Duke Finds Pool

Busy day today. Lots of church time. M sang twice - first at the morning service, and later at 4:00 at a special service for the new music director/organist. Each service lasted over 1 hour, so I figure we're good with God for a while. Since the choir kids need to be at church 45 minutes before any service they sing at - that means a lot of time for the Hobbled Runner to kill.

In the morning, I did my usual time-wasting activity: Walking up Summit Avenue to the University Club, turn around and go back. Not sure how far it is, but it beats hanging out at church drinking weak coffee and making small talk. In the afternoon I sat and read. I'd been out enough and it's like real summer here so the walk in my Sunday best didn't seem like such a good idea.

In between church fesivities, I walked Duke. It wasn't much of a walk, but Duke is not in such great physical shape. 100 lbs of Golden Retriever is a lot of Golden. Guess what, it's not all muscle, and while he has a big frame, I'm not buying the excuse that he's simply big-boned. He looks good - but he gets so tuckered out from any activity, that I gotta think he's carrying a lot more weight than necessary.

Duke got so hot from our mid-day walk that I broke out the pool since it worked so well for his foster family. He loved it. He spent about 45 minutes soaking and finally got left the pool so he could come inside to nap. The poor guy kept falling asleep with his head up and then his head started slowing sinking into the pool. He woke up abruptly every time his nose hit the water. Then he would straighten up, try to look alert, but after a few minutes he'd nod off and repeat the process.

We had another longer walk after dinner. The cooler evening helped a lot, and I even let him off leash to chase some squirrels around the field behind our house. Even when he's excited and in hot pursuit, he's not too fast. I also think he's got some hip issues. I don't believe the Vet he saw while in foster care commented on it (they are mailing the reports), but you can tell when he "lifts his leg" - which he doesn't do so well, and he is slow going up the stairs. His foster mother did admit that she had to "boost" him into her SUV. That's a lot of boosting.

Roscoe remains unconvinced that Duke was a good purchase. They've taken to exploring each others' food and water, and Roscoe likes to bat at Duke's big tail, which Duke doesn't seem to mind at all. One thing that does irk Duke is Roscoe's habit of entering the family room at about 90 mph, usually just whizzing by the front of Duke's face. It happens so fast that Duke just shakes his head, blinks, and twists his head around trying to see what it was that went past. Roscoe also enjoys when we brush Duke, climbing all over him in attempt to attack the brush. Duke is oblivious.

OK - enough cute animal stories. The Hobbled Wife and the Dude seem to be enjoying themselves in Yosemite and come home tomorrow. We all miss them. It would have been nice to have them around this weekend, since all my time was consumed with the Dog - or at least all my secular time. That means, the downstairs bathroom remains unfinished. The toilet works though -- just ask Duke - apparently the water tastes great.