Saturday, July 22, 2006

Cowboys don't kayak

We rigged up a system so that Cowboy can join us when we kayak. The idea is pretty simple: pull him behind the kayak in a float tube. The problem with this idea is that Cowboy is not a big fan of being in or near the water, unless he's wading or doing his Superman-belly-crawl move. Here's our first attempt:

Step 1: Put lifejacket on Cowboy. Since he wears a full pack on hikes, this was no problem.


Step 2: Get Cowboy used to sitting in the float tube on solid ground. He wouldn't get in at first, but once I got in and encouraged him to join me, he had no problem. He was fine sitting there by himself.


Step 3: Get Cowboy used to sitting in the float tube on the dock. He was starting to get worried now, because he was so close to the water. Getting him into the tube was a little more difficult, but not too bad. Once again, he was fine sitting there...because he didn't realize what was about to happen.


Step 4: Push float tube + Cowboy into the water. Boy, he didn't like this one. It took several tries before we could get him in the water and far enough away from the dock before he jumped out of the tube and swam back.


Step 5: Get in kayak to pull float tube + Cowboy. This is the only time we got this far in the process, so I'm glad I was able to get a picture of it.


End Result: Kayak goes one direction, Cowboy goes in opposite direction. As you can see, Cowboy was tied to the tube, which was tied to the kayak...so we've got a little conflict of interests here. I think Cowboy won the tug-of-war out of sheer desperation to get back to the dock.


New Approach, Step 1: Swim alongside Cowboy to help him get used to being in the float tube by himself.


To be continued...

Friday, July 21, 2006

So long, farewell

unstable giant
windstorms crashing branches down
sorry, you must go





Almost caught up

Kayaking on Lake Union


Cowboy gets used to his new tent (a vast improvement from his vestibule at Necklace Valley) and faces off with the Camel


Lyle Lovett at Chateau Ste Michelle


The Fosters are back in town


Tristan and Laura get married (and Chris wears the loudest shirt this side of the Rockies)

Rocky Mountain 4th of July

I'm still in catch-up mode with my blog, so please bear with me!

For the weekend of July 4th, we went to Colorado to see Chris' family and climb a mountain or two. We flew into Denver and drove to Durango, so we were able to meet up with David and Brendan while we were in Denver. Patrick and Kimberly drove down to Durango with their pooches in tow (including the newest addition, lady Lucy). In addition, Brett and Victoria met us in Durango for a BBQ at the house and a hike on Engineer, and Darren and Kendall surprised us with a quick visit. We had a great time golfing (the boys), shopping (the girls), and relaxing together. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Family, friends and furballs:


Climbing Engineer: