You will never see a creature happier or more unself-consciously authentic than when you see this dog run. The pictures don't do the spectacle justice, but they will give you the idea.
I had another near-perfect half-weekend in SLO yesterday. I wish I could have had the whole weekend, but such is life. The weather even obliged for the most part--no grief on the way up or down, minimal in between. I had been going to head up to the Angeles to find some snow for trekking, but Peter said they had some out his way so I packed the 'shoes and up I went. By the time we got out to Black Mountain, there wasn't much snow left at all, certainly not enough to warrant snowshoes, but enough to facilitate a snowball tiff and certainly enough for two dogs to eat and play.
The signs said the road was impassable, but stubbornly on we pressed--WE will be judges of that, we said. When Merckx couldn't stand it any more, Peter stopped and let him chase the car the rest of the way up the road to the trailhead. The tread was a little slippery in spots, but straightforward enough. We set our sights on two large rock formations in the distance and off we went. We found some interesting (bear? we forgot to look it up when we got home) scat along the way, Peter ambushed me with some snowballs from a sidehill as I followed up behind and I embarrassed myself by forgetting my learnin' and totally throwing like a girl in response.
Once of top of the rock, we could see the Carrizo Plain on the other side of the hills, we could see Hwy 58 unfurling itself across the land toward Bakersfield, and in the way distance we could see the Sierras covered in all kinds of snow. The contours of the land were pretty amazing and it looked so vast from that view. The clouds were far away and the day was balmy. Once we got back to the car, Peter loaded up Eddy and let Merckx uncork an impressive chase all the way down this time.
The clouds and rain were returning by the time we got back to town--after a brief winning struggle with the Lazy Monster, we got on the bikes and headed out up Prefumo Canyon, which was lush and gorgeous. We saw rainclouds over Avila, and ended up bagging the section that goes to Avila Pier, and Peter tried with mixed success to get me to lay off my brakes already as he pulled me home.
And for the evening entertainment: The new Woody Allen movie? Salsa dancing? Bruins basketball game? Why not all 3? At least, that was the plan. After dinner and the movie (which was quite enjoyable--go see!) we again tangled with the Lazy Monster before deciding to sit out the dancing for another time and maybe still catch the game, until we decided that tea and shared stories sounded just as attractive and since we were already home...which was warm...and dry...and pervaded by an awesome revolutionary kitty...so, we let Mark Twain and Stephen Jay Gould provide us a rip-roarin' good evening instead.
I dragged myself kicking and screaming (on the inside!) home this morning. Work wasn't so bad except I was tired and my last client was a huge Scottish guy who about wore me out but he was nice at least and very entertaining. After that a quick foray up to Malibu for a meet/greet of the new team and job at the end of their sponsor day shindig. I'm not sure how much I'll be allowed to blog, but it is going to be and interesting year indeed--that much I can promise.
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