Pick-up Dogs How Two Rescue Dogs Save the West from Being Won
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Big Black Muddy Elwha River
Black muddy river Roll on forever I don’t care how deep or wide If you got another side Roll muddy river Black muddy river roll Big Black Muddy Elwha River
Therapy Dogs work for hugs, treats and…Drawings!
Marcos made some more friends this week. And we got this nice drawing from a young girl with whom we read stories like Green Eggs and Ham, Max, the Shelter Dog, and Dog of Discovery, which is about the Newfoundland that went on the Voyage of Discovery with Lewis and Clark. The kids are not […]
Hvarf Heim = Disappeared haven
Ágætis byrjun= Towards the end Ég þakka þér þá von= I appreciate your Hope Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust= With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly Inní mér syngur vitleysingur = within me a lunatic sings
Wendell Berry quote
“We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what was good for the world will be good for us…For it is only on […]
Dogs in Middle Earth
This isn’t really Middle Earth. Or New Zealand. But the rocky outcrops and enormous boulder fields up near Artist’s Point at at the end of the Mount Baker Highway are not unlike those of the Misty Mountain Hop or the mountains of Rohan. The brilliant fall colors, which visit us when we’re lucky in October, […]
Exploring Rainbow Ridge
What is the noblest delight? What brings greater pride to man? Discovery! To know that you have been where no others have been before. To behold what no other human eye has taken in before. Breathing in an atmosphere that is totally fresh. To come to an idea no one has stumbled upon […]
Criss-Crossing the Cascades from East Side to West Side with Dogs
Lu’s plumage, her long tail, wildflowers, and Mount Hood in the background. Mount Hood morning. Mount Jefferson and the Cascade crest accented with a slight fog. Ponderosa pines along a ridge in Central Washington. Marcos and Kirsten with the absolutely enormous Mount Rainier some 60 miles into the background. Mount Baker with glaciers unfolding […]
The Meaning of Life: The Poems of Nanao Sakaki
If you have time to chatter Read books If you have time to read Walk into mountain, desert and ocean If you have time to walk sing songs and dance If you have time to dance Sit quietly, you Happy Lucky Idiot Nanao Sakaki, Kyoto 1966
The Shade of Trees
“In the shade I should have known the tree which gave it, without looking up,—not because the sharp little spicular leaves of the fir, miniatures of that sword Rome used to open the world, its oyster, would drop and plunge themselves into my eyes, or would insert their blades down my back and scarify,—but because […]
Spring Melt at Yellow Aster Butte
It was when I was down all fours trying to climb over a log that blocked the trail, snow in my hair and mud in my fingers, when I realized that the log wasn’t blocking the path […]
Dogs and Clouds. April in the North Cascade Foothills.
I feel oh so near When morning doves appear And ghosts of April ring Echo the refrain Soon finding a place In these lost verses. —Sun Kil Moon, “Lost Verses” from April
What are Pick-Up Dogs?
What are pick-up dogs? Pick-up dogs are not only dogs that pick us up when we’re down as I’ve seen Marcos do when we visit hospice patients, nursing homes or psychiatric patients. Pick-up dogs are dogs that ride in pick-ups. Dogs riding in vehicles seems to be an American tradition that goes back a long […]
Dogs in Cuba
In 2009, I was given an academic visa to study Cuban culture. I went mainly to pay homage to some of my favorite authors and musicians and to see what the island is really like. I spent my 10 days in Cuba walking the city of Havana. When I travel, I like to constantly be […]
This looks like an ad for Natural Balance’s Bear Biscuits
A pick-up dog waiting for some good treats.
The Forest Path and the Rain Dogs
This post is about light and the absence of light in a Northwestern forest foray. In winter, Marcos, Lupe and I walk down a path that is like a passage into a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the forest so dark that it is spooky and unforgiving. Lupe takes pleasure in the smells of the forest […]
Do dogs perceive beauty? And if so, how does this perception manifest itself?
My hiking partner, who doesn’t have a dog, has asked me on several occasions while watching Marcos and Lupe observe a mountain view or a special afternoon light, Do dogs perceive beauty? And if so, how does this perception manifest itself? This is a hard question because tastes vary from person to person and also […]