Tower Hill Pond

A short distance from our house are some trails around Tower Hill Pond where we take the dogs running, biking, or walking almost daily. Usually we're running or biking, so we don't take any pictures, but we decided to go for a walk around the pond recently and I brought my camera along. It's a nice place. The trail around the pond is a 3 mile loop, but there are other trails that branch off for longer journeys.





And of course, they love their bones when they get home.

Reading Partners

Lincoln and Luna love to help us read. They especially like it when Jodie stays home to read files for work. (And yes, we are in our pajamas - we'd don't normally dress like that)

Symphony in L

I caught a front row seat to the most amazing concert last night! Pat and I brought the dogs home from their visit with Darcy, Foley, and Camden - Pat went to the grocery store, and I went out to shovel off the water and snow from the driveway. At first the dogs seemed to want to join me, but after their fun weekend with Darc and Foley they were tired and found their beds in the living room. After a while I heard a little howl and headed over to the window to see what was up. By the time I got there both dogs were in full swing. I expected to see them standing by the door, leading me to translate their howl as "hey let us oooooooooout". Instead, I saw Luna sitting comfortably on her bed by the Christmas tree, and Lincoln sitting in the middle of the floor - both with muzzles raised, lips pursed, and the most amazing sounds coming out. They didn't even seem to notice I was watching. After about a minute they were quiet. Luna was the first to spot me by the window with my mouth wide open in awe. I don't know that I've ever heard anything more beautiful.

I did a little searching to find out what their little concert might have meant and it could have been a number of things: they might have been bored or lonely (unlikely since they just got home and had LOTS of sniffing to catch up on and they knew I was just outside the door. Also, the howls didn't sound distressed or upset. They both seemed to be enjoying their song). They may have been trying to establish contact with their owners (this is a throwback to their wolf/coyote ancestry where howling was a method of communiticating with family members over distances). They could have heard a siren or other dogs howling in the distance and were trying to share their location. However, the answer I like the best is that they were bonding :o) Dogs sometimes howl because they're happy and just want to sing together. It was a beautiful sound.

We encountered a similar tone of howling when we were in Alaska visiting a sled dog camp. The dogs engaged in what the musher called a collective howl - they were just bonding and singing and having a good time. He said they do it at least once a day and it was just as beautiful with 60 dogs doing it as it was when Lincoln and Luna performed their little duo.

December Hikes: Tremont and Carr

As Jodie mentioned in her previous post. I've taken Lincoln and Luna for a couple hikes the past few weeks. The first hike to Mt Tremont was about 5.5 miles of snow free trail and relatively warm temperatures. The second hike to Carr Mountain had a small amount of snow from top to bottom and colder temperatures. The dogs seemed to have lots of fun on both trips.

I didn't get any good shots of the dogs on the Tremont hike (they are hard to get good pictures of when hiking - they don't keep still), but I did take few shots of some waterfalls along the trail.



On the Carr Mtn hike, I got a decent shot of Lincoln at the summit.



I also took this picture of both of them on the way down. It was a great picture until they turned their heads at the last second. My hand is on Luna's collar because she likes to get nice and close to sniff the camera, and I've already got enough nose prints on my lense.



This one of Lincoln came out pretty good, though he still isn't looking at me.

Vacation adventures

I do believe the doggies love vacation as much as we do - mid-day cuddles are unheard of during the week (except when I work from home, which is rarely cuz the doggies always want to cuddle in the middle of the day!), but vacation brings lots of time to play, cuddle and, best of all, go hiking and running on the trails :o)

Christmas day we took the doggies to my parent's house in MA - no pics of that though because it was sheer craziness - three doggies in the house doesn't leave much time (or space!) for photo shoots. Lincoln and Luna seemed to have a good time playing and exploring the yard, and when we got home they were so tired they didn't even wait for us to put their beds in the bedroom before catching some z's.



During our stay in MA we took the doggies to Stodders Neck Park in Hingham - a really nice dog park about 20 minutes from my parents' house. They made lots of friends, especially with a sweet lab/golden mix named Jake.
Wednesday, Pat took the dogs hiking on Mt. Carr near Plymouth NH - he'll recount those adventures for you later. My ankle still isn't 100%, so I had to sit this hike out. All I'll say is that, yet again, the doggies (and Pat) got some well deserved rest when they returned home :o)


Good thing the controller for the PS2 doesn't reach to the couch or the doggies would have had some competition ;o)
We're looking forward to the first snow of the year as it will be our first with the dogs - we can't wait to see how they react to snowballs and snowmen - though we have it on good authority that Lincoln is afraid of snowmen ;o)
More adventures to come!

Ok, so it probably seems, for all you faithful "Weimaraner Chronicles" readers (Hi Darc ;o) that we have done nothing with our furry friends since September! Fortunately for the doggies, that's just not true! Though we've been neglecting the 'Chronicles, the doggies have been well cared for :o)
We just got a new computer that has all our pics on it AND is hooked up to the internet, so there will be many more Lincoln and Luna pictures coming soon. Pat recently discovered the joys of mountain biking with the doggies... no pics of that cuz I don't mountain bike! Just running and walking for me... though not even much of that at the moment cuz I broke my ankle running on some trails. I tried to convince the doggies to go for help, but they thought it best to stay with me and provide healing nose nudges to my face :o)
More updates to come soon!

Livingston Park 9/25/06

Our friend Corey happened to be visiting us, and we were having our septic system replaced, so Jodie and I took the day off from work. During the day, we decided to take Lincoln and Luna to Livingston Park and play on the field. We played some frisbee too.

Lincoln and Luna Hike the Hancocks

Sunday September 24, 2006

Lincoln and Luna came with Corey, Jodie, and I as we hiked North and South Hancocks off the Kancamangus Highway in NH. Everyone had a nice time despite the rain. The dogs definitely didn't mind the rain.

The last portion of the climb up the Hancocks is quite steep. The terrain was much steeper than Lincoln and Luna's last hike with me, but they didn't have any trouble. Lincoln did slip at one point going up the steep section and we thought he injured his paw a little bit, but apparently not, because he continued on without any problems. Well, unless you consider the fact he rolled in some poop at the top of South Hancock a problem. Yeah, that wasn't too fun. We ended up washing it off with some mud farther down the trail, and then rinsed him off in a stream. He got a real bath when he got home.

The Adventures of Lincoln and Luna

We've had Lincoln and Luna for a few weeks now and they've been having a lot of fun. So have we.

The very first weekend they were with us they got to go up to camp on Great Pond in Belgrade Lakes, ME.

And then they got comfortable in their new home.

Jodie took them to Bearbrook State Park to play with Tony and Lamprey.

And then it was back up to camp for Labor Day weekend . . .

where they took the short hike up French's Mountain many times.

Last weekend they came with me on a 15-mile hike to the Isolation Trail for some trail maintenance.

We really like them!