Ruby Tuesday

This field golden retriever joined came home to live with us on a Tuesday.  Hence her name.

Anyway, here's a photo dump from the trail cameras...

  

Birthday Girl

Relentless flusher and retriever of pheasants, this field golden celebrated her third complete navigation of the sun today.

Nevertheless, this working girl still has enough puppy in her to unload her entire basket of toys and plush animals.  

Anyway, while mom and dad were in Milwaukee to visit friends from their decades of curling, she scored a staycation at her favorite place; Red River K-9 II.  Ran with her people, got a manicure and a shampoo and blow dry.  

And after dinner at home this evening and everyone had settled-down to watch world cup soccer, scored licking someone’s ice cream bowl.

 
Happy Birthday Ruby the Red Rocket!

Rinse and Repeat

Our dogs have always taken to water.  Our big black Lab famously liked to swim in the big pond before the ice was completely out.  The blonde Lab wouldn't stay out of the creek; and if she got close to a lake it was all over.  Our field red golden retriever has continued the tradition embracing mud season with such gusto that she's earned the nickname: Swamp Collie.

The best part of it is now that it's warmed-up last month we hauled-out her pool and set it up on the patio.  If she returns from a walk all muddy and gross in the pool she goes!

Rinse and repeat.  

 

 

 

Red Dogs

A week and a half ago doggo and I were out to finish cleaning-out nest boxes and running the trail camera trap line. 

From trail camera central set to capture short, silent, video vignettes there were couple of red dogs.

Same location one day apart.

Local resident red fox and my sidekick, Ruby, The Red Rocket...  

 

Inasmuch as both camera and background are stationary and only the animals are in motion it a terrific way to ballpark and compare relative size between a couple of adult canines.

Redheads too.... 

The Red Rocket

Yesterday I shared my conviction that my dog came to our household factory-equipped with an on-off switch.

When the switch is in the OFF position she's at rest.

When the switch is in the ON position she's tearing around the landscape at full-tilt whether on the hunt or at play.

As a matter of fact, on the subject of an object happens to be in motion, she has raised Newton's Law of Inertia to art form.... 

 

Chill'n

I am convinced my dog came to our household factory-equipped with an on-off switch.

When the switch is in the ON position she's tearing around the landscape at full-tilt whether on the hunt or at play.

When the switch is in the OFF position she's at rest.

As a matter of fact, on the subject of an object at rest, she has raised Newton's Law of Inertia to art form.... 

 

The Big Sniff

A couple of weekends ago Ruby and I set out for a walk and a circuit to swap out the SD cards on the trail cameras.

Periodically, the dog would stop in her tracks on the trail, give a certain location a long and deliberate sniff followed by peeing on that specific spot.  Having accomplished that task at various seemingly random locations we would continue on our way.

I had my suspicions about this scent marking behavior and after I uploaded the photos from the memory cards onto the laptop sure enough; both red fox and our resident ditch tiger stopping to mark their spot on one of the trails.

Sorta like leaving a business card in someone's door jamb to let them know you've paid a call while you were out.

Crashed

Most days my dog gets a dose of outdoor exercise; an important factor to successfully raising a puppy.  Especially a sporting breed.  As a consequence my dog takes her sleep very seriously.

And by the time this post is published Braumeister and I will be driving home following a trip to South Dakota to chase pheasants.  It's likely he, me and the dog are gonna crash tonight.

Check-back in the next week for photos and if we were successful.  Or not.

As Randi Dix says;  Shoot 'em in the face! 

Game Day

The Missus and a very tired Red Rocket chilling-out for Packer Game Day....

 

Boarding House

This is the third upland retriever we've trained.  And one of the things our doggo really loves is going to doggy daycare.  Better yet; staying there for boarding.  Yes, boarding.  For days and weeks on end.

Early-on we seized-on the opportunity to socialize this dog with other of her species and as a consequence this pooch loves going to Red River Canine LLC to hang with her pack.

Recently,I had to have outpatient eye surgery in Green Bay and as a consequence doggo scored a couple-three days at the Dog Spa to run with her pack.  Topped-off with a pedicure and a coif from the groomer before returning home.

It's a dog's life.... 

 

The Red Rocket

From a recent walk there is Doggo on the trail cameras....

 

The Red Rocket

Semi-obligatory photos of the coming and going of my sidekick.

Ruby - The Red Rocket.....

 

South Dakota Ringnecks

Got back home Monday late afternoon following a trip to South Dakota to chase pheasants with my new dog and nine of my buddies.  Most of the guys are long term hunting and fishing pals along with some new ones.

Here's a handful of photos from the festivities.

Drive west including an unplanned Minnesota blizzard.

 

Some photos from the field.

All the corn was off the fields so we exclusively hunted cattail sloughs, reed canary grass you could barely see over and other natural cover.  Ugh.

Add rain and wind and it was the toughest hunt in memory

A day's tally of dead birds.

Lounging around the house.

The Red Rocket (Ruby) is a natural.  She put-up her share of birds on her own and had several retrieves.  First trip out - I think she's a natural.

She shes got some aches and scrapes so if you're looking for a Pro Tip for a sore schnoz there is this... 

Newton's Law

Newton's First Law of Motion, also known as the Law of Inertia, states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

 

Schlafender Hund

The Red Rocket is spent....

Smile For the Trail Camera

Recent trail camera photos include a strutting gobbler, strolling sandhill crane, red fox on the run, robins picking around for breakfast, the family dog, a ditch tiger on the prowl, and a cuddly fox squirrel.

What A Difference A Few Days Make

 

 

Started the day with some snow-covered whitetails and finishing with a photo from last Saturday.

65F on the sunny side of the porch.

What a difference a few days makes..... 

Feels Like Spring Lately

Nevertheless, the astronomical first day of spring here in the northern hemisphere is tomorrow; with the arrival of the spring equinox.

That said, we've scored some spectacularly warm days lately that are mindful of summer weather.  Just the other day I popped-open the windows on the west side of the house so I could watch the news with a glass of Merlot and listen to the finches feeding just the other side of the screen.

There has also been several porch beer days in the 70F sunshine.

And the first patio burger; loaded with Poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Hetero-cyclic amines and advanced glycation end products.  All of this notwithstanding; real men grill on charcoal.

I have lived to bear witness….

The Red Rocket

Sporting breeds require daily exercise. 

Recent trail camera action images of the pup on our daily walk run...