The Turning of the Year

Alas the start of my year was spent in Alabama for a one week Haz Mat course. Those three elements make for a trifecta that adds up to "not the ideal way to start the new year"! I have never been to the deep south and it exceeded all my expectations if you want to call them that. Fried everything, a colleague obsessed by the Waffle House and crazed Crimson Tide fans are the main impressions I was left with. But we did have some good times and when you lock up a bunch of firefighters and cops together in the middle of nowhere with just one bar, well you can guess the rest.

Back home, the Polar Bear recovered from his recent giant step backwards while staying with my parents. He had suddenly become so fearful and jumpy in the month before I left and for no apparent reason that I intended on dragging him back to the behaviorist when I returned from AL. However, a week with the parents, Jake and Samson seemed to straighten him out, to the extent that he slept next to my dad every night while I was gone. He has progressed now to the point where I think it would benefit him from living with a guy as well as with other, more active dogs. He has had a year to relax relatively stress free and his enormous strides in that year have led to a huge increase in his capacity to deal with things he otherwise could never have coped with. My goal this year is simple - get him out more and expose him to more, very gradually since he is still fairly isolated.

In the meantime, he socializes with his best friends. Here are some pics from our recent trip to Campbell Valley to play with his favorite people and dogs:

Flying ears and an enormous stride kept him one step ahead of Zyra.

Except when he turned around to taunt her...

My supposedly anti-social dog who flirted with everyone, endlessly.
"Don't hate me because I am beautiful..."

Daisy says, "Whatever. I'm the one who taught you the ropes."

And Zyra says, "I bet you can't do this, can you? Huh? Huh?"

The Polar Bear is suitably chastened. And freckled with mud.

At least there's snow somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Back at home, the Polar Bear decides to lie in some more mud, in the pouring rain and devour his bone. "What? You just cleaned the house? Good job mom."

We had fervently been hoping for snow at Campbell Valley this year as it would be the Polar Bear's dream to race around in the snow with all his friends but this year has been tropical compared to last. Not a flake in sight so we have had to make do with mud.

In the next installment of the wanderlust blog, I will attempt to hunt down my monstrous kittens who are now giant cats and get some photos of them tormenting me, the dog, each other and my plants. Poor Polar Bear - I do not think he is all that enthralled with the catzillas who relentlessly include him in their stalking games! More to come...