Quick Stop

Our new girl must still be on Florida time because she gets up VERY early.

As we all continue to get to know each other I am amused by a few things.

Kory has many mannerisms that are similar to Jamie's.  Looks on her face.  The drive to follow her nose.  Laying on the floor and following both of us just with her eyes.  

Many other ways about her that just remind me of James.

She loves the ball and rope we bought her.

When she is in retrieving mode she runs from one end of the house to the other non-stop and at full speed for five or six passes until she tires herself out - retrieving the ball, tossing the ball around, chewing on the ball before batting it away from her.

She and I have gotten into tug-of-wars with the rope, but I need to get a longer one.

When Kory is happily tugging on the short rope, her teeth are disconcertingly close to my hand.

She is not aggressive towards either LC or me - not at all - but those teeth get awfully close and before she accidentally bites my hand in the excitement of the game, I think it wise to just get something longer.

LC was eating chili dogs last night.

We discovered that Kory is a very big fan of hot dogs.

And continue to be reminded that she is very smart.

I watched in amazement as LC reinforced "sit" on command, but then also taught her "up" (onto her hind legs), "down" to her belly, and even "speak" within the span of just a couple of minutes and a whole cut-up hot dog.

It was startling to see.

She already knew sit, but didn't seem to recognize any of the other words.

It took only a couple of repetitions of each before LC could mix and match commands, and Kory would get them right.

The funniest was "speak".

LC said the word speak and then barked lightly.

Kory copied him and barked very lightly.

I thought it was a fluke but it wasn't.  During the mix and match of quick commands, she barked lightly every time he said "speak".

It was very funny to watch......................

I have stopped feeling guilty about LC's messed up back.

The day after our hike up Big Butte I was limping around on a swollen left knee, and my Mountain Boy seemed to be faring much better than I was.

That lasted for a couple of days, but by the time my knee had settled down LC had thrown his back out.

He should have rested for a couple of days after the hike (instead of cutting boards for a rustic chair rail for the bathroom that we are in the middle of remodeling).

He knows it and I know it, but after too many days of pain he is finally and thankfully starting to (slowly) recover.

I am the one who has so far taken Kory for walks since she arrived, and we have walked for many hours in and around Atomic City over the past couple of days.

I carry a gun with me always, because the coyotes have moved closer to town and we are surrounded by them.

Kory and I wandered too far too late in the day a couple of nights ago, and did not get home from a walk until just after dark.

Coyotes were yapping in all directions and sounded disconcertingly close by, and I was happy to get the girl home before it got any later................

On the second full day of Korys' new Idaho life LC, Kory and I headed to Idaho Falls to pick up a used table saw and cut saw.

The morning was sunny, warm and very lovely, and when we have those kinds of days now, I know that we are enjoying them on borrowed time.

At some point sooner or later, it will be very cold.  Freezing cold.  So I look at every one of these kinds of days as a gift.

A look back at Atomic City and Big Butte that sits behind it.............

After we had picked up the saws we made a brief stop at a small park in Idaho Falls that borders a portion of the Snake River.

We couldn't stay long.

We had an errand to run in near-by Shelley and one more errand in Blackfoot before heading home.

With LC's back still messed up but recovering, he had a finite amount of time and energy available to fit all of those things in before back muscles started to tighten up again.

We were taking advantage of a narrow window of opportunity.

And so we stayed for only a short while, just so Kory (and we) could stretch our legs after the 45 minute drive from Atomic City to Idaho Falls.............

LC took Kory for a few minutes while I snapped pictures.

The agreement was that he wander close by for a few minutes, and then I would walk Kory along the paved footpath for a while before we continued on with errands.............

Neither one of us are familiar with Idaho Falls.

We have been to this town of 50,000 people only a couple of times since we moved to Idaho, and only when blindly following our GPS directions to a specific point and for a specific purpose.

In and out.

When we walked briefly at this park the other day I snapped this picture without thinking, and after reading only as far as "Caution Boaters".

It was not until uploading this picture into my blog that I read the rest.

Falls?

We missed the falls?

Yes.........there were waterfalls 500 yards from where we were standing when I snapped this picture, and neither one of us knew it or bothered to read the sign.

Talk about a missed opportunity.............

If a back injury wasn't slowing things down right now, I think we would have already been back to this park.

For LC to fish and for Karin to kayak............

After walking Kory a short way we turned back.

It was time to get moving and run errands again.

Before wandering back to the truck, I walked Kory down the boat ramp thinking that she might want water before we continued on.

Instead of simply getting a drink, she surprised me and walked right into the water up to her belly.

The last time she did that was last weekend, during a bar-b-q beside a pond in Florida.

The water in THIS place must have been a surprise because she didn't stay in it for very long...........

Our city deer crossing over just down the road from us, and heading down a gravel double-track trail.............

You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, My God, you're RIGHT I NEVER would've thought of that............Dave Barry