Desert Dawg Adventure Blawg

Dawg, am I tired. Some of man’s best friends turned up and we went off exploring. I might need to lay around on the couch for a day. I’m going to let my good buddy Ian tell you more about it:
For twenty years most of my best adventures, other than my marriage with my wife Suzanne and the raising of our two children have been in the company of Ace Kvale and in the last 6 years Desert Dawg. We truly are a pack.
It has been a ruff year for life in the industry we all love. I look to the sky every day and ask the “Old Scot” to make sense of all the loss this year. I walked for many days this year remembering those smiles we will not see again and if one thing came out of all this was a deep appreciation of life and those with us along our path. This spring with the passing of Mary Kvale at the respectable age of 96 gave signal to the need to gather the pack for the next celebration of life. Man’s friends (among the few able to clear the calendar) would be us, The “B” team Kasha La and I. I know many who would of loved to be here including my awesome wife of 19 years this June, who without her support this trip would not be a reality.
With much planning and focus we were able to bring it together for another perfect pack adventure. Ace (Man) and DD had been planning and researching for months on old maps, asking local legends and planning Death Hollow from end to end. As the weather changed this spring the earth began to warm, snow began to melt as the spring flow ran through the coffers along the Boulder Mesa. Time came closer to begin our planned adventure and mother nature was compliant for a trip with a beautiful forecast but as the stop watch clicked down she held onto a grasp of winter and the cold deep pools of a Death Hollow end to end were just not in the picture this week in the vast obis of the Box Death Hollow Wilderness.
We set out with careful planning (on DD and Man’s side) and walked into the wilderness right out the backdoor which DD calls home with Man topo in hand and a few close friends.
I leave the rest of the tail to DD and Man to instil the passion for life and adventure on a week that marks the passing of my father “the Old Scot” who I will never celebrate his death but only the life and path he put me on. Raise a pint high for the Mary Kvale and the old Scot after reading this and remember “it doesn’t matter how much you make or how successful you are in life, it matters how positive an impact you leave on this little spec of space dust we call earth. “Get outside have some fun and enjoy the backcountry”.

See Ya Skian

DD it’s all yours from here…..

wooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooooooo from desert dawg!

Man was gone a lot this spring. Coming and going and stuff so it was kind of hard cause I do miss him so but I had my pack to hang out with. Those mutts need a leader and I’m a natural but when man is home that’s where you’ll find me – right by his side cause he needs me and he doesn’t even know it. So he was kind of tired but we hit the trail with pack member Jen who is super tough and fun too. They made me wear my pack which I don’t really like at all but I do it cause it’s my job sometimes and then we hiked way out there. It was a little hot but there was water and snacks and stuff. So I know all of you out there, my fans, probably think I’m pretty tough and I am but I really, really like to be cozy. I’m not like a husky or anything, I don’t ever sleep outside and when we camp – well just let me say this: Dawg bless whomever invented zip together sleeping bags. There is tons of room for me to snuggle. It’s the little things that make life wonderful. Like even when it’s just me and man he brings a sleeping bag for me to zip together with his! He’s a good man, my man, and I love him.

Be here now. That’s me. Man is always worried about stuff that he’s got to do tomorrow or yesterday but I’m just here, now. Ready, all the time, for anything. I can tell he’s leaving again. The smelly duffel is out with his clothes in it but it’s okay. I mean, I miss him and stuff but I get to hang out with Tashi, and Spencer, and Izzy so I take over, take charge. Somebody has to keep those mutts in line. I just live everyday to it’s fullest. If that means lying on the couch so be it. That’s okay too. We don’t have to do stuff everyday cause us dawgs need our rest too. Humans could learn so much if they’d just pay more attention to the moment. Nap whenever possible but be ready to attack if brown santa shows up at the door. And be ready to go on an adventure, always ready….. that’s me. Especially cause I know when man gets back from wherever he’s gonna need to get out so I’ll be ready.

Yep, I know it looks like I’m just snoozin’ on the couch after breakfast while man sits there by the wood stove drinking coffee and listening to the radio. But actually I’m on full alert status in case we get do somethin’ fun so my eyes may be closed but my ears are attuned to the slightest vibration. That includes listening to the radio which is 99% worthless information but I listened with interest to the program about dawgs called ‘Best in Show’. What kind of dawg would let themselves be subjected to such silliness? No honor, no shame. And some kind of little Pekinese won? And a competition about what? How good your fur is brushed? I’ll bet none of those poor dawgs even know what a good roll in dead deer feels like. Much less a mouthful of ol’ cow poop now and again. They can’t come close to the kind of stuff I do. Like in this photo man took of me with my good buddy Rob Raker. We was pretendin’ we was Indiana Jones and I was the guide! Now that’s proud. We should have our own Desert Dawg ‘Best Adventure Dawg’. I bet none of those sissies would even make it to the quarterfinals. We would have events like cow chasin’, river crossing, stick fetching, compost sampling, death to squirrel and shut the door. Any events you dawgs want to enter? well, Just send them in and we’ll submit them to our review process (me and man). Then when you come to visit us we’ll do it. And maybe go swimmin’ in a mud hole too.

We did. At least once so far. We did have to get up and let out the chickens this morning and feed those silly goats but that’s not near so much fun as just goin’ out to run around. Don’t need no reason just get out there. Toss a few sticks. I’m not like a retriever or nuthin’ but I bring it back a few times cause it makes man happy. Makin’ man happy. That’s my job and I’m good it at too. It’s just up to him to remember. He sits in front of that stupid screen thing like all day long. But, when he remembers that we all need to get out, a lot. well, the whole world is a better place no matter what. So listen up, Desert Dawg words of wisdom once again: “Get outside and enjoy the backcountry!” That’s an order. I’m sure I heard that from one of man’s friends but us dawgs pick up lot’s of stuff humans don’t even know.

Yep, patience, that’s what’s it’s all about. Humans could learn so much from their dawgs if they would just learn to pay attention. We don’t need to talk about everything unless we’re warning you about intruders then it’s necessary to speak up, urgently and loud. Otherwise it’s all about non verbal communication. Us dawgs are the world experts. Subtle looks, posture, whisker direction, tails, it’s not rocket science but it’s amazing how many humans don’t get it. But oh yeah, patience. I’m probably the world’s leading dawg expert. I wait for man to wake up and sometimes that takes forever. Finally he gets up and lets me out. Luckily he’s been trained to leave the door open for me so I don’t have to wait and just let mysef in when I’m ready. After I shut the door (I get a cookie for shutting the door actually). It took awhile for man to learn that one. Then I wait for man to do all the stuff that he has to do to get ready for the day and it’s kind of endless. I get up and I’m ready. For anything. But then finally he feeds me and I start waiting. Patiently. He doesn’t even notice I’m there until I give him subtle hints that it’s time to go for a walk. Humans are so slow sometimes but I’ve got man trained pretty good. After the morning walk he goes to what he calls ‘work’ it’s so boring. And I wait, patiently. Sometimes though he blows off ‘work’ and we go for an all day adventure! Pure joy. That’s the best unless we have to drive too far cause I hate when we go across those bumpy things on the road that make the truck of adventure shake. But most days I wait for the afternoon walk or run. Running is really the best. I rule at running. Really I’m probably the world’s best. And sometimes Tashi comes with us and she’s just as awesome as me. We both rule actually. You should see how low I can get when there’s a cow to chase. Speeding bullet, that’s me. Then wait around for dinner. Then wait around for the evening walk. It’s an endless lesson in patience. Us dawgs are zen and we don’t even know what that means cause we just are. Present, Patient. Dawgs rule. Humans can learn so much from us.

Yep, I thought it was gonna be fun when man started packing the truck. He had all my stuff like my bed and bowl and food cause I travel light you know. We set off in the truck of adventure but when we got there it was just a parking lot. There weren’t even any dawgs around. Then with his friends they had all kinds of stuff. Bags and bags of junk that they dragged around making a racket but me, I got frickin’ tied up! Oh the disgrace, me, Desert Dawg tied like a common mongrel. At least man brought me a jacket and my bed cause all I got to do was lie there bored. I mean I was pretty handsome in my down vest and a lot of women stopped to pet me and stuff but mostly it was cold and way more boring than rock climbing. When we go rock climbing we get to explore and chase stuff but ice climbing, forget it, I’d rather watch tv.

I mean just look at what man has me do sometimes? I need all the calories I can find and if that means having a bit of stupid cat food every now and then who really cares? By nature I’m a hunter gatherer so if they leave it laying around then I’m just gonna hep mysef. Man eats everything he sees, well in the kitchen anyway he doesn’t eat stuff from the side of the road like me but those ol’ deer legs are good for a quick snack sometimes. Besides if we’re gonna put the harness on and go lifting and pushing through those muddy canyons that he loves then I’m gonna eat everything I can get my paws on. So what if he has to let the harness out a tiny bit? He lets his belt out a notch without makin’ it a big deal. So tell him to stop yelling at me when I hep mysef to the neighbors cat food okay? I mean cats eat mice so what do they need with those dry, tasty crunchies anyway?
Man thinks he’s some kinda health nut but I smell the s__t he eats when we’re on road trips and I tell ya I’d rather eat cat food any day. DD tellin’ you to eat a lot and eat often, sleep a lot, and git lot’s of exercise. That’s what keeps me happy!

Happy New Year, whatever…… you know everyday is a new day, everyday is the best day ever when I wake up spooning man on his big ol’ bed. Hopefully we’ll do somethin’ fun today and not just lay around on the office couch. Maybe he’ll make bacon for breakfast, that’s absolutely the best thing in the whole world and then go hikin’, exploring, and maybe swimming too. I’m kinda reluctant when it comes to water but if my good buddy Kasha is here she just loves to swim everyday and then lay around on the rocks and sand and it just is heaven. Here’s a shot of me hangin’ out and getting some Kasha love. Yep, happy new year to you too and I hope your gettin’ or givin’ some love wherever you are.

Oh Boy! Man is back and life is grand. His duffel smells stranger than ever, kinda like cow poop, dirty socks, dirt, smoke and some other stuff I can’t tell but he’s home and life is back to normal. Mainly he sits in front of the stupid screen thing and I lay on the couch but we walk around a lot and there’s a really ripe dead deer just across the road he doesn’t know about yet. So enjoy, tell your dawgs you love em’ and be grateful for a cozy warm couch and a big wood pile. Come and visit me here in the country so man will take us all out hikin’!