Dragonfly Ranch

kai and chester at point pinole 2008-01-01, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

We took Kai and Chester to Point Pinole on New Year’s Day, because the beach there is open, while all the other beaches are still closed after the oil spill. There were other dogs to meet, and lots of people riding horses, so it was a treat for Chester. He obviously hadn’t been introduced to the beach before. He didn’t want to go into the water beyond his paws, but he and Kai had a great time playing on the beach.

The cats are getting used to Chester, and he’s getting used to them. They no longer run when he approaches, and they feel comfortable enough to nap while he’s in the room. Willy has hissed at Chester enough so that he’s starting to get the idea that he should just stay away. I think Chester can sense that Sophie is more playful, but he doesn’t understand that cats have a different idea of play than dogs do. He barks at her and does the play bow, and once he even pretended to bite her on the back of the neck, but she won’t play. Amazingly, though, she tolerates his puppy foolishness and hasn’t yet scratched him.

kai and chester at point pinole 2008-01-01, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

We took Kai and Chester to Point Pinole on New Year’s Day, because the beach there is open, while all the other beaches are still closed after the oil spill. There were other dogs to meet, and lots of people riding horses, so it was a treat for Chester. He obviously hadn’t been introduced to the beach before. He didn’t want to go into the water beyond his paws, but he and Kai had a great time playing on the beach.

The cats are getting used to Chester, and he’s getting used to them. They no longer run when he approaches, and they feel comfortable enough to nap while he’s in the room. Willy has hissed at Chester enough so that he’s starting to get the idea that he should just stay away. I think Chester can sense that Sophie is more playful, but he doesn’t understand that cats have a different idea of play than dogs do. He barks at her and does the play bow, and once he even pretended to bite her on the back of the neck, but she won’t play. Amazingly, though, she tolerates his puppy foolishness and hasn’t yet scratched him.

kai and chester 2007-12-30 2, originally uploaded by Phil Youngholm.

On Saturday night around 8:00 a homeless man approached us as we were walking Kai. He said he had found a puppy a few days earlier and had been looking for us, because he wanted us to take the puppy. When we saw the puppy, we couldn’t say no. We’re calling him Chester. At first, we just thought we’d keep him until we could find his owner or find him a home, but we’ve fallen in love with him and we’re planning to keep him. It won’t be easy to have a puppy, but we’ll try to figure it out. Aside from being cute as a button, he’s well socialized and eager to please. He already gets along with the cats. Kai isn’t exactly thrilled to have another dog in the house, but he’s being very good to Chester. More photos on Flickr (click the photo or my name above.)

The earthquake a couple of weeks ago was almost a non-event for us. Arlin was outside walking Kai and didn’t feel a thing. I was inside, reading. I felt a mild shaking that lasted for five or ten seconds. The main difference from other earthquakes I’ve felt was that those are typically short single jolts. This was the longest quake I can remember. After it had gone on for a couple of seconds, I got up and started thinking, “Maybe this is a big one and I should be looking for shelter” — and then it stopped.

The oil spill has been a bigger deal for us because it’s meant that we can’t take Kai to the beach. The beach we usually go to in Albany near the race track is completely closed. Point Isabel is open but has signs warning you not to let your dog in the water (or so I hear — we haven’t gone there in months). One the alternative places we’ve been going is the Richmond Marina. On the Friday after the spill, though here was no oil in the Marina itself, I saw a partially-oiled bird there (probably one that was able to escape to the Marina before it suffered too much damage), and people in hard hats and bulky protective clothing going out in boats for clean-up duty. There were signs warning boaters that oil had been spotted outside the Marina.

Kai loves the beach as much as ever. Here he’s trying to dig a hole for his tennis ball in the seaweed. We never said he was the brightest dog.

On Saturday we bought a FURminator (http://www.furminator.com), a dangerous-looking tool that’s supposed to remove dead hair from the cats to keep them from shedding. It worked great, and both cats loved it. Sophie, who usually doesn’t care for being brushed, was happy to be brushed with the FURminator. Willy, though, couldn’t get enough. He keeps coming back for more, and we keep getting fur off him. His supply seems to inexhaustible. (Don’t be fooled by his apparently hostile stare at the camera; he’s really loving it.) We tried the tool on Kai, who also loved it, but I think we need the dog version to make a difference with his coat.