Long time no write

It has been way too long but Ulidog, aka Mr Wigglebottoms is almost 11 years old and he continues to bring me exceptional joy. Lucky me to have such a dear friend.

Sitting on a bench, checking out the Park

Hitting the Trails

Running with the Uli is a pretty good time. He goes and goes and goes and then he likes to stop and sniff something. And then he likes to roll in stuff too. And sometimes he likes to bark at things - birds, dogs, squirrels, etc. He's getting a little slower than he used to be and so we're cutting back on his miles. And I recently found out that I should probably not count the miles I run with Uli towards my training miles because they are so slow. It takes us something like 30-35 minutes to cover 2 miles where I can do that in less than 20 on my own. So to improve the quality of my training runs, I have to do them without my buddy. But on my lower mile days, I still take him out for a spin around the neighborhood. And on the days with the longer miles, we get out for a walk where he gets to stop and sniff something. And roll in stuff too. And definitely bark at birds, dogs, squirrels and more. I miss running with my little buddy but after the marathon, we'll get back to our regular runs together.

Businessmen

When Paul goes off to work, he wears the typical California business attire: slacks and a long-sleeved button down shirt. No jacket or tie. And from time to time, Uli and I will walk him to the bus stop in the morning. And sometimes we walk to the bus stop around the end of the day and walk home with him too. Which helped me understand why it is that Uli gets so excited when he sees other California businessmen walking around the neighborhood. He must think they're Paul coming home! If we are out taking a walk and we see a guy who looks like he is on his way home from work, Uli starts whining and pulling towards the guy and acting very excited. He must think it's Paul. And I think that is so super sweet. And soon I'll write about how Paul likes to pick Uli up in the air.

In-Training

On an early November morning a few years back both me and my four legged buddy were fast asleep in my bedroom when we were awoken by a ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom and it was coming from my roof. Uli started barking immediately and furiously and a very confused me just lay in bed wondering what the hell was on the roof. Next, we heard a few more ba-boom sounds and as I was looking out of the window, I saw the undercarriage of a young deer jumping from the roof to the back yard. I couldn't believe what I had just seen so I put some shoes on and ran outside and made sure Uli didn't follow me outside. And there was a beautiful deer at the top of my yard (which slopes uphill). I ran back inside and grabbed my camera and propped the fence open thinking that his only way out would be through the gate. How wrong I was. As I climbed the stairs to get to the area where the deer was, his front hooves were at the top of the 7 foot fence (not sure of exact height but it was a high fence). I thought, no way. No way are you going to jump that....where'd you go? He hopped once and didn't make it but then hopped a second time and cleared the fence. I couldn't believe it. I guess he was practicing his roof landings so that he could join Santa's team the following month.

PS, my neighbor's driveway was at a slope that made it an easy jump to get on my roof. I didn't get a photo of the deer so today's photo is of Uli riding in the car. He hates to get into the car but once he's there, he seems to not hate the ride.

Wild Turkeys, Deer and a Cat Party

Now that little buddy's paw is feeling better, we've been out running again and it's been really fun to have him back at my side. We're also taking it easy as he eases his way back to runner dog status. We started out with 3 milers and have made our way to 4. Six used to be the standard but we'll work our way back to that when he's good and ready. And don't worry, we take a lot of breaks along the way. There are things to sniff, grassy yards to roll around in, even a few sidewalks that are good for a roll, sometimes he likes to lay down on a cool lawn and look around with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, and there are always dogs to bark at along the way. Sometimes we even see wild turkeys and deer. They always get a vocal greeting from the Uli. In fact, the other day we went out for an early walk and we saw a deer in our neighborhood and a cat party*

Back to running now. The other day, we were heading out for our first 4 miler in a while and that meant we had to climb a big hill. We walked the steep parts and he passed that time by grabbing mouthfuls of grass. And we did a bit of walking that day which means he did a lot of grass eating. When we got to the very top - he threw up. I told him that there are times when I huff and puff and push myself up a hill and feel like throwing up when I get to the top too. So we turned around, went home and saved the 4 miles for another day.

He is a little slower than he used to be but that is probably mostly because he hasn't been running much lately and it is also probably a little because he's seven years old. I'm guessing that in the next few months we'll see a slightly slimmer and faster Uli at my side.

My best friend Mary told me the other day how handsome Uli is and I have to admit, that made me so happy to know that Paul & I aren't the only ones who think he is so super handsome and funny and sweet and loving and adorable and fun and quirky and a real heart-warmer and ... oh wait, she didn't say all of that. But he is all that too. Thanks Mary!

*2 cats hanging out on the sidewalk. Probably up to no good.

He Smelled Me!

Last year, our dear friends came all the way from Amsterdam to spend a week with us and we made the difficult decision to put Uli in his favorite kennel for that time because he is not used to being around children and they were staying with us (with their kids). So we looked at it as sending him away to summer camp. He likes being at Canine Cove because he can run around with dogs all day long and the staff plays ball with him out in the yard and rather than sleeping in crates, the dogs sleep together in one big room. He gets a lot more exercise than a normal day so we like it when he comes home absolutely exhausted. He has stayed at the Cove plenty of times in the past when we've gone out of town and sometimes just for doggie daycare. But he has never spent the night there when we were in town so I had to continuously remind myself that he was having a very good time. During that week, I was in the Cove's neighborhood so I decided to stop by to see him but I didn't want him to see me because I thought that would be mean. I've never dropped him off and then seen him and not brought him home. So the people who work at the place told me that he was in a side yard and I could look through a door that had a window looking into the yard. The window was built for a tall person so I had to stand on my tippy toes to see out of it. I was looking and looking and then I saw the most amazing thing. Uli had been off to the side but he came into view with his nose high in the air and I swear that I am not making this up that he walked right up to the door where I was standing. He must have smelled me.

And speaking of smelling, imagine just how great he smelled after this roll in the dead weeds on the side of the road.