Montana
Still hazy today (Sunday) with the clouds bringing the humidity up to a whopping 47%…
But this scene – the fresh field, the barn, the snow covered mountains: this is Montana.
Soon!
After a week of days that seemed extra dry – humidity-wise as well as precipitation-wise – this morning dawned a bit gray and damp. No rain, but it felt like it could rain.
I joined Bob outside to peruse the grass and grounds.
…and to check on the rhubarb!
Soon!
Detent is riding the slow boat…
Hopefully, accord will be reached….Soon!
After looking at the rhubarb, I went to check on the lilacs…
Soon!
Return to Wayfarer’s Park
I had not been to Wayfarer’s Park without Karl. I wanted to go as the wildflowers on the path are 1-2 weeks ahead of my woods. But it was the one place that I hadn’t been able to go alone.
Today, I had some errands in Bigfork and decided that I would at least drive through with Bear and if he seemed interested we’d go for a short walk by the lake.
He was interested :)!
I let him pick where he wanted to go, curious to see what interested him and particularly if he’d want to go in the water.
He didn’t go right to the water, but after exploring the shore paths, he walked right in.
He drank a bit, walked along the edge, had another drink and we puttered around on the rocky beach…lots of good smells. A woman with her 2 young granddaughters were exploring and Bear happily dispensed kisses all around and stood quietly for the girls to pet him.
I had a few tough moments, but mostly it was a joyful time of seeing Bear enjoy a place that Karl and I so enjoyed.
Bear at Work
A video…it is probably not going to happen often, but I do want to document some of the training and as I looked at this video, I realized that Bear is doing much better than I. My commands are not consistent and they are not timed properly :(
There were 4 whitetail deer that I could see, maybe more that I could not. They were 100 yards off.
Oh…this video and all outside photos of Bear have been taken with my phone: HTC Thunderbolt.
What about Bob?
Upon arriving home Sunday, I let Bob out of the motorhome first. He had, after all, ridden in the back by himself and it was his “turn”. He kind of shook himself as he walked to the house, got a drink and went inside. Once he was inside checking out his food bowl, I got Bear out and we went for a very brisk, very exciting walk around the property before going in the back door where I put him in the office/sunroom…which has glass doors.
Bob took a look, looked at me and left.
When I was sure Bear was settled, had food and water, I went back to the motorhome to unload those things that don’t stay…and found Bob…
“Are you going to come in the house, Bob?”
“You’ve got to be kidding!! How long is that dog going to be in there?”
“He lives here???”
“…not good news.”
“Tell me again why we need a dog.”
***So…this might take awhile. My plan is that while I am keeping everyone separate, the separation is glass doors or the kennel so everyone has to deal with seeing and hearing everyone else. And I make sure I get plenty of both of their scents on me and we occasionally switch areas so they must be where the other has been. I hope that eventually this works :)!
Bear in the woods
A Montana woods is a pretty exciting place for a guy just off the ‘plane from ‘Jersey :)!
Silly squirrels!
Mountains and deer and turkeys.
Places to go and things to see.
Bear is doing very well. He does get very excited about deer and squirrels, but you can see here that he is on a loose lead even watching the deer. I’m working on getting him to “give me his eyes” even in the midst of something exciting going on. If we are ever to go off leash, I need for him to listen and trust me enough to obey a command.
Bear is very smart. He understands everything I’ve asked of him. He’s given me a paw to trim nails, he comes when called in the house, even when he wants to do something else, he sits, he stays, he goes down and does a down stay – all happily, not robotically. He was trained with love.
There is a lot of training to be done to live here with him as I’d like and it will take awhile, but he is a joy to work, play and just be with.
Loving Bear does ease the grief for Karl in some ways and in other ways, it makes it more intense. Sometimes a mannerism that is so like Karl brings tears. Sometimes it is just doing things with a dog that is not Karl, a dog that requires that I change how I do things. And that brought back memories of the same thing when Karl was a puppy and it required that I changed how I had done things with Zack. It is all good and all part of the process. We learn to live with loss but there is always someone, some dog, some cat missing. We ultimately feel more joy in memory than in sadness but certain things can trigger sorrow as well.
As I experience more, I’ve learned to be ok with those times of sorrow, to notice and think about them and then go on. The more I’m in the woods with Bear, the more I feel the joy of Karl and of a new way of doing things.
Bear.