Youth Deer Day and the start of hunting season

Today is Youth Deer Day, and we avoid the woods. Usually, there is lots of gunfire, but today it was silent. There was tons of target practice last Sunday, all day into dusk. So, the neighbors must have taken their kids elsewhere for the hunt today. Fine by me. Nevertheless, we have begun wearing blaze orange.

Toby looks like a deer (if seen from a distance), so it is very important that he sports the latest in hunter orange dog vests.

We think he looks quite grand in his outfit and no hunter should mistake him for a white-tailed deer.

And the vest is reflective as well. Check out all the reflective strips and the dog prints, too! Nifty!

Our boy is stylin', if I do say so myself;-) He thinks that he deserves a biscuit for looking so grand!

Ahh...the life of a supermodel doesn't get any better than this! Chill out in your backyard, wearing the latest in pup fashion, and get treated like a king!

Papermill Trail Walk

We just cannot get enough of the autumn colors, so we took a nice walk along the Androscoggin River portion of the Papermill Trail today.

This has always been a favorite location of ours for photographing the dogs, and today did not disappoint!

Our goal was to walk to our favorite chunk of granite on the shoreline of the Androscoggin River. As you can see, the colors were stunning and my two guys were handsome as could be!

We stopped at a nice bench to rest our legs for a few minutes before heading back.

Whereupon Toby and Drew went walkin' down the line!

And, here is a portrait of our super sweet, big yellow dog! He had a blast and was a very happy pup;-)

Colorful autumn and handsome Toby!

Oh my, oh my...the autumn colors are absolutely stunning this year!
And, so is our big, handsome boy, Toby! 
Here he is on a walk down Starbird Corner Road. 

And, here he is waiting patiently (more like stubbornly) for a biscuit! 
Gotta have a biscuit every 10 feet or so to keep his energy up;-)

Toby also likes walking around Hillside Park, in Topsham. 
He was a perfect model to show off the gorgeous sumac in full color.

Then, he and Drew went down to Riverside Park (across the street), and Toby put on the brakes just a short way down the trail. 

So, no photos of Toby, just that of the gorgeous trees along the trail;-)

Toby in the forest

Toby is such a handsome pup and he truly enjoys his walks in the woods.

First family walk since surgery

Today was a picture perfect day, and I felt pretty darned good after an acupuncture appointment that treated some severe post-surgery sciatica that I have been dealing with for weeks. I had enough confidence to walk in a stable fashion on a trail today, as long as I had my walking poles. So, off we went to Hix-Small Cemetery Rd.

Drew and Toby led the way while I followed at a snail's pace, picking and choosing each footfall.

We made it half way up a slight rise, and I had to call it quits. I did quite well for my first outing (11 weeks post-knee replacement.) The total walk was about 0.3 mile on a bit of an uneven trail. I must say that it felt so good to be in a forest again.

Toby was a good boy as always. Even though the walk was short, he seemed to enjoy himself. This was our first family walk since Lady Flame went to doggy heaven and it felt strange to have only one pup in the forest.

Missing the Flame in our lives

It is the little things that make me miss Lady Flame. Like when I see a calendar reminder that says, "Toby gets Heartguard", or "Toby to get his nails clipped", or any other single dog reminder... And, I miss all the toy squeaking. Lady Flame would throw her toys into the air, pounce on them, and squeak the daylights out of them;-) She loved her toys, and she loved when I threw them all over the living room so that she could chase them. She didn't interact with us much over the years, but she loved/lived to play...

Life after the Reign of Flame

People keep asking us how life is after the loss of Lady Flame. For us, we miss her most when her half-sibs come over for a visit. It just doesn't seem right that the trio isn't running around together anymore. 

We miss watching Flame run around the backyard with wild abandon. Her joy was so heartwarming...makes me tear up just writing about it... She loved being chased and we had a game that we played almost daily called, "I'm Gonna Getcha!" All we had to do was lunge in her direction, and she would take off running in the opposite direction. Repeat, repeat, repeat until she was out of breath!

We miss watching Flame roll around on her back in the grass with her legs going willy nilly in the air. She loved being outdoors more than anything in the world...

And, I truly miss photographing our supermodel hound. She was a stunning specimen of Greyhound loveliness...

Toby in his crate

But, life has changed for the positive for Toby. Oddly enough, he is now spending time relaxing in his crate. This is something he never did when Flame was alive. She occupied both crates as her condos. He would only go in them momentarily to mess up the blankets in protest;-)

Toby is spending more time in the sand between the house and the garage to stay cool. That used to be where Queen Flame's former territory was.

And, Toby is going on fast walks with Drew with virtually no stand-up or sit-down strikes at all. And, he has become a waggly-tailed dog where before he would only wag his tail briefly when I came home from vacations.

All in all, Toby is more content than ever and is truly enjoying the life of an only dog. He gets all the treats and all the lovin'!