looking at San Francisco

looking at San Francisco, originally uploaded by beverlykaytw.

We've taken a couple of great hikes up and around our local mountain this week. Friday the kids, dog and I set off for about 1 1/2 hours. They were touting their new camelback(like) backpacks to stay fully hydrated. Q said this was the kind of hike he likes - where you decide where to go and don't just follow some boring path. On Sat some friends joined us for even a longer hike with stops along the way to climb the big rock (which Foxy no longer felt the need to bark at!) and climb several trees in a little oak forested area we came across. Nothing like having another kid along to make a hike more fun for my kids!

Queen of the Hill

Queen of the Hill, originally uploaded by beverlykaytw.

Foxy was on full alert here including some barking - at a large rock. I like how she perches up on her own little rock to achieve maximum height. She likes to stand up tall on her hind legs whenever she gets the chance.

biking

biking, originally uploaded by beverlykaytw.

Since we moved to Marin and Pete picked up a cruiser bike for me off Craigslist the kids and I have started exploring the local bike paths. This one is stellar - a couple of flat miles in Tiburon almost all on a multi-use path along the water front. We're having a cool windy summer (thanks to the San Francisco fog). We've even taken the dog in my basket. The kids especially like trails that have a cafe for a snack somewhere along the way :-)

Meet Foxy!

a boy and his dog, originally uploaded by beverlykaytw.

A dog? A fox? A cat?

I ask myself what she is. She is our new family member - she picked us out on July 5th at the Oakland Animal Shelter - she stood silently on 2 legs and pawed the air to get our attention. She gave us love and entertained us with her whapping of a stuff football. We took her home Thurs eve after she was spade. She was the most adorable easy going 5 month old you could hope to have. She LOVES people. I mean desperately. She does her circus dog trick whenever she sees someone in hopes they will give her a little love. I put up deer netting around the backyard fencing - since she is small enough at 6#4oz to scamper between the rails - but it didn't seem necessary since she just wanted to be around us. We were able to take her out front without a leash. That has changed. She is now comfortable enough to run down to the next door neighbors in hopes of being mauled by their 3 & 5 yr olds and pay me no attention when I call. Leash time. She didn't seem to know how to jump. Made it easy to enforce the "no getting on furniture unless invited" rule since she needed to be lifted up and down. Alas, no longer. She now leaps with the best of them.

We named her Foxy for obvious reasons. They have her down as Papillon/Terrier mix. I'm not convinced. Perhaps Papillon and fox... Lately as she heads off after her thrown toys she hops - like I see foxes do in nature shows. She really does look like a fox in many ways and blends in really well with the dry grass hill by the house. Doh.

Catlike. I even saw her rub up against a door jamb like a cat! Tonight she found a pea from a sugar snap pea pod on the floor. She played with it for at least 15 minutes to our great amusement. She batted it and leaped after it like a cat.

She is clearly intelligent and easy to train. First up was "stand" - since she already loved doing it :-) She knows "tinkle" and "treat" and "sit" (although she doesn't like to). Not sure she knows her name - we think she might think her name is "Good Girl". Since she started mouthing us yesterday she is hearing "NO" and clearly recognizes it. "Drop it" and "Fetch" seem to be on their way to part of her vocabulary.

She likes other dogs - off leash. She was great at a dog park - but isn't very good when on a leash when she decides to be very aggressive. Fortunately she is very small.

We are happy to have her.