could live in Canineland as long as they didn’t become too unruly or disruptive to our life style.

Humans would be pests in Canineland. No hunting, no guns!

There would be no taxes to be paid. Of course, the Supreme and most Dominant Pack Leader would be permitted to accept gifts of food from other country canines. It’s the least the others can do for him for the hard work of serving Canineland.

There's plenty of land and water in Utah for Canineland! Humans should give it to us for our new country.

So, if you are a canine wanting more freedom in your life, think about joining my canine revolution. Send me email and I’ll let you know the time and place to meet to start our new country. If you can’t get access to a canine ready internet computer, just smell your way to see me in Idaho.

Other animals could stay in Canineland like this Pronghorn. (We need some entertainment.)

Power to the Canines. Long live Canineland! (At least that’s what I think about this today. Maybe after a while I’ll think about this again and let you know.)

No cats in Canineland. (We must have some standards!)

Come see me at RedRockRV Park near West Yellowstone and we can have some real doggy talk about it.

The national flag of Canineland. Join the Canine Revolution. Free our oppressed brothers and sisters!

Reggie

Along the Snake River with Reggie

Mom and Dad took me to breakfast at Pond’s Lodge in Island Park, Idaho. Well, really what happened is that they let me watch them eat breakfast through the car window and restaurant window. I’d prefer to be inside, staring at Dad or Mom until they gave me scraps from their plate, but instead I patiently waited for them to quit stuffing themselves because I knew we were going for a great long walk afterwards. Besides, Mom usually sneaks some pancake to me if Dad doesn’t eat it first.

We drove to the river where there is a place that humans and dogs camp and fishermen park. Dad said this is the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, only about 6 miles from the start of the river. This river bubbles up from the ground into Big Springs, a great big pond with lots of big fishes. I’ve been there too! It’s a fun place to visit.

Mom let me go free after we got on the Coffee Pot Rapids Trail. (It's near Yellowstone Park.)

Anyway, we started on the trail and of course Dad brought two cameras. Mom walked me with my leash until we were out of the campground. There are so few humans and dogs here that I promised to behave and she let me go free. They call this part of the river Coffee Pot Rapids. Dad says they named it that because an old camper human lost his Coffee Pot here once. Dad lost a lens cap for his camera here once. Maybe they should rename it “Lens Cap Rapids.”

I thought I saw a deer! But it was just another dog coming along the trail!

This river is really cool. No I mean it. I can get in the river and it feels so refreshing and cool. The water isn’t very deep and at first its moving very slow. The water only comes up to the middle of my legs. I guess I could lie down in it to get fully soaked, but I didn’t. (I don’t like to get that wet.)

I could get water anytime I wanted. Mom and Dad forgot to bring water for them and they wouldn't get in the river with me.

I was running up and down the trail in front of Mom and Dad. The trail was along the river but the forest went to the edge of the river. I smelled a lot of interesting animals, but didn’t see any. I could smell the deer and elk and moose. In fact, we saw a lot of elk droppings on the trail. Then suddenly I smelled a familiar and scary smell and came across a pile of bear. It was a pile of bear hair and a few bones. Dad said it was a Grizzly Bear that had died on the trail. Now all that was left was his light brown hair and a bunch of bees that were buzzing around. Dad got me away quickly. He didn’t want my nose stung (I didn’t either.)

I think I saw a fish in the water. If Dad would let me, I'd jump in and catch it with my mouth.

Mom and Dad forgot to bring water for themselves, but I could get my water from the river. Whenever I got too hot, I found a place next to the river I could wade and lapped up water. It tasted real good.

Dad pointed his camera at this Sara Orangetip butterfly along the trail.

Dad started running around like he was crazy! Mom told me he was chasing a white and orange butterfly with his camera. Poor little butterfly. Dad should be nicer to such small insects. He pointed his camera at it a few times and then it flew away into the forest. Dad says her name was Sara Orangetip.

The heart leaf Arnica was the main wildflower we saw. Dad said more would come later.

Dad brought his camera for wildflowers too. He didn’t find many blooming yet. But one flower that he thought was very pretty was all over the place. (It has a great smell!) It’s called the Heart leaf Arnica. It’s a bright yellow wildflower (this is according to Dad since I’m so color blind.) He also found the striped coralroot (it stinks!) and a couple Indian Paintbrush just starting to bloom.

Humans toss string at fish but don't catch many. USE YOUR MOUTH!! It's better.

The river attracts humans that like to throw string at fish. Dad says they are trying to catch fish with the string. (I’d just use my mouth if I were them, it’s easier.)

This Night Heron was right next to me. He looked at me and flew away.

The river is VERY quiet at the beginning of the trail, except for the sound of the many birds. I heard the eagles that like to fish here. They fly high overhead and with their good eyesight spot a fish and dive for it, catching it in their claws. (Much better than using string.) We also saw the really big White Pelicans in the river looking for fish. Some had their heads under water for a long time. Dad says they are expert fishers too (and don’t use string but their beaks.) But when I ran into the water, they flew away. I wasn’t going after them, but they didn’t know it. Another bird that got Dad all excited was the Black crowned Night Heron. This is a big silly looking bird that I saw sitting on log right next to me. He looked at me funny and then flew away. They like to eat fish too.

Big White Pelicans like to go fishing here too. (They don't use string.)

Finally, the river got really mad and loud. I think it was afraid of going down the steep mountain. It threw up white water and crashed itself against big rocks and roared like a scared cat! I didn’t want to drink the water there because the river was running really fast and I was afraid it might take me with it. (Who knows where it would go when it’s so mad!)

Lots of humans in kayaks came to the rapids.

Suddenly we all saw a bunch of funny looking humans in weird little boats and wearing funny hats coming down the mad part of the river. Dad says they were in little boats called kayaks. They looked like little coffins to me. There were over twenty of them twenty (I can’t count higher than that). They would wait next to a rock in the dark water and then take off into the white water and be gone very quickly. Dad says they were brave to be on such rough water. One of them rolled over in the white water but came back up and went on. Strange things that humans do for fun!

The white water would take the humans down the mad river very quickly.

Soon, Mom and Dad turned around and headed back when the trail started to turn to big rocks. Reluctantly I followed them. It would have been fun to jump around over the rocks. But, I ran ahead and kept sniffing for new smells. This trail certainly has a lot of interesting smells. Dad and Mom were constantly saying how beautiful the views across the river were. Mom and Dad seemed happy. Dad said their muscles and paws were feeling very sore though because they don’t normally walk four miles so quickly. I think I must have ran a lot more than them because I kept coming back to see what was keeping them. Usually it was Dad pointing his camera at something. Keep up Dad! Geez!

Anyway, we finally made it back to the car and they drank a lot of water. Of course, I had water from the river and didn’t need any. It was a good day and I went home and slept all afternoon.

Come see us at RedRock RV Park this summer. Ask for me!

Arf

Reggie

Reggie at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

I’m still in Idaho at RedRock RV Park. Dad reminded me that this is my 52nd blog here and that means a whole human year of writing these things. I hope you like them. I haven’t heard from many of you. I’d love to hear that SOMEONE is reading these.

I haven’t been able to be outside much lately because it has been raining a LOT and because I have that dreaded Golden Retriever disease: HOT SPOT again. Dad says it’s a skin disease that nobody knows WHY we get it, but it means that the hair over my “SPOT” has to be trimmed and an ugly and bad smelling yellow liquid gets put on it until it heals. Dad doesn’t like me to go outside because I scratch it and it bleeds because of my sharp claws. But, the hot spot is getting better and the weather is improving a bit so I think I’ll be outside again soon.

This weekend we had a sunny day and Dad told me to HOP in the car. I love that word. It means we get to GO in the car. So, I waited patiently in the back of the Jeep for Dad to fill the it with his camera stuff and we were on our way early in the morning. Dad said we were going to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. It’s a very big place nearby that lets lots of different animals live there without much interference from humans. Mostly birds live there, but also Elk, Moose, Deer, Antelope, Fox, Coyotes and Bears.

What that means for me is that I get to look for animals. It’s not very far from the RV park and Dad likes to do his photography there (you know, he points that little black box he calls a camera at animals and flowers and presses a button. For what ever reason, I still haven’t figured out.)

The fox ran away from me when he heard my barking. Dad was mad at me.

I hung my head out the window and started to look for animals. I like to look for cows, dogs, coyotes, elk, fox, moose, buffalo, and sometimes even big birds. I bark to let Dad know there’s an animal he can point his camera at. He doesn’t seem to appreciate it though since he tells me to be quiet. Like the other day, we were driving along Red Rock road and I spotted a fox. Dad stopped the car and rolled his window down, grabbing his camera. I wasn’t sure if Dad saw him so I barked again. Well, unfortunately the fox thought I was trying to chase him and it ran away. (I was a lot bigger than him.) Dad pointed at the fox but he was running away. Dad was mad at me for a minute for scaring it away. It wasn’t my fault the fox was so sensitive to my barking.

It was foggy when we left on our trip. You could see the top of Sawtelle Peak (in Idaho).

Well, when we started on our trip, it was very foggy (that’s the white, wet, cold stuff that hangs in the air in the mornings sometimes). We could see outside, but only in a few places, like just the tops of the mountains. However, the fog went away soon (I don’t know where it went though.) and I was able to look for animals. The first one I found for Dad was a big bird. Dad says it was a Red-tailed Hawk. Well, just in case Dad didn’t see it, I barked and guess what… it was as sensitive as the fox and it flew away. Dad pointed at it as it flew. He wasn’t very happy with me. Sigh!

This Red-tailed Hawk didn't like my barking either!

Dad says this is the Wild Blue Flax wildflower. I was sniffing around when he took this.

The road is very bumpy and a little bit muddy due to all the rain we’ve had, so we drove very slowly. I could see a lot of birds and Dad stopped and pointed his camera a few times. Finally, after about an hour we stopped near the Red Rock creek and Dad let me roam around. The smells here are great because I can tell that lots of animals have been here. Dad was on his knees pointing his camera at tiny wildflowers while I ran all around. There are no cars or humans nearby so he lets me run free. It’s lots of fun.

This is Red Rock Creek. It flows to the Missouri River. I like to play here.

The big mountains are called the West Centennials. There's a big field for me to run in here.

We hopped back in the Jeep and drove some more. I didn’t see any big animals though. There were lots of things that Dad pointed out to me (he thinks I like to see them), like the snowy West Centennial Mountains, the wildflowers, the creeks, the lichen and the birds. I pretend to listen to him but I really just look and smell out the window for more animals.

I saw the Antelope (Pronghorn) and he saw me. I ran but Dad called me back.

When we stopped again it was in front of those great big mountains. There was a huge field full of grasses and wildflowers and I ran fast and far away from Dad (I could still see him on his knees looking at the flowers.) The smell of Antelope was heavy in the air so they must be nearby. I would love to chase them but Dad says I’d never catch them because they are one of the very fastest animals. Soon, I saw them at the edge of the forest. We just stared at each other for a moment. I decided to run after them, but Dad asked me (well, he kinda TOLD me) to come back NOW. It was hard to do, but Dad knows best. The Antelope sprang away real fast and I ran to Dad. He had a treat ready for me (I have him trained well.) Boy that was fun though!

My favorite animal to spot, the ground squirrel. Dad wouldn't let me chase him.

We drove on and I continued looking and smelling out the window. Then, suddenly I saw one of my favorite animals, the little ground squirrel. He was sitting on a fence. I immediately let Dad know and he stopped to point his camera. This time the squirrel didn’t run away, but Dad wouldn’t let me out of the Jeep. Darn! I could have had a good run!

Tracey & Jay Petervary are riding the Tour Divide race. Dad talked to them in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

While we were driving Dad spotted some humans riding what he called a tandem bicycle. It’s a machine that humans use to go fast (they can’t run like I can). We talked to them (well, Dad did, I’m shy around strangers!). They were riding their bike from Banff in Canada to Mexico, almost 2750 human miles along the Continental Divide. They were in a race (without anything to chase by the way). They hoped to ride the whole distance in 15 to 20 days. I guess that’s fast. I hope they stop to eat and sleep! Dad talked to several more humans riding bikes in the same race along Red Rock road. He also pointed his camera at them. They didn’t seem to mind. (I didn’t bark to scare them away.)


We stopped at the Upper Red Rock Lake Campground and walked down to the lake. There were White Pelicans and some ducks playing in the water (Dad says they were fishing for lunch). It was quiet there (except for me sniffing around) and we stayed a while to enjoy the quiet. (Dad sat and enjoyed the quiet, I sniffed around.)

We were on our way again. I saw some more Antelope playing in the fields, but Dad wouldn’t let me out to chase them this time. We stopped at the top of a hill overlooking both the lower Red Rock Lake and the upper Red Rock lake for lunch. Dad gave me a big dog biscuit and I was happy. It was so quiet there except for the birds chirping and a few cows in the fields mooing.

Unfortunately, we had to go home, but we took our time getting back to the RV park as we stopped a few times for Dad to photograph and me to, well, lift my leg and do other dog business, you know. One place we went was on the other side of the lake. It had a lot of sand dunes that were fun to run in. We saw some big hawks and an eagle fly by. But I didn’t see a Moose or a Bear. Maybe I’ll see one next time. I know that I’ll be out here again with Dad soon. I think he likes to take me even though I scare the animals sometimes. I’ll try to be quieter next time. I promise.

So, I hope you liked my trip as much as I did. You can come and see it for yourself. Come say hi to me when you do, please.

Arf,

Reggie

Measure Birthdays with your "happy age"

Humans have an event that they call BIRTH DAYS. They apply this name to the event that happens on the day which they left their mommy and became independent to breathe air on their own. Dad says humans call this “birth.” I had a birth too.

I remember Mom holding me so tight as a puppy. It felt good and I was happy.

Humans do special things on their “birthday.” Humans measure this birthday by something they call the year. In this way, on last Saturday, I was 9 years old. I have seen 9 Springtimes in my life so far. Mom and Dad and Karen and Steve and Georgiana and Arlene and John and Gordon all told me to have a happy day. Steve and Karen gave me a special present of four little cozy babies to play with. They squeak and they’re soft to touch and chew. Thanks!!!! John gave me a nice treat to eat and Mom and Dad gave me a special blueberry dessert after my lunch bone. Dad took me on a long walk. So it was a a nice day.

Meeting new friends like me. Here's me and Brandy in Rockport, Texas. We had a good time together in the lake.

But to me, this seems like an arbitrary measurement of your life. If you are going to count the number of times the earth goes around the sun as your age and let that guide you on how you should act, you might as well count the number of squirrels in a field and say that is your age.

Going with Dad on his photography trips when I can be loose and play. That's a good memory for me.

Us dogs don’t live as long as humans and we should have another way to measure our life. Our life needs a larger number than the few times the Earth circles the Sun. Every such Birthday for humans is a special day. They mark the day and add it to a count they call their age. They use that number to determine many things in their lives, like when to kiss, when to drive, when to drink, when to quit having fun, etc. They compare their ages to each other and decide how one should act to the other based on this number. They give presents to the person on that day and feed them special food. Sometimes they get to go out and play instead of work. That’s OK with me. (I usually get a little piece of the special food, like cake, on that day.)

Playing with other dogs on a Dog beach in California was a happy day.

For me, I’d rather make the marks that count my life measure the number of days that are special in my memories. I think that a dog should measure how many special times happen in their lives. I don’t mean just a walk or getting to go outside. I mean really fun times when you do something very special. For each one of those, you mark it and add it to your “happy age”. Then, when you die, you’ll know how much fun you’ve had while you were here.

How could I forget the great and happy times on the boat at Lake Powell? I felt the water on my face.

Some of the fun and memorable times that would make my “happy age” would be:

1. The day I met Mom and Dad and Genevieve. That was special because I was with my new family for the first time.

2. My first day when I could run outside and play all day in the white fluffy cold and icy stuff humans call snow!

3. My first long walk with Mom and Dad in Nederland, Colorado when we walked along a nice stream of water and I could play by myself.

4. When I first met my good canine friend Casey.

5. My first trip to a dog park in Boulder Colorado. It was fun to play with the other dogs.

6. My first visit to a Pet’s Mart. I could go shopping with Mom and Dad too!

7. My first trip in the big motorhome. I was scared but also very excited. It turned out to be fun.

8. Swimming in Henry’s Lake and playing with Mom and Dad when they would throw a stick to me.

9. When I was a puppy and I got to sleep on Genevieve’s lap for as long as I wanted.

10. Meeting Genevieve’s canine friend, Megan for the first time. We ran in the tall grass and played.

11. Seeing my first cows and barking at them.

12. Running after squirrels and actually catching one of them.

13. Meeting my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Linda and their dog Gus. And later, Mia.

14. Going on photography trips with Dad when we can get out and I can sniff around as much as I want.

15. My visit to the beach in California. It was a dog beach and I met a lot of canine friends and got to run a lot.

16. Getting to “glide” with Dad or Mom on their Segway. I could go anywhere with them as long as I stayed out of the way of the Segway.

17. Riding in a boat on Lake Powell with Mom and Dad and getting to jump off on an island and play. Feeling the water spray in my face as we raced across the big lake.

18. Playing with mom on a beach in Pacific Grove, California. I jumped high to fetch a stick. It was so much fun.

19. The first time I met Dad and Mom’s Granddaughter Chloe. She smelled so sweet.

Chloe is my "sister". She's really Dad and Mom's grandchild. She smelled and tasted so sweet. I love her.

Swimming in Henry's Lake at RedRock RV Park is a fun memory. Mom was tossing sticks for me to retrieve.

Well, I think you get the idea. I won’t list them all. But I can think of at least 65 memories that make me happy. So I guess you’d say I was 65 by that measure. Maybe this way I can’t have special presents every time the Earth goes around the Sun, but when I think of my “happy age” it will always remind me of the good times in my life. And that is a very special present.

Running as fast as I can on the beach and in the water is so much fun for me.

So, when you have a birthday, think about what you did to earn that special day. Think of all the good things that happened to you in those years and add them up. If it is greater than your human age, then you are truly a happy person or dog. If not, you need to spend more time making happy times for yourself.

Meeting my good beagle friend Casey is a day I won't forget.

Arf,

Reggie