Monday Mini Hike and the Chiropractor

Can you beleef it has been a month alreddy since my last chiropractor appointment?  All has been well with my alinements and I is just going fur monthly maintenance to be sure efurrything stays alined but coz the chiropractor be in hiking country, mom takes a vakashun day and we do a shorter hike afore my appointment.

So here we is getting reddy to hike around Echo Lake but see that sign up above?

I has pawmit in my window.

No worries! Coz we woz able to get there on a week day when the watershed office woz open (and the watershed office is close to my chiropractor), mom went in and buyed us a pawmit so we can hike legally on the watershed lands.  That gibs us 35,000 acres more to hike on in Noo Joisey where we has nefur hiked afore!  And we can use the pawmit to hike all we want fur the rest of this year afore we has to go buy a new one fur next year. 

So here we go crossing ofur a dam.

And here I is at Echo Lake.

There woz these ducks in the lake called Common Mergansers.  Look at the gurl duck on the left - the gurls has this wild brown fevverdo going, BOL!  The one on the rite be a boy and he has his fevvers slicked back.

At the far end of the lake the beebers made a dam wot made a swamp.

I kinda falled in, yeah, that's rite, falled in the swamp.  Mom woz not amused that I reeked of swamp muck afore my chiropractor appointment.  Oops.

Wet, swamp-scented dog.  (Ahhh, nice!)

Hey! I found some snow and it be 50 degrees!

Mom had to climb ofur this tree coz she did not fit unner.  Thank dog nobuddy woz around to witness this.  I mean, she be my mom and I lubs her and all, but a graceful tree climber she is not.  Embarrassing.

We packed out some litter, too, and left Echo Lake an even more bootiful place.

Therapeutic Hiking

I did not knows if'n we would be hiking this weekend coz here be mom all week:

Yup, that be how old she looked hobbling around all hunched ofur and stuffs.  Her back went wonky.  I think she broked it. She went to her chiropractor and it helped some, at least enuff that she could walk better.  So today we decided to check out a park kinda closer to us wot udder hikers say be a kind of an icky place to hike coz the trails and map be confuzzling.  We figgered this way, nuttin lost if'n mom's back did not gib full cooperashuns and we had to cut the hike short.  Well, furrends, once I dragged mom up and down hills mom got to moving, her back went BACK into place and woz FINE!  And, turns out that park has new trails and a new map and it woz wonnerful and I dragged mom around hiked fur 10 miles!

There woz lots of seeniks through the trees.  In the summertime the trees hide the seeniks.

Wowzer! Somebuddy woz bizzy with their chain saw clearing the trail fur us.  Thanks!

I had to cross creeks on rawks.

Then the trail went on the road a bit so I had to put mom on the walking string.

The trail taked us to a cornfield on the FARM!

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Farmer fur letting us walk around your cornfield!

We did find one of the furst signs of spring - skunk cabbage be popping out of the ground!

We had lots more waters to cross.

At the top of this mountain woz an old chimney thing and part of a peeple potty - ewwww.  Must be from the old farm house wot used to be here afore they gibbed the land to be a nature preserve.

We had to go down this rawky trail...

... down to the bottom on this flat trail where a train used to go.

The Musconetcong River do be down there.

I found some falling waters speshull fur Frankie but they be much prittier seeing them in furson.

So we got back to the parking lot and I seened this pawsome car.  I think mom should pimp our ride like that.

So then on the way home I seened this sign and OMD, mom flipped a u-turn and went back!

You see, mom dussn't buy eggs in the store coz those chickuns is treated rilly, rilly bad even if'n the eggs say they is organic.  Used to be those organic cage-free egg chickuns woz treated better but not by much.  So the only time mom buys eggs is when we pass a farm while hiking where the chickuns run free!  Well, in a fence so the foxes dussn't nom them but they is happy chickuns with lots of space to be chickuns and flap their wings and nom on grass and bugs and stuffs.  If'n you think the eggs you buy is cage-free, check here to be sure coz many rilly is not.

Pashuntly waiting while mom say yak, yak, yak with the egg farmer man.

Drool.

Eggs.  It's wot's fur dinner.

Blogville Christmas Tree Prize Winner

If'n you all rememmer way back last year at Chrissmusstime, Roo ofur at Roo's Doins asked fur cobblers to make ornaments fur the Blogville Chrissmuss tree.   My sis Dixie made her speshull snowflek ornament with her teefs and I sent it to Roo fur her.

In an eggsiting random drawing of the pawticipating cobblers my sis Dixie woz picked as THE WINNER!  And the winning prize prezzie woz a speshull hand painted ornament from Irene Featherstone!

So it taked so long to get the ornament, not coz Irene be a slow painter but coz mom be a slacker and furgot to send Irene the informashun she needed until Irene had to REMIND her!  So mom finally got her act togedder and sent Irene pikshures of Dixie and telled her stories about Dixie to gib her inspirashuns fur the painting. 

Dixie, even in her eggsitement of getting a prize prezzie, do be furry gentle with the package coz it say "FRAGILE".

Thank dog there woz lots of bubble wrap for pawtekshun coz we all had to stick our snooters in there.

Mom would not let us dig the box out with our paws coz we mite break the ornament. So she dug it out with her hands.

Yup, that be my sis Dixie.

Yup, that be Dixie, fur sure!

Dixie! Put your ears up!

Ta da!

So the story wot inspired the painting be how mom and Dixie furst met.  Mom woz at the dog catcher's place (the dog pound) and had her car doors open in the parking lot.  Some peeples was there looking to adopt a dog and they taked Dixie out in the field next to the dog pound.  Dixie made her big eggscape when the peeples dropped the leash.  Dixie jumped rite into mom's car.  The dog catcher did not like Dixie and Dixie did not like the dog catcher.  Well, he commed ofur to mom and sayed if'n those peeples did not take Dixie home with them that day, he woz going to make her DEADED!  So mom told Dixie to stay rite where she woz in the car and mom dognapped her and brought her home.  So the painting shows the field in the background where Dixie did jail break and commed to live here almost 12 years ago.

Thank you Irene fur the most pawsome painting of Dixie and thank you, Roo, fur hasing the most pawsome constest!

Presidents' Day Hike

So with it being a howliday and all, I got to hike again!  Mom say that since we has been doing two hikes a week here lately, the nummers on the scale finally be going down fur her.  Her loss, my gain, BOL!

So we woz in Noo York, just the udder side of the New Joisey line and hiked 11.75 miles.  Furst we woz at Buttermilk Falls:

Ahhhh.  Pritty.

Then we commed to a memorial fur Sean Hunter Ryan ofurlooking the Hudson River.  He was from that pawt of Noo York where we woz hiking.  He then woz a park ranger in Mount Rainier National Park where he died when he fell trying to rescue a hiker.  How sad.

We had some seeniks looking back into Noo Joisey:

So then, here I is just la di da strolling along checking pee-mail off the sides of the trail...

When I stuck my snooter in a hole and seened....

OMD!  A CRITTER!  He commed flying out of his hole and I did wot any self respecting dog would do - I tried to grab him in my mouf...  until mom screamed...

LEAVE IT!!!!!

Geez, such a pawty pooper.  She got her unnercoats all in a wad ofur that coz I is not supposed to bother the wildlifes.  Well, wot is a dog to do when they almost jump rite in your mouf?  So I let the critter go up the tree and did not bitey him.  Then mom woz all like telling him how sorry she woz I be so rood and woked him up but could she just take his pikshure and just one more pikshure and 25 pikshures later....

Furrends, this isn't just any plain old skwerrel, nope, this be a FLYING skwerrel, like this one:

So mom woz all eggsited coz she had nefur seened a flying skwerrel afore.  They only come out at night and that be why he look so sleepy.  And to think I woz just a whisker away from nabbing him.  She could has seened him up close and pawsonal instead of up in the tree.  Sigh.

So on with the hike.  The trail taked us to this place called Camp Bluefield Tweed Tunnels. 

These woz builded in 1910 so soldiers could practice shoosting their guns.  Udder soldiers could walkie through the tunnels to get around the camp without being shoosted.  But the bullets woz flying off the mountain down on the houses below and the peeples complaned so they had to stop shoosting.  Now peeples has decorated the tunnels with their artwerks.

You can still go inside the tunnels and here is a portal into the dark tunnels of doom...

Mom sayed no way woz we going in those tunnels so she just stucked her camera in the portal and shoosted a pikshure rilly quick:

Then we woz like so outta there and went to a pritty place with pine trees:

So you know how when peeples do a balloon salute when they let go all these balloons into the air?  You know where those balloons end up?

Mom poked it with her stick and...

Then we taked it with us and throwed it in the trash where it belonged.

More pritty pines.

Oops.  Somedog be out here hiking without his poo bags.

We hanged them up in a tree so if'n they commed back this way the dog and his peeple could see their poo bag dispensory.

Back at our car.