Lake breaks

A couple of side-trips to check out Lake Padden's fall finery, on the edge of sunset, really paid off with photo ops today. Here's just a couple.

Notice how the kid perked up in this last shot when I suggested we head back.

Meadow diversion

Just a quick off-trail photo-op while taking advantage of a break in today's showers. A week ago, this meadow was golden brown. Now, a September tease of green is the theme.

Fall trim

Time again for Casey's seasonal "makeover" at the barber shop. (OK, it's a pooch grooming salon, but what's in a name.) Here, the kid's favorite groomer, actually the only groomer he's ever had, Melissa, is applying the finishing touches. He was getting downright untidy and with rainy autumn just around the corner, he was becoming a debris magnet.

Just look at this guy, will you. He's obviously thrilled with the results, and loving the attention from his Mom and Melissa. 

Basking in the attention and ready for the trip home.

Catching a Farmers Market set

In spite of temps hovering around 80° a swing through Wednesday's farmers market is always a given. After one circuit though, that collie rough coat was taking its toll on the kid. Just a couple of numbers from the Village Green band was all our panter could take today. 

At least a shade cool-off was close by.

Still got it

With light and variable winds to make it interesting, late afternoon conditions were ideal for putting some air under Casey's Frisbee and turning him loose. The kid seemed pretty pleased with himself, as you'll see, but had no problem "taking five" after about 15 minutes.

Dappled leisure

Lounging around in the dappled sunshine of late afternoon.  Casey is a magnet for the good life.

Hey! What's up?

One of the great things about Bellingham in the summer is that scorchers are rare. But temperatures in the 70s usually require an occasional dousing of the plants by hand. Casey happened to notice that his Ma was next door doing just that and thought he'd take a peek.

'Course if he had just walked 10 feet to his right he could have come over and joined her.

Way too easy. 

  

Working off breakfast

Huh?  I was just resting my eyes.

Golden spring redux

Spring eruption of poppies in Port Townsend

California poppies blanket hillsides and meadows of the Pacific Northwest come May and June. This display is one of the more impressive we've run across. It was our view out of our third floor window behind the Palace Hotel in Port Townsend two weeks ago. Had to share.

At the end of the day each poppy closes up shop and turns in for the night.

On the mend

What a rough weekend for Casey. On Saturday he caught a dew claw on something, somewhere, and by the time we noticed the digit was bleeding and the claw was hanging loose. It looked cockeyed, nasty and painful. Enough so that we had to clean it and wrap it and keep him comfortable until this morning.  After a trip to the Fairhaven Veterinary Hospital he's back home and on the mend. His favorite doc Kris Johnson numbed it with Lidocaine and...Are you ready for this?...pulled it out the   rest   of   the   way. What a brave little guy. Notice that he's perfectly OK with his pink bandage. (Kinda matches the pink highlights of his nose.)

Indifferent Scot

Surprisingly our four-legged Scot couldn't have cared less about bagpipes on Water Street during the Rhododendron Festival in Port Townsend, Washington last week.

Persistent

Even after a couple of weeks, our seasonal invasion of buttercups doesn't seem to be showing the first signs of letting up. Casey can actually disappear from sight with each new bend in a hiking trail.  

Buttercup eruption

The Whatcom County eruptions of wildflowers wait for no one, and our Connelly Creek trail is no exception. The onslaught of Pacific Northwest varietals - buttercups, dandelions, and Columbia coreopsis - flourish from late spring into early summer, then give way to wild grass that make meadows inaccessible by routine trails. 

She's back

Just as impressive today as the aerobics on a brisk walk around Lake Padden was Casey and I struggling to keep up with Vic for a change. After knee-replacement surgeries on both knees, as well as two years of rehab, Victoria is once again setting the pace. No stopping her now.
     

Bursting, almost overnight

Cherry blossoms bursting out all over, and right on schedule. But definite proof that a spring storm is on the way. Those "pink clouds on sticks," as my granddaughter calls them, will be all over the neighborhood very soon.

They're back

Before venturing too far down the trail Casey became mesmerized by something or someone up ahead. Since coyote sightings are common in this area, with a pack known to call the undergrowth just northeast of us home, I was paying particular attention to the kid's slower pace. As I got closer it was apparent what caught his attention. And it was far from hostile, more romantic than anything else in fact. The mating calls of the tree frogs were in full swing. 

Back seat boy

All settled in on his new backseat quilt for a trip to Seattle for the day.

Cleanup at Melissa's

With a little over a week to go until spring Casey was due for a grooming at Happy Pooch's with one of his favorite people, Melissa, from his early training days as a puppy at Hyline Hotel. We know we go out of our way - 10 miles out in the county actually - every couple of months to clean him up, but he always looks forward to this grooming and he trusts his "personal stylist." The kid actually jumps up on the grooming table every visit, always startling any new salon employee.

Melissa applying the finishing touches

Casey only looks nervous. He knows he's in good hands.

Good for a couple of months

Glass

A glass-like Lake Padden between storms

As El Niño and an unrelenting Pineapple Express battered and drenched the West Coast Bellingham managed to fair better than most communities in Western Washington. So today Vic and I and Casey took full advantage of a short-lived break in the action for a walk around a glassy Lake Padden, and our timing was spot on. It's been raining ever since.

Feelin' the Bern!

Looks like Casey is just ecstatic at the NBC projection of Bernie Sanders taking the Michigan Democratic Primary over Hillary Clinton.