Mission Peak -- First Hike of 2010

Andrea is currently down in Mexico getting her visa and loan paperwork in line for Foothill College. So I've been "bach'in it" for the past couple weeks. We finally had a break in the rain today, so I dragged Moose on a hike up to Mission Peak in Fremont (ironically, he was the one doing most of the dragging once we got on the trail). Andrea and I had been on the Mission Peak trail before with Moose, but the weather was poor and we didn't make it to the top. It's basically a trail through an enormous cow pasture all the way to a peak at the top of the East side of Silicon Valley.

Dogs are allowed off-leash anywhere along the Mission Peak trail. Which left plenty of opportunity for one of Moose's favorite activities... eating cow crap! At the bottom, he was running around completely berserk because of being pent up due to rain, but we quickly knocked most of the wind out of his sails as we started up our 2,300 foot elevation-gain. A couple petted him somewhere about half-way up, and he thought that was a good time to sprint in 50' circles. The guy said something to the effect of "I knew labs were high-energy, but damn!". Damn indeed sir! Around that point, I stopped for a breather and took some pictures of the bay & valley.




The keen observer will probably notice several hang-gliders and para-gliders in these pictures. Well it turns out, there was a swarm of them all over today. They were launching from about 3/4 of the way up the trail and floating around all day. I counted 10 in the air at one point while snapping these pictures.



As we neared the top, the terrain got fairly harsh. The grade increased and the trail became a sort of hop-scotch over boulders. There was a herd of cattle grazing in this area, and Moose was captivated by them. I thought he would just like to go up and smell one... because that's sorta what he does to everything. Turned out he had a less tactful approach in mind. He started yapping at one of the calves... which, of course, pissed off the herd. 60 lb. lab vs. a gang of half-ton cows doesn't seem like a winning situation. I grabbed his choker and hurried him the hell away from the cows and all was well.

Once we got to the top, we sat around for a bit so I could catch my breath and take some pictures. The temperature seemed to drop 20 degrees up there (probably from the wind) so we didn't spend to much time on the peak.





While leaving the summit, I saw several hang-gliders practically buzzing the people on the top ridge. So I snapped a few pictures of them flying nearby. They were actually close enough that it was difficult to frame them on the camera, but I got a couple keepers. The last two are pictures of the hang-gliding camp (well below us at the time) and then people packing up their gliders back at the bottom of the trail.





After the hike, I was beat... not to mention hungry beyond comprehension. But Moose was filthy from running around in the mud and eating crap for the three hours we were on the trail. So I bathed him and to my amazement, he was still wired! His burst of energy was short-lived, however, and I was finally treated to some peace...

Pointless Moose Videos

One week straight of rain, preventing Moose from going out for his daily runs in the park, results in a lot of pent-up energy. I discovered a little while back that he gets nuts whenever I blow on his nose. So of course I take the chance to mess with him as often as possible. Here's a video of Moose and me break-dance fighting.



This one's a little older, but for those of you without facebook...

Andrea was watching a show on Animal Planet profiling unusual pet products. One of them was a special cat door that recognizes a chip that gets implanted under the skin. The door then only unlocks itself when your cat tries to push through. Moose took interest in the cats onscreen... but when they showed a close-up of a cat coming through a pet-door, he lost it.



Finally, Andrea bought some shoes. When we got home with them, Moose took and instant liking to the box.

Moose Goes to the Beach

Andrea has been back here in California staying with me for the month of November. She had been trying to convince me to take Moose swimming since probably the start of summer. I always shot the idea down because we had no good way of transporting him to and from without making a total mess of my car. Well, thanks to Mom and Dad for picking out a collapsible dog kennel that fits snuggly in back seat... and thereby removing my excuse.

Some friends had described a beach near Halfmoon Bay to Andrea a while back. A beach where dogs can run off-leash (sort of a rare beach to find). So we set out on Saturday to get Moose his first experience with the ocean. We even convinced our friend, Samara, to bring her dogs along as well.

As we were driving out to the coast, the weather wasn't looking very hospitable. In fact, it was raining for most the drive. But as we arrived the rain let up and eventually the sun came out and everything worked out rather well.









Moose was more or less content to run around in the sand and did some splashing around in the water, but he wasn't enthusiastic about actual 'swimming'. He certainly got more comfortable with the water as the day progressed, but it may have had more to do with the tide going out and him being able to touch bottom.

Samara's dogs (Charlie & Sophie, the 2 Boston Terriers in the pictures) were either scared of the water, or too chilled to the bone to even think about going all the way in. It looked like they still enjoyed themselves. They had a game where they would wait for Moose at the edge of the water any time he went out to fetch a toy. When he got back with it, they'd take off like a shot thinking Moose would follow.

There were also a number of other dogs that came up at various points. One especially lively Pointer mix started wrestling with Moose and then tried to coax him way out into the ocean. He thought she was a lot of fun until that point.




Sophie, the one with the black face, is an extremely enthusiastic digger. She always gets scolded when she tried it at the school, but this is the beach! Samara let her try and dig to China. Moose was there for moral support, and Charlie tried to help out but just seemed to end up with sand on his face from standing behind Sophie.





Here are some final shots of when the tide started really going out and the sun came out. By this point, Moose would chase pretty much anything I could throw out into the water because it was shallow enough for him to bounce off the bottom.

Overall it was a big success. We spent 2-3 hours at the beach, then left the dogs in the cars to pass out as we got some lunch. Then of course it was back home for mandatory bath time. We'll have to do this again and see if Moose can actually learn the doggie paddle.

Andrea's Farewell / Birthday Party

Last weekend, our friends Dennis and Kris were kind enough to offer up their new house as a venue for a little get-together right before Andrea had to leave for Mexico. Her birthday was approaching (about a week later), so it was sort of a double celebration. Sain came out as well to partake in the festivities, and much food & drink were had. Dennis and I were in charge of the bulk of the meal, as we were making heavy use of his brand new grill.





We met Dennis and Kris at the park running our dogs together... so what would a party be without some K-9 horseplay? Moose was hyper (as usual any time he gets into an unrecognized surrounding), and someone threw a handful of treats at me. So this is me trying to get Moose to focus enough to do a trick before handing him a cookie.



Here we have the feast. It included two types of steak, a pork chop for Andrea (since she's been pork-deprived for the past year), sweet corn, sauteed mushrooms, marinaded zucchini and a salad I whipped up.



In Mexico, apparently they have a special way of eating corn on the cob. Normally it involves white corn (not sweet corn), but we work with what we have. To top off the corn, you rub it down with lime, smother it with mayonnaise, and then dust that with chili powder. I tried it before, and it is interesting... but butter just so good. Here we have Dennis trying Andrea's way of eating corn because he loves all things mayonnaise (Andrea actually addresses him as Mr. Mayo when she calls his cell).



I made a Banana Nut cake in honor of Andrea's coming birthday (baked the night before and frosted that morning). Kris and Dennis didn't really believe how heavy the cake is, and were contemplating which flavor of ice cream to serve alongside it. The rest of us sort of chuckled. Needless to say, no ice cream was served. And in fact, the cake's density was compared to the "depleted uranium" if I recall.




And finally, some dog shots for the road...




Thanks again to Kris and Dennis for the wonderful hospitality. Thanks for coming out Sain, and sorry we didn't get a chance to see Tsien. Thanks to Rigby for kicking Moose's butt when he steps out of line.