Will dogs do anything for a treat?

This can only be described as a doggie pool party with owners only there to ensure there was not too much hijinks and sniffing of bottoms.
Cecelia and Eric brought Lucy (Wheaten Terrier) and Rita (Cocker Spaniel) to the party. Gretchen was a poor hostess when they first arrived basically telling them who was boss in this back yard! It is rather amusing seeing three pretty submissive dogs trying to rate for dominance I think the order of the afternoon went Gretchen, Lucy then poor old Rita as bottom dog!
The amusing thing about having a doggie pool party is that you really need dogs that enjoy water and to be honest none of our do! Rita was the most apt at swimming since she is a spaniel but still was not over joyed about coming in. The solution, since they wouldn't walk in via the steps for love nor treat was to get them to come to the edge of the pool with a treat and then lift the dog in. Since they all came back for more treats at the edge of the pool one can only assume they actually liked the idea of swimming!!! None of them particularly minded going in the lilo.

Short videos of them swimming show Rita’s finesse – she was one of these dogs you can hold above the water and she will start paddling with her feet, unlike the other too that were dead weights even when held in the water and didn't start paddling till you let go. Poor Lucy would swim at full pelt towards the edge – quite a splashy style you would have to say. Gretchen certainly got the prize for knowing where the steps were and being able to home in on them and get out as soon as possible!
Gretchen tried to get the other to play with her, but after her rude greet at the beginning they were not particularly interested – that serves her right! Lucy instead found some exceptional mud and dirt to roll in just to pay her owners back for putting her in the pool!

So will dogs do anything for a treat? May be not anything, but they certainly don't learn that treat equals water!
It was a long afternoon in the pool and Gretchen slept like a log after all the activity of the day.

I’m a cow-pup!

I’m a tulip!

A bar for dogs and their owners

Friday night we decided to try out the Boneyard bar on Washington Ave.  Quite newly opened the Boneyard prides itself being doggie friendly.  They have a dog park for your pets to play while you can drink from their full stocked bar.  It is the first one of its kind in Houston! 

We set up the night with Cecelia and Eric who brought along Lucy and Rita, but then also subjected all the non dog owners to doggie madness!   Inside the dog park they have picnic benches that you can sit and drink your beer.  Obviously no food is allowed in there with all the dogs running around.

Gretchen had just been to hair dressers the day before and was still smelling like a princess – oh well she wouldn’t be for long at the Boneyard!  The groomers they gave her a bandana to wear around her neck , but apart from that and the perfume stuff they put on, it was a much better cut – no naked doggie this time!

We were one of the first at the bar and and Gretchen made friends with a short legged black lab mix whilst ignoring the Greyhound that enjoyed peeing on everything and one!  It only took and hour or so and the place got busy with both people and dogs.  The dogs were all pretty well behaved – only one annoying boxer puppy!  For some reason our picnic table seemed to attract all the little dogs who would jump up on to the table and start drinking our beer!

Doggy chaos begins!

They had loads of bowls for water and a hose.  There was an American Bulldog that just loved the hose pipe and so every time anyone came to fill a bowl he would bite at the end of the hose!

We just happened to go the night they had a fundraising event going on – so had 5 food vans turned up selling Vietnamese, Mexican, cupcakes and, best of all, Bernie’s Burger Bus!  Just the night before Stuart had told me that Bernie’s Burger Bus was stopping business for a little while as one of their guys was sadly shot dead (not while working in the van), but they decided to turn up on Friday to raise money for the family.  We held out till later to get food and to our disappointment by the time I went out with the burger order they had sold out!  Darn it!!!  Amy was the only one who got one as she had gone earlier cos she was hungry, but so was I!!

At the end of the night Stuart found the doggy washer and threatened Gretchen to a soaking! 

We all went home pretty well slobbered on! It was a cool place (well certainly for dog owners), but the beer was a little pricey.

Tri by 8:30am

It was the Thornwick ladies triathlon team at Jeff & Bredes Sprint Triathlon held in Katy.  It was the first one I did last year (and it was now my second one!).  For Ashley & Betsy it was their first and they had the sleepless night beforehand this time.

We all got marked up with the black permanent marker – number and age (to Betsy’s dismay!). Squeezed our bikes in on the rack, laid out and then went to check out the pool.

This time I put a much more realistic swim time and was number 83 in the pool out of 300 ish!  As usual it is a shame not everyone is so honest with their times!  The swim was shorter just 300m but same format as last time so I wasn't too worried.  Passing was more difficult because the lanes were narrower but I managed to pass at least one person before getting utterly frustrated by a guy in front of me and no matter how much I slapped the bottoms of his feet he wasn't going to let me by!

Cycling again was shorter at 12 miles out and back.  Out was easy but coming back there was a slight head wind.  I was pleased to find myself as the first hybrid bike in.  Stuart was there at the transition area taking pictures. 

Another quick turn around and shoe change I was off for the run.  My legs felt like lead but I set myself a goal and told myself I had to run to the next corner, but when I got there I realised I didn't need to walk it was all in the mind and carried on running.  It felt as though I was going so slowly but my time for the three miles was better than I expected.  The worse thing about everyone having ages on the backs of their legs is that you can see when you are getting over taken by someone thirty years your senior! 

Since I was in the pool so early I got back before the other two had finished their bike ride so we managed to cheer them in for their final stages.

Betsy setting off on the bike	Betsy running for the finish line
	Ashley making the final burst out to retain credibility!

I was reasonably pleased with my results coming 6th out of 17 in my age group but still need to be quicker in those transitions!

Now time to look for the next one to do ……..

Times for the record: time; rank (out of 17);avg pace

Swim (300m) 5:55.4;4;NA

T1 1:48

Bike (12 miles) 41:47.4;7;17.9mph

T2 0:48.8

Run (3 miles) 27:46.6;7;9:15min/mile

Overall 1:18.03;6  (105th overall position)

Sweating in the woods

For July 4th weekend we couldn't just stay in Houston so I found us a cabin in the woods to rent for three nights.  Due to my last minute organisation the choice was seriously diminished, however, I found a this place by chance and it was in a part of Texas we hadn't yet explored.

So on Friday, after I had flown in from Alaska in the morning, been to work for a few hours, rushed home and packed (again) we started our three hour journey to NE Texas towards a place Lufkin and staying outside Zavalla.

The cabin was very little all log except for its tin roof.  It said it could sleep six but that would have been a bit of a squeeze.  It had a veranda with two rocking chairs – just perfect for a quiet weekend with the three of us.

The cabin was set back from Lake Sam Rayburn but we could walk to it, however areas where we could swim would require a trip in the car.  The first night we got the air con going then sat on the veranda in the heat drinking beer with the mosquitoes.  Stuart got the BBQ going for our sausages and sweet corn.  It wasn't long past 8pm when I had to turn in from an extremely long day.

We had a great lie in with no rush to get up and do anything.  Had breakfast before heading off to one of the swimming areas.  We had to pay a few bucks but then we could stay in the recreation area all day.  There was a boat ramp so most people were launching boats but there was also a designated swimming area.  We headed to the ‘beach’ area but no dogs allowed!  However, around the corner we found a picnic bench in the shade (unlike the swimming area that was in full sun) and no one else around.  Stuart used my brollie in the car for extra sun protection and sat reading his book quietly.  I enjoyed snoozing in the sun while Gretchen seeked the shade under the picnic table.  It was not long before I wanted to go for a swim.  Where we were there weren't any boats so although we were outside the designated swim area we weren’t going to get sailed over!  Well as I may have said before Gretchen is not too fond of water however we decided she need to get wet and managed to coax her into the water.  In the end I took her lead off and she came swimming voluntarily!  The water was pretty muddy and the bottom squelched between your toes – eew!  Stuart opted just to take photos rather than come in.The water was boiling and was no relief from the heat unfortunately.  The fish in the lake must come out ready cooked!

It was nice getting back to the cabin to cool off before sitting back out on our rocking chairs.  Everyone who drove past us had a good stare and some waved wearily at us.  This part of Texas is very red neck and we stuck out like a sore thumb with our white pooch and lake of boat!  We took our white pooch ‘a walk’ down to the lake side.  First that happened when we crossed the fairly main road was somebodies dog – who lives on the main road but had no fence and dog not tied up – came rushing across the road with no care of cars to see Gretchen.  Luckily there was nobody coming!  Anyway we got that dog back to its owner before carrying on.  We then met Ali, aka Alligator Bate, as its owners had kindly named it – quite a sweet dog and we had a chat to them.  Then we met a couple carrying a six week old puppy and well they were different!  They rapidly got on to the question of our religion and Stuart was very PC although it did take us sometime to move on!  That was another thing we noticed there was more churches than people where we were!

The cabin lacked some useful kitchen essentially but maybe no one else noticed as they probably ate out unlike us.  It had only one bowl, no chopping board and no cork screw.  The corkscrew can be easily explained away since not many folk drink wine in this part of the world just Bud Light (yuk I hear Stuart saying!). 

After dinner activity was a game of chess, cos even though there was a TV we didn't want to watch it.  To Stuarts annoyance (although he is not as competitive as me) I won every chess game – tee hee.  Mostly by luck I would have to admit rather than a clear strategy.

To make the most of the cooler mornings we got up early to go for a walk in the woods.  It was amazingly green and wooded where we were, just on the edge of an area of Texas called the Big Thicket.  We found a trail not too far from us.  We were the only ones out so we tried Gretchen off the lead for the first time and she was very well behaved.  She would walk ahead of us but stop to wait and then move on.  Stopping and waiting immediately at our request needs some work, but there is certainly progress (all credit to Stuart not me). There were so many cobwebs while we were walking I had a cut a path in front doing an excellent imitation of a shark!

	Gretchen ‘Can I go swimming again?!’ Stuart ‘Only if you can out swim the alligators!’

In the afternoon we braved the muddy lake again in a new free spot!  It seemed even hotter than the day before so we lasted not longer than hour before taking refuge back in the air conditioned car!  Although we did manage a bit of an adventure going down lots of gravel roads trying to find somewhere we could access the lake shore with no houses.

Another night of BBQ and playing fetch with Gretchen finished of our last night perfectly.  That and the fact I didn’t have any mobile phone service meant no calls and no temptation to look at emails on the crack-berry.  Since we had Wi-Fi available we could stay in touch with the outside world as we chose fit.

As per the whole weekend we had a late-ish rise followed by a leisurely breakfast before starting our journey back to Houston. We decided on a different route taking us into the ‘thicket’ to Davy Crockett National Forest.   This would take us slightly more west before heading south but made little difference in journey time.  It also meant we could make a stop and go for a dog walk in the woods enroute.  The roads were lined with really tall trees, Piney Oaks, that reminded us of tall Scots pines. 

The walk in the woods was nice, but yet again not a sole about.  Mind you it was pretty hot – not too bad in the dappled shade of the trees but almost unbearable when we went into full sun.  Gretchen is really good at running from shade spot to shade spot!

Definitely alligator country!

Going home we got a phone from Bill reminding us that we must check all ourselves for ticks – which we did. Stuart and I were fine but poor Gretchen was covered in really small ones up her front legs.  So on Tuesday morning Stuart had to go and buy tick & flea shampoo and give her a good wash.  Amazingly the one wash got rid of most of them but since the shampoo contains a pesticide you can only do it once a week.  Anyway the shampoo was much better than our previous experience with Frontline, which made her really unwell for a couple of days following application.  You will be pleased to here I can confirm we are all tick free now