The Recovery Stage for Bailey

 Glad to report that Bailey is better.  It will be months if not years of recovery from the Valley Fever, but now we are past the worse of it and he is on the right path.  He has added 4 pounds this week and his temperature in normal. 

 I'm very happy that science has produced the anti-fungals and the anti-inflammatory drugs that helped make this recovery go well.  He still has a cough and for now Chloe is faster than her "big brother."  According to a friend who nursed 6 dogs through Valley Fever it will always affect him a bit.

But life is good up in the hills where all three of us love to explore, run and play.

 Spring has sprung after a week of rain that ended early this week.  The poppies are starting to pop up along the trails in Briones Regional Park.

Three Vizslas in fields of Golden Poppies

Springtime has arrived and the hills are alive

Chloe in a field of Golden Poppies

Open Spaces above busy and crowded suburban Contra Costa County



Chloe, Bailey and Penny loving the warm spring air

I love the hills as much as Bailey and Chloe

Full Moon hike in the hills

 September 18, 2013  Full Moon.  Briones Regional Park.

 Hike started at 7:15pm. 

 Sun has gone down and moon has risen.

Carry a good flashlight and a back-up flashlight in case. 

 Plenty of light from the full moon except for under the trees.

4 miles of hiking with the dogs by moonlight and flashlight. 

The dogs and I loved it!

Picture lit just from the moonlight

Vizsla Solstice Walk 2012

The world did not end on this Winter Solstice 2012. 

So in celebration of the continuation of the world, we went hiking into the wet and windy hills. 

The shortest day of the year was a wet day.  Headed up into the hills as the rain was coming down in sheets.  There were breaks in the storm and a rainbow sat over our town.

 The trails were slick mud and I carefully made slow progress along the six-mile circuit we took.  Bailey and Chloe loved the hills today.

During the two hour walk we did not see one single person.  It was nature, wildlife, the dogs and me in the thousands of acres of Briones open space.

Ducks on the ponds and the dogs enjoying the joys of the water.

Vizslas on a Hill Hike in the Rain

 The rain came over night.  Saturday morning we hike.  So in 50 degree cold rain we headed out on to the trails in Briones.

 The dogs loved it and ran with abandon in the empty spaces.  During the summer, these trails have dozens of hikers.  Today the only person we came upon was a lone lady with her umbrella and small dog.

 The trails were slick with a clay mud up on the upper parts of the hill ridges.  Walking down was tough, so instead of walking I ran flat-footed knowing that there was no stopping gracefully until I got to the bottom.  How to make a normal hike into an adventure.

A great walk in the hills is "priceless"

Living in this part of California, anything can be bought for a price.  If you can afford it, you can find it.

Then again, a walk in the hills on a bright cool summer morning with my Vizslas is priceless. 

I can not buy this feeling.  I can not write a post on this blog to convey the feeling.  By the time we are done with a two-hour walk in these hills, the feeling of serenity of being is powerful and priceless.

  

No two walks in these hills are ever the same.

A deep ravine in a wild area of Briones

Came across this cow and a VERY young calf (days old) in the middle of a quiet, remote trail.  We had to walk around

Chloe and Bailey along a small trail through the woods

Overlooking the hills of the East Bay

Viewing the valley in search of ground squirrels