A Day in the Park

Today we went to Golden Gate Park. We haven't been there a while and I didn't realize I missed it so much. We went to the Polo Field and saw all the geese out there again. That's where Pops got the idea for the painting you see here. Cool, huh? Don't I look bad like a wolf? Heh heh... sometimes I feel like a wolf, like the time I chased a deer. Boy, if only Pops would let me go at these geese. They'd be history. Or a good meal.

Sometimes people ask Pops, "Is he a wolf?"

Pops always tells the truth (dang!) and says, "No, he's just a dog."

"JUST a dog," he says. Hah! One of these days I'm gonna bare my teeth - just to scare the shit out of them. I know Pops has been real tempted to say "yes" a couple of times but he doesn't want us to get in trouble with the law, know what I mean? Yeah, guess we don't want to spoil the good thing we got going here.

Golden Gate Park is cool. Pops and I like running into the reg'lars, like Mr Alexander - Jacob is his first name - he's been walking the Park since way before I was born. He's always in a good mood. Guess it feels good to be out there walking. I know how that feels. He always says "Happy Tuesday!" or Wednesday or Thursday, or whatever the day is. He never gets it wrong. And Pops has such a hard time remembering what day it is. Sometimes he and Pops give each other a big hug. I wish he'd give me a hug!

Then there's the lady who lives in a camper. We see her parked at different places in the Park "The cops all know me and don't bother me," she told Pops. "I keep quiet, clean up after myself and don't let my dog run around messin' up the place. I work, you know."

"What do you do?" Pops asked her.

"I temp for offices on the Peninsula. The agency calls me whenever they need me, and I get dressed up, clean up at the rest rooms here. Hell, they don't know! I do good work. They like me. I told my daughter, I don't wanna live in a house."

Oh yeah, and there's that Russian couple wo ride their bikes through the park. They're old and not as strong as Pops and me, but strong for their age, and you gotta give it to them - they're out there everyday. Pops thinks the lady must have been a racer at one time, " 'cause she's got real good form," he says.

And there's that Latino couple who walk along the Great Highway all the way to the Sutro Baths. Sometimes they see me and Pops walking and they say, "No bike today?"

Oh, the absolute best person was that nice Russian man with the same name as Pops - Leon. Leon LOVED me. He always greets me before he even says hello to Pops. "Nyikki!" he says in his Russian accent. Then he bends over and pets me on the head and pulls out a big doggie biscuit that he always carried in his pocket just in case he ran into me. He used to have his own dog, but the dog died. "Why don't you get another one," Pops asked him. Well, that's when we found out Leon was sick. You wouldn't know it from the way he walked - chin out and back straight like a soldier marching. In fact, he always gave Pops a salute when he saw him. Leon was a Navy man - in Russia and after he came to America. He was an engineer - a very smart one, at that! You could tell Pops liked him a lot, not just 'cause his name was Leon but I think it's 'cause they are both old guys from the Old World. Pops said Leon was an inspiration because of his pride and dignity and positive spirit. I'm not sure what all those big words mean but, yeah, Pops really liked him. Pops was really sad when Mr. Leon passed away.

Today we went really late 'cause Pops slept in late. Guess we missed everybody. It's so nice when its early but... oh well... next time!

ho-hum week

OK, I see why Pops slacks off on posting. Sometimes there's just not much to report, so I've been slack too. Let's see now, where was I last? Oh yeah, J-town Arts garage sale. SCUZE me! Can anything be more fun that that? (Sarcasm intended). First off, Pops rode the bike down to J-town with me in tow - all city streets! Nothing but concrete, asphalt and idiots in death machines, i.e., "cars" to the rest of you. The he hitches me to himself while he helps set up - back and forth, back and forth, schelpping all this junk out to the parking lot. The rest of the day was spent hanging around the parking lot in the dreary weather. Good thing I don't mind the cold, unlike them humans, who were complaining ALL frickin' day. The worst part of it was they had all this fabulous meat, I mean MEAT, cooking on the barbie and what does Pops say? "No feeding the dog!" What's up with that? I got a few scraps from him, but man! Life is not fair! Oh yeah, check out the picture, you can tell just how wild it was. Duh... snore... By the way, I never did figure out just what the heck they were doing, but Pops sure was having a great time... all that yackin' and hand-shakin and laughing. Sheesh... I'm like, can we GO already?

The next few days were a little better, though it's a bit hard to remember one day from the next. They say that happens when you get old - can't remember anything - but I'm only 3! That's 21 in human years, barely starting prime of life. Well, I know one day we went to Baker Beach with Trina and Moms. That's always fun, but I just can't remember what we did. Probably chased her around and grab her by the scuff of her neck. She doesn't like that but I just can't help myself. I love Trina Jieh-jieh and that's what I do when I love someone.

Oh, I know... Pops been getting back into running again, so we ran a few times. That's always fun. I just pretend Pops is the lead dog and we're on an iditarod or somethin'. Well, you know, you gotta have 'magination.

OK, I'm rambling... let me get back to y'all when there's more to report. Oh, Hey... don't forget to check out my book - I mean, the book Pops made of me. Of MOI! How cool is that? Remember, Travels with Dharma Dog, available at blurb.com. Hurry, while supplies last!

Later...

The Deer Hunter

Moms, Trina, Pops and me - the whole pack went to the Marin Headlands today. Pops and I have been lovin' it there for a long time but now Moms and Trina always want to come too. I don't mind. Trina Jieh-jieh and I have a lot fun sniffing around and exploring and finding new ways to hide from Moms and Pops and then showing up unexpected somewhere and... oh, yeah, the coolest thing happened today. We were just walking and all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move on the hillside to my left. I looked up and it was two deers! They were the same color as the grass and bushes around them but they didn't fool me! All I had to do was watch for movement. I stared at them and felt my heart beating faster and faster. Soon the blood was rushing to my ears and Pops' voice started to fade out. My whole body started quivering and then I found myself tearing up the hillside, brush snapping and flying by all around me. The wind was blowing my way and I could smell the two deers - one was faster and the other lagged behind and I could see their little white tails bobbing up and down and they were terrified and I felt BAD-ASS! Nothing in the world existed except me and the deer, the deer and me, and the great big sky so full of fog and I couldn't even tell where the sky touched the ground 'cause I was like, IN the sky. Then... then the deers reached the ridge crest and disappeared over the top. By the time I got there, they were no where in sight. They were FAST! I stood there panting with my tongue hangin' out in the cool mist, looking, scanning the horizon and felt the wind laughing around my ears and the birds were laughing too and that was when I started to hear Pops calling me. Turns out he followed me for a while down the road but, of course, there was no way he could keep up with me. Poor Pops, he just stood there calling my name with his hands cupped facing the other hill 'cause he thought I went over there. I felt sorry for him so I came back down and reached the road just behind him. He turned around when he heard me panting and pretended he knew where I was all along. He's funny that way. I didn't call him on it. He doesn't even know the number of times I've spared him embarassment. I guess humans are pretty useless out there in nature. I gotta admit I've gotten pretty soft living with them but, man, that chase made me feel GOOD! After that it was just more exploring with Trina Jieh-jieh. We tried to go after some mice but that was nothing compared to the deer chase. Then we headed for home and Trina and Moms fell asleep in the car. Girls are such wusses, know what I mean? Pops and I were starving by the time we got home so we really chowed down. WOLFED down our food, ha ha... get it?

Mile Rock Beach

Yesterday we went to Corona Heights Park and Buena Vista Park. Pops always take me there when he wants quiet time so he can think while he's walking. He thinks a lot. Not much fun for me. Me, I just think of whatever's in front of me, know what I mean? No need to think about what to think. Makes me tired.

Today was a lot more fun. We went to Land's End and walked down the long stairs to Mile Rock Beach. At the end of the steps Pops let me off leash. This is an incredible place. Reminds me a lot of places I've been to before but can't figure out where, exactly. I tried sniffing around, but everything smelled fresh and new. Well, new to me, that is. Nothing reminded me of what I thought I was being reminded of. Very strange!

After a while we went back to the top. Pops always runs up the stairs. I don't know why. He always seems to get a lot of energy just when I'm tiring out. Go figure!

What a Morning!

Whew, what a morning! First, I got to run on Ocean Beach, where I chased a crow. Then Pops ran into an old buddy in this cool truck. He had two dogs in the back so we yelled at each other for a while. Yeah, that's right! Then we made our way up to Sutro Baths. When pops was busy taking pictures, I ran off down to the ruins. Lots of cool smells down there! Yeah, that's me you see in the picture! Then, when I looked back to check on Pops to see if he was mad, he was just a small orange speck up on the bluffs! Dang! I had to haul ass back up this steep hill to catch up to him. He wasn't mad. Gave me a treat and took my picture. I love him! When we got to that place where I jumped over the wall last time - you know, that time when Pops had to catch me in mid air or I would have landed in the ocean? Well, we ran into this woman with a cutie girl dog named Haupia. Mmmm... made my mouth water! She was hot, and she liked me too! Pops and the lady let us off leash and I chased her and she chased me and I chased her and... Then it got hot and we both got tired. After that, we went all the way up to our usual spot on Land's End and, whadyaknow! Some guy was sitting there with HIS dog in OUR favorite spot! Frickin' copy-cats! And the dog - what a dork! Kept whining and wanting to come to me but he was leashed, so he couldn't. I just ignored him and sat with my Pops for a while. Then it got too hot so we headed back to the car. On our way, we met yet another one of Pops' friends. She was riding a fixie (da heck is that?!) up the hill in front of the Cliff House. Whatever a "fixie" was, Pops seemed impressed. He and I ride up this hill all the time too, you know. Piece of cake! They were standing there yacking when Uncle Matt called and Kevin was on the phone too. Pops wanted to take my picture with "Fixie Chick" for MY blog, but his battery was dead. Poor Pops, he was ticked! Finally we got back to the car. I was getting pooped 'cause it was getting too hot. I'm a Northerner, you know.

At Baker Beach with my sister Trina

Woohoo! The beach, two days in a row! Today even more better - Moms and Trina Jieh-jieh came with us too. I got to chase her and I found this cool ball that I got to play with. Too cool!

I love to tun

Oh, how I love to run! Pops took me down to Ocean Beach today. This beach is SO wide! I can run all-out and never run out of space! I always look back, though, to make sure I can still see Pops. He's got treats in his left pocket and whenever I see his hand go in there I go running to him at full speed. I can tell he loves it when I do that 'cause he crouches down and does that weird human dance and says, "C'mon, boy! Good boy!" and hands me the treat. I LOVE that! Then I took a dump. A massive, manly dump right there in the middle of all that sand. Yeah, the salty air, the ocean winds blowing into my face and everything just coming out so freely... Man, life is good!