Saturday was Beach Day!   First, we took the boys to meet with Jennifer and her Corgi, Meimei at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay.  As it turns out, Meimei’s 8th birthday was the next day so it was a doggie birthday celebration for her (though we didn’t know it at the time)!   The dogs got to swim in the bay (retrieving bumpers), then walk in the ocean.

Thanks to Jennifer Chuang for the following pictures at Pillar Point:

Here’s an adorable photo of Thistle, Meimei, and Ronan at their end of their walk.

Ronan found a seaweed bulb to play with.

Here’s a rare photo of Don and me together.   It was a beautiful scene with a rocky beach and rocks in the background.  Apparently if you go there during low tide there are many tidepools to explore.

We had lunch at one of our favorite places in Half Moon Bay, the Flying Fish Grill.   The dogs were allowed with us on the patio and were very well behaved (yay!).

In the afternoon I took Sport and Lola to Seascape Beach (at least I think that’s where we were), with Jennifer and Rockie.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, and we were able to find a spot pretty much all to ourselves.

Here’s a shot of Sport, Lola, and Rockie.

The day couldn’t have ended more perfectly with dinner at Gayle’s Bakery/Rotisserie in Soquel.   What a gem of a place and so much good food to choose from.

After a week of heat, the overcast cool beach in Aptos was extremely welcoming (though Rio del Mar beach was a bit too cramped for my taste).   These aren’t the greatest photos as it was supposed to be a video of Sport and Lola fetching balls on the beach, but I managed to have the camera in some time-lapse video setting so this is all we have!

We’ve been in LA for the last week, right in the middle of a blazing inferno of heat.   Fortunately it has cooled down some, but for most of the trip everyone has refused to go outdoors except late at night!   Not much to report, but here’s a photo showing that Goldens can have fun anytime, anywhere.  :-)   The pool had just been emptied, and was a great source of entertainment for quite a while!

Also, the Artisan Beer litter is now over 16 weeks old!  Here are Ronan and Thistle today.

Posting to the blog has suffered because we have had a very slow and intermittent internet connection.   Today we have fantastic weather, and right now I’ve got connectivity so here’s a quick post before we lose it!

Thistle swam for the first time a couple days ago, and is doing short retrieves of bumpers and his little duck dokken!   Thistle is:   Tigana Cairngorm Blessed Thistle [beer link]

Here he is swimming:

Just lost connectivity for a couple hours in the middle of this post, so must hurry!

Here are Thistle and Ronan watching the big dogs swim

Yesterday, we went for a hike and Sporty, feeling clever, swam to a tree and climbed on.

Lola thought that was pretty cool.  Not to be outdone, here’s what she did:

All that swimming and hiking is tiring for everyone…  here’s K’Ehleyr and Thistle snoozing together while K’Ehleyr was waiting her turn to be dried.

This post took all day to do since I kept losing my internet connection (sigh).   We have many photos, most of which will need to be posted after we return.   I’ve got some cute Jingles puppies pictures to post, as Corina/Jackson and Jennifer/Rockie joined us for the first part of the trip.   Watch for them on the next post!

A gorgeous day, filled with puppies and sunshine.

Here’s an ungroomed Sport the day after having babies;  she was happy to play ball a few times in the yard.

The puppies all gained 2.5 oz on average the first day.   Here are the fatties

Feeding when standing up makes for strong legs and necks.     Actually I like this picture because it looks like Sport is wearing dark eye makeup.

Lastly,  this is what is happening in the house when we are all busy in the whelping area

More tomorrow!

Lola turned 8 on Feb 17, and that weekend we all went to play in the snow with Sporty and her “nephews” Jackson and Rockie.

Here’s Lola retrieving a frisbee!  This is unusual because she almost never retrieves anything on land, but will retrieve endlessly in the water.  We figure the snow is just frozen water, so it’s consistent with her pattern.  :-)

Lola also got to wonder at the beauty and stillness of nature.

She had so much fun, she decided to take some snowballs home with her!

Happy Birthday, dear Lola!

More pictures can be found here

Don took this picture of me and Sport in between agility practice runs yesterday. Sport is carrying her carrot toy. We must have 5 of those carrots at home… she loves them! Every dog should have one.

Last weekend my local Golden club hosted an Erik Strickland Grooming seminar. Sport went the first day, though there wasn’t much hands-on grooming that day so I only trimmed around two of her feet. The next day I took Lola, who has a lot more hair, and she came out of that looking gorgeous. She had a blast being the “special one” at the seminar, acted cute and silly, and made me smile all day.

It’s wonderful to be owned by Goldens.

Yesterday we went to the Performance Dogs in Action facility in Pleasant Grove, CA for another Splash Dogs event.   Lola got to go, and I registered her in the competition.  When it came time to compete, they announced her in the Senior division.  Yes, Lola “officially” qualifies as a senior dog now, I suppose, at over 7 years old, but I still think of her as my funny, silly little *puppy*.   Actually I think they shouldn’t qualify as seniors until at least age 10 or 11.   Yah- just did the math.  If the equivalent of dog to human years is 1=15, 2=24, 3+=24+(4 * (age-2)), then she is only 24+(4*5)=44.  That’s nowhere near a senior.  Sheesh!  I think there’s another age chart that takes into account the size of dog, but I’m too lazy to look for it right now.

Here’s Lola!

The Sport/Travis pups in the Bay Area got together for their 1-year birthday party yesterday. More pictures to come, but here’s the group shot! Momma Sporty is sitting like a dweeb, but her kids look good so we’ll just have to overlook that part!

(L to R): River, Lucy, Rockie, Sport, Jackson

I love this next picture of Sport and Lola, taken right after the group shot.  “Auntie Lola” didn’t want to be left out!