7 posts tagged “river”
Michigan weather is simply amazing. Yesterday saw a heat wave reaching 40 degrees that melted much of the several inches of snow on the ground, but 40+ mph winds this morning will plummet the thermometer below 20 degrees later today. The weatherman called it a "flash freeze", which I guess means that we had a "flash thaw" over the weekend?
Recently we picked up Jan, our 54th foster dog, and she's been such a great dog that Amanda keeps saying stuff like "if we ever want 3 dogs, Jan should be the 3rd one". :)
To me she's not a "Jan" - she's too sweet and spunky for that calm-sounding name, so I've been calling her JJ. Not "J.J." but "JJ" because there's no initials - that second "J" doesn't stand for anything.
Taking advantage of the balmy weather yesterday, I loaded the entire pack - Haven, Beacon, JJ - into the car and all 14 of our feet embarked on a hike in warm, wet snow along the Flat River. JJ has been good enough that I let her run off leash; she's only the 3rd or 4th foster dog to earn such freedom! She wasn't perfect and tended to ignore my whistles occasionally, but she kept us in sight. Of course to her, "us" can mean just Haven and Beacon so sometimes the three of them were a few hundred yards away chasing some intriguing scent!
Eventually we slipped and slid our way up and over the steep hill that leads to "Beacon's Landing" - his favorite fetching spot on the river, a small sandy delta where a foot-wide stream drains into the 200-foot wide river. Immediately downstream of Beacon's Landing is "Haven's Cove", a backwater area of eddy flow caused by the delta. Lots of flotsam and other debris collects here and Haven loves to explore it at low water levels in hopes of finding a stinky fish carcass to eather eat or roll in.
In the winter Haven's Cove freezes over due to the still water and during this hike the ice was 2 inches thick, extending 15 feet into the river and running 60 feet along the shore. Standing at Beacon's Landing and waiting for JJ to catch up to us, Beacon began insisting that I throw him something to retrieve. I was scanning the ground for a stick when I heard a splash...
Looking up I saw JJ had fallen through the ice! She was at the far end of the ice shelf on Haven's Cove - she had walked too close to the edge and a 2-foot hemicircle of ice had broken away. JJ was in that hemicircle trying to climb back on to the ice with no success. Her front paws were hanging on with her rear in the water; occassionally a hind paw would appear on the ice edge but the river was about 3 feet deep there, so she had nothing to push off of.
At first I tried to coax JJ to exit the hemicircle and swim upstream around the ice shelf - there's almost zero current in Haven's Cove - but JJ apparently doesn't have enough labrador retriever in her genes to give her such instincts. She wasn't panicked but she was intent on climbing out, which she couldn't do without help.
Haven seemed to realize this - as soon as we saw JJ in the water, Haven went running out onto the ice right up to JJ, putting her nose right next to JJ's. How kind! If only Haven had thought to grab JJ's collar and haul her out, but Haven apparently was only intending to provide moral support. :)
JJ was about 12 feet from shore, a shoreline that's steep and covered in woody shrubs so I wasn't going to reach her from dry land. I also didn't want to wade through a waist-deep, ice-cold river along the entire 60-foot ice shelf to get there. I decided to press my luck by walking out onto the ice shelf.
It was pretty solid, but obviously thinning out toward it's edge. Beacon joined me when I set foot onto the ice, and Haven got excited and ran over to Beacon... and slid right past him! Yes Haven, ice is slippery. The two of them must've figured I had things under control as they ran back to Beacon's Landing.
I managed to get about 6 feet away from JJ before my weight pushed the outer edge of the ice just below the surface and water began to flow onto the ice. Rats, I couldn't get any closer! How was I going to help JJ out of the water? I pulled the leash out of my pocket - I could make a "lasso" and toss it over her head, giving enough of a pull that her back paws could push her out.
As I was preparing to toss the leash, Haven and Beacon came running out onto the ice to see what I was up to, coming all the way out right next to me. I weigh almost 200 lbs and the ice barely supported me, but add in 140 pounds of pooch and guess what? The ice breaks!
I fell through the ice and verified that the water was indeed waist deep. Yow, was it cold! Haven fell in right next to me but Beacon was on the safe side of the crack, still standing up on the ice. JJ was now in front of me in the water so I picked her up and placed her on the ice and she ran for shore. Then I turned and helped Haven climb back onto the shelf - she's a pretty good swimmer and comfortable in the river, but she wasn't too thrilled to be dog-paddling in icy water!
As I helped Haven I heard a splash behind me... Beacon! The silly boy had jumped into the river and was swimming back to me with a large chunk of ice in his mouth! He saw pieces of ice from my fall-through floating in the river and he leapt in to retrieve them. However, he couldn't climb out so I then had to help him back onto the ice shelf but he never let go of his prize.
Naturally if I fall through the ice with three dogs, I'm the last one out! They're back on shore at Beacon's Landing, shaking off some of the chilly water while I'm forced to make that trek that I opted against earlier - a long wade in chilling, waist-deep water to circumnavigate the ice shelf at Haven's Cove.
Back near shore I stepped on the ice edge trying to break off a chunk, but lo and behold nearly the entire shelf cracked free! A huge 10x50 foot island of ice floated out into the river, but rather than heading downstream is simply spun. The backwater eddys were evident as the upstream end of the ice floe rotated out into the river and downstream, while the downstream end actually moved upstream. It did this twice before I left, so who knows if it ever drifted downstream or just kept spinning there! Pretty cool stuff for a nature and science geek.
By the time I stepped on to dry land my feet were almost numb, but otherwise I felt pretty good. The dogs were noticeably cold from their bouncy behavior, but they weren't shivering or stressed out; in fact they were already exploring the woods while awaiting my return. Once I arrived, however, Beacon began trying to lead us back to the car - he was ready to go home. He was right, of course - we'd been out for half an hour and had a 15 minute hike back to the parking area so no need to hang around in wet clothes (or fur) when there's snow on the ground, even in a Michigan heat wave.
I wish I'd thought to get some photos of the ice shelf, but perhaps it was all the best that I had the camera and my cell phone stashed away in double ziploc bags. They both survived the dunking - luckily I took such precautions despite no intention of getting wet. Running in the woods with three dogs? Anything can happen! What a blast.
Amazingly it was in the mid 40's yesterday - it felt like spring! Don't worry, it won't go to my head - we're supposed to get a few inches of snow tonight.
I took advantage of the spring-like air and brought the dogs along on a mini hiking excursion at our usual spot by the river. There was still plenty of snow on the ground but it was wet and slick; there was also thick ice on the shore extending a bit into the water. Early on Haven and Beacon learned that the edge of the ice might break under their weight, but they didn't seem to mind getting their paws dipped in the icy water.
To my surprise, they didn't even mind swimming! Beacon got so impatient for me to throw something for him to fetch (I wasn't planning to take them swimming) that he did his best to convey his desires by jumping right into the freezing river! He stood there and waited, and when I wasn't able to find a stick fast enough he swam over to an approaching ice floe and bit off a big chunk of ice to bring back to me as his prize. When Haven saw what he had she jumped in to "help" him carry the ice chunk.
If they were going to swim, I decided to hike up and over the big hill, on the backside of which is a nice access point to the river with some shallow areas. Near the top of the hill I heard a loud trill and looked up to see a bald eagle launch from a tree and glide down out of view along the river! Often times when spotting a bald eagle it's hard to be sure - at a distance the long wingspan could be an osprey or even a rough-legged hawk. But this time there was no doubt - it was so close to me that not only were the tell-tale white head and tail evident, but I could see the yellow beak and feet and even distinguish the outlines of feathers!
For some reason it reminded me of the lines from Solsbury Hill: "Climbing up on Solsbury Hill... an eagle flew out of the night... he was something to observe... came in close I heard a voice..." Well, everything but the name of the hill, it was daytime, and I didn't hear any voices. :)
Today I went running for the first time in almost two weeks thanks to my bout with the flu. It was just 2.5 miles on the treadmill but it felt good to run again. Clearly the sickness took a toll - not only was my resting HR unusually high at 63 today, but my HR during the run was 10-20 bpm above normal for the slow 9:30-10:00 pace.
After running the Michigan Apple Run 5K on Saturday, I've since managed to run each of the next two days without as much difficulty as I'd expect. Hopefully this is a good sign of my fitness.
Sunday Amanda and I spent a couple hours on a section of the North Country Trail near our house pruning back any overhanging tree branches and encroaching prickers. Later that day we were still feeling antsy so we decided to take the dogs to the river. Amanda loaded Beacon into the car and drove to the river to start him retrieving some sticks.
Meanwhile I went the "back way", running 2.5 miles of trails with Haven at a surprisingly fast 8:00 pace. Doing this the day after a 5K was pretty cool, and of course Haven loved it. Now that I've learned that dogs can laugh, I wonder if Haven cracked up when she saw me fall flat on my face? Yep, my foot caught a rock on a slight downhill and I bit the dust. Luckily I didn't even draw blood and ended up with nothing more than dirty knees, elbows, and clothing. In fact the worst effect was that the nozzle of my water bottle was covered in dirt!
We reached the river where I took over stick-throwing duties from Amanda. Beacon continued to dutifully fetch the sticks but Haven spent her river time chasing whirligig beetles on the surface! Sometimes I wonder if she was even chasing minnows as she would dunk her whole head under water! Silly girl.
Today I ran 5 miles during lunch and my co-worker and I did some fire hydrant fartleks that bumped our overall pace up to 8:45 - nothing to crow about although the fact that I could do such a pace after Sunday's trails and Saturday's race has left me feeling pretty happy with myself. That, and the fact that I've "flown" 707 miles this year. Not quite as impressive as the four-engined Boeing 707, but cool nonetheless.
T'was a busy weekend. Awake by 0600 on Saturday for the Reeds Lake Run, then get ready for my little brother Ryan's bachelor party! I had about two hours at home between the race and getting back in the car to drive to Midland for his celebration which included grilling out on a softball field, playing frisbee golf, taking in a minor league baseball game, then hitting the cursory bar for a few drinks. Poor Ryan had to wear a plastic ball and chain around his ankle all day (amazingly he was still good at frisbee golf while wearing it!), a giant sombrero, and a t-shirt with a picture of a pinata and the caption "I'd Hit It". I wish I'd remembered to take a photo! I didn't get home until after 0300!
Sunday Amanda and I took Eddie to meet his future "parents" and otherwise tried to take it easy. However, Haven and Beacon started giving me those soulful looks of "let's go do something!" so I decided to take them to the river. After all, the weather was perfect - upper 60's, sunny, and a light breeze. My legs were a bit tired from Saturday's two races but good enough that we bypassed the river access near the parking area and jogged half a mile on the trail up and over a large hill to the prime river access point.
Rather than throw sticks for fetching, this time I took the dogs for a walk, or rather a "wade", up the river! The recent dry spell had lowered the water level enough that I could walk the 50 yards across the river without getting deeper than my knees. Even the dogs were mostly walking or bunny-hopping in the shallow water. We waded about a 1/4 mile upstream to a section of small rapids where there were a couple "nozzle" points that had rather strong flow. It was strong enough that I had trouble standing and the dogs had to swim as hard as they could just to stand still. We had fun playing in the rapids - I walked up the "nozzle" then back through while the dogs went for a theme-park-like ride through the chute!
Finally we jogged back to the parking area, a dirt cul-de-sac next to an old boy scout cabin. Haven loves to eat weeds (I have no idea why!) and there were some nice, long, un-mowed weeds in back of the cabin. As she bent down to grab a bite I was about to scold her when suddenly a fawn sprung out of the weeds! Haven was startled for just a split second before she gave chase, and Beacon soon joined her as they pursued the poor little deer around the building.
The fawn was a bit taller than my dogs, but clearly much scrawnier and probably only weighed 50 lbs to my dogs 65-70 lbs each. As the trio rounded the corner I heard the fawn start bleating like a goat, crying "Mmmaaah! Mmmaaah!" over and over - I feared that my dogs were going to kill it! I sprinted around the opposite side of the cabin, hoping to head them off and get between the predators and the prey to prevent serious harm.
To my surprise, when I rounded the cabin the fawn was nowhere to be seen! My dogs love to scarf their food, but no way did they eat that fawn! :) Beacon was in the parking lot scanning every which way trying to spot the deer. Haven, however, was one step ahead - she was sniffing underneath a wooden staircase. I walked over to grab Haven when the fawn clambered out from under the stairs right past Haven, who merely sniffed it as it started to run away again.
Seeing it run excited my dogs enough to give chase. While faster than me, the fawn wasn't nearly strong enough to outclass adult canine speed and my dogs closed in quickly as the fawn raced down the road. Knowing I couldn't accomplish anything by chasing, I ran back to the car and opened the back door, hoping to signal my dogs that it's "time to go" - usually they'll jump right in. Then it occurred to me... What if mommy deer hears the bleating and comes after my dogs? Luckily I was the only "adult" around!
When I turned back to the action, I saw one of the most improbable sights of my life - the fawn was standing frozen with Haven and Beacon motionless on either side of it!!! I so wish I'd had a camera right then. The fawn must've tired out or realized it couldn't outrun the dogs. Haven and Beacon started to sniff the fawn when Bambi decided to go on the offensive - it reared back and head-butted Beacon just like a goat would do! Beacon was startled and jumped back. Bambi lunged again and Beacon got down in a dog's "play stance" with his front paws down and butt in the air!
Beacon put a couple juke moves on the fawn, feinting left and right and when Bambi went for another "attack" Beacon ran away back to me for safety! I was really cracking up at this point. A little fawn put the smack down on big bad Beaks! Confirming my idea to open the car door, Beacon jumped right up onto the seat and I quickly closed the door to finally contain one dog.
Looking back to Haven, she was trying to sniff the fawn just like she would greet a new foster dog. She was trying to make friends! But the fawn was understandably less trusting and kept trying to head-butt Haven, moves that Haven was easily able to dodge. Finally I think Haven got tired of this belligerent potential pal and she came running back to me to see what happened to Beacon. I got her in the car just as Bambi turned to lope out of sight down the road.
Amanda couldn't believe me when I told her the story and she really wishes she could've seen it. I'm still amazed that the dogs didn't injure the fawn, but even more incredible is that they wanted to play with it! That image of Haven and Beacon standing either side of the fawn is permanently etched in my memory... Classic. I'll probably never see something like that again, but still I hope that someday the dogs will encounter another fawn and try to play with it. My dogs never cease to amaze!
Sorry about the corny title, but I decided to let Haven and Beacon write this one... :)
"Woo hoo! Andrew took us trail running this morning! It wasn't long before we stumbled upon this rock in the middle of the trail, but it moved! It kinda freaked us out, but we were brave enough to sit next to it while Andrew snapped a photo.
After chasing some deer, squirrels, and even some robins we were getting pretty hot even though the morning air wasn't warm yet. We found a small trickle of a stream that was full of black mud - it wasn't much, but it was enough to roll around in to cool off. Andrew wasn't so pleased when we ran past him and rubbed the muck on his pants!
Almost two hours into the run we were getting really tired! Andrew had us pause for a break and we were more than happy to lie down for a while and enjoy the sunlight filtering through the branches of the pine trees. Yes, dogs enjoy nice weather, too!
On the way back home we rolled in the little yucky stream again so Andrew took us on a detour to the Flat River before going home. Eagerly we jumped into the river and lay down, soaking in the refreshing coolness of the smoothly flowing water. A side benefit was that it rinsed the mud out of our fur. Apparently Andrew wanted to cool off too, so he started waded out into the water! Not wanting to be alone in the woods, we swam out after him.
Halfway across the river there was an old tree stump that had lodged against a large, submerged rock. Swimming gets tiring after a while, but luckily Andrew stopped here and we hung out in the river, using the stump and rock to brace ourselves against the current so we could relax, rest, and cool off.
Finally it was time to go home! Andrew had to leash us up for the last of our ten miles since it was along neighborhood roads. We would've preferred that Amanda had driven the car out to pick us up! Especially Beacon, who was suffering from a very sore paw pad, but he toughed it out and made it home. Amanda fed us breakfast and within no time we were ready for a nice, long nap!"
Normally Amanda and I do our long workouts on Sunday mornings, but this morning we had a bit of a time crunch due to volunteering at the Pet Expo. I could only run for an hour so I planned to get in my long run via a "daily double" run.
This morning was 60 degrees and overcast; in fact, thunderstorms had just rolled through before sunrise. I got my running gear on, grabbed a water bottle and my iPod and hit the streets. Let me tell you, it was one of THE MOST ENJOYABLE runs I've ever had! Why this morning of all days? Perhaps the perfect running weather and the good music, but for some reason my feet were just floating. I was cruising along at just over a 9:00 pace and I felt as if I could've gone on forever. Never once did I feel even a hint of fatigue; I just ran and ran and ran for 7.3 miles, going faster every mile.
Before heading off to the Expo our dogs convinced us to let them get some activity, so we drove them to the trails to run around and fetch in the river for about half an hour. They would've preferred more, but it was all the time we had. Still, they were pretty happy. Dogs can be so easy to please! Then again, are we any different?
After the Expo it was time for the second half of my long run, and what a contrast! My legs were tired from the morning run, tired from standing at the Expo for hours, and here I am trying to make them run again. I eked out 6.75 miles at a 9:30 pace and barely made it! At least the weather was great: 75 degrees and partly sunny - perhaps the heat was part of my trouble for my winter-adjusted body? In any case, the first two miles my legs felt stiff, then for two miles I felt OK, then the last two+ miles my legs felt heavy and listless.
Hopefully one of these days I can figure out how to replicate the feeling of that morning run!
It's nice and warm here - almost 60 - so we took advantage of the weather to hike with the dogs and play a little fetch. I'm just going to write about the hiking part since I had the camera during that portion.
For the rest of the hike go visit Amanda's blog where she covers our labs doing their retrieving thing.
