BOXER ADVENTURES

 This week we'll be camping at Buck Pond Campground in the Adirondacks.  It's the same place we were last year.  Usually I like to "shop around" and try out the various state park facilities, but we liked it here so much last year that we wanted to try it again.   Last year our campsite was on Buck Pond, but we reserved a site in a different loop which put us on Lake Kushaqua, the larger lake that the campground sits on. .As I usually do, I got up early and did a run with the dogs so the would be tired out for the trip. We got packed up and got there early afternoon.  We checked out the short path to our own launching site for the kayaks. Then we got everything set up. We were immediately ready to get some time on the water. As we paddled around exploring, we noticed several islands.  Marc noticed that one had a path leading up it and pulled in the explore.  Booker jumped out and immediately there was a commotion and something dove into the water ...

 I got home last night and excitedly explained to the dogs that I was on vacation!  They happily jumped around having absolutely NO IDEA what I was talking about! For the first day off, of course, I wanted to hit the beach.  We didn't take the kayaks today.  Instead we walked the short path to the beach.  It was blazing hot just the way I like it, and the dogs were thrilled to run into the waves as soon as I gave them permission. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Booker and Sisko (@boxeradventuresny) We hung out while the boys played with toys and just enjoyed relaxing knowing that I was going to have a ton of time off. It was so hot and yet that didn't keep Booker from crawling up on top of me.  Why, dude???

 The weathermen are finally predicting a warm up.  Not just a warm up, but a massive heatwave.   But today we woke up and it was still reasonably cool.  So I decided while Marc rode his bike on a nearby grassy trail, I would take the dogs and do a slow run. They were both happy and anxious to go and we ran on the gravel path that quickly turned into grass.  What I didn't expect was the weather warming up quickly. My plan was to run 8 miles, but we made a couple of stops for the dogs to jump into the stream that runs along the trail and by the time we were 7 miles in, Sisko made it clear he finished.  So we called it complete. We got home for a good lunch and relaxed outside for a bit. I then went to work weeding the garden and then moved out front of the house to do a little weeding in front of the house. The dogs followed me the law that says that Boxers are forbidden from allowing their humans to do anything alone, and dutifully followed me around on...

 Today is Juneteenth.  A day that deserves acknowledgement and reflection. We headed out this morning to a nature preserve.  We haven't been there since they opened many years ago and only had a couple of trails at that time.  However, I happened to run across information that showed that they had widely expanded the preserve and that they had a whole section previously unopened that they had added trials to.  That section is only accessible by canoe or kayak. We packed everything up and headed out. We had to carry our kayaks down a path to the portage area, and that trek was much longer than anticipated! However, we got them down there and prepared to head out. It was a short paddle over to the "southern section" and we paddled along the shoreline until we saw a rocky outcropping with a picnic table perched on top.  We pulled our kayaks onto the shore and brought our lunches up and ate looking over the water.    There was no one else there a...

 Wow!  How could I have completely forgotten to take pictures??!! Today we met up with friends and went to the beach.  They are from out of the area.  They have  German Shepherd who has some issues.   There's no way to know if this was who she was always going to be or whether it's due to circumstances, but she is painfully insecure and has a lot of fears with people she doesn't know well.  She will even fear nip at people. They got her as a puppy right as COVID locked everyone down.  So she got very little socialization as a pup.  Would she have been different had that not happened?  No one will ever know. Anyway, as they arrived and let her out was a little bit nervous.  Booker doesn't read social cues well at all.  So he immediately tried to jump on her head and which led to her barking and alternately charging at him with her lip raised and running away.   Nothing escalated and fortunately, due to Booker's la...

 Today was the last day of our mini vacation.  Today dawned gorgeous.  It was bright and sunny and very warm.  Well we love the campsite we were at there was no lake there and we hadn't been on the kayaks in a while.  We packed our lunches and headed out. As soon as we put the kayaks in the water and Sisco jumped in with me he immediately went to sleep.  We paddled out to the beach and the dogs played and splashed around for only a short time and then were content to lay in the sun. Contrary to popular belief, you can tire a Boxer out with enough effort!

 We had the campsite reserved until Monday morning and we slept in as all of us, including the dogs, were tired from the last couple of days.  We got up and had a leisurely breakfast and then Sisko went back into the camper and jumped into bed. 😅😅 We had planned to just take today to be a rest day and sit in the sun by the stream that ran behind our campsite. However it was cooler than the last couple of days and also very cloudy. So instead we decided to take our time packing up everything and then we would take the scenic view home.  As we were packing up the dogs apparently thought that we were going to leave them there because they were very anxious to get in the car. We finally got everything packed up and took off. I think the dogs were both asleep but before we were even out of the park.  We stopped at a small town about 30 minutes away because I had seen where there was a short trail that led to a majestic waterfall. Because it was such a short walk I thoug...