mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2023-07-19 08:00 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2023-07-19 08:00 pm
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Lair o' the Bear County Park
Today we needed to plan on bringing the dogs with us somewhere, because today was apparently ~smoke detector testing~ day, so no unattended dogs in apartments. (Or we were at least hoping it would be today - the notice said either today or tomorrow, and we already have dog-free plans tomorrow, so had our fingers crossed it'd be today.) Fortunately they came by pretty early... and did not test the smoke detectors. They looked in the bathroom and the closet, so I think they were actually making sure the sprinklers were in good shape and not like, being used as hangers or whatever.
Then they did test the building-wide fire alarm which is SO LOUD.
But we'd already made dog plans, so. We headed to Lair o' the Bear, which is a county park up in the mountains a ways. It has a lot of creek access and is an easy trail, all dog-friendly.
Regrettably I always forget that it's a bit too... people-y. It's *always* crowded, and I get why. It *is* a nice trail, that's not TOO far to get to, that allows dogs and bikes, that has enough water access that you can wade or even swim if you're good with shallow water, the trails are mostly pretty easy, but offer a few more serious ones if you want, it's completely free...
But there were so many people. Every little inlet we found had people, and it felt like we had to step aside every couple of yards to let other people and dogs pass. (Cy and Bella are both friendly, but I don't trust other people's dogs.) No one was being awful or obnoxious, it was just other people enjoying a hot day at a nice park, and I'm sure we were just as annoying to them, but... bleh.
Still, it was quite pretty.
The creek was fairly high and the water was pretty fast, but there are still some nice shallower, sandier areas that are good for dog or people wading.
Bella, in a pretty, sun-dappled part of the creek.
After this, we did go down a smaller little path that leads to a usually quieter access point. There were a few kids (young teens) there when we arrived, but we headed to a different part, and they left in a few minutes.
It was a good spot for the dogs to both wade, and Alex and I sat at the shore and looked for neat rocks. (All do, predictably, look a lot cooler when they're wet, lol.) But we found a few pieces of smoothed glass (like sea glass, but this isn't the sea), and some nice little quartz and other pebbles.
It rained a little, even though it was sunny. Then there was a little thunder, so we started to head back... but then it cleared back up. We decided to go a little farther up the main trail to check out the culvert that goes under the road. Last year we went through it for the first time, and found some really neat art that had been done down the tunnel.
A monster-y face!
And a dismayed looking ghost face.
This was the most elaborate new piece since last year.
And this one was here last year, but it's neat, and I'm glad it's still there.
Met up with an acquaintance to do a shady deal for a fancy plastic horse.
Ran some errands to get groceries and then crickets.
Got home, had to clean the kitchen so that I could use the sink to clean Broccoli Cheddar Bomb's habitat, which has been pretty overdue. I think I'll definitely do it that way in the future - I've typically used the bathtub, which always ends up killing my back where I have the bad disks... standing at the sink was a lot less painful.
BCB has a nice clean habitat, and some fresh crickets. I am *tired*, even though it was mostly an easy day.
I'm hoping I manage to get at least a LITTLE writing done tonight. My fic uploading project is done! Hooray! So finally my additional time can go to writing again!
Then they did test the building-wide fire alarm which is SO LOUD.
But we'd already made dog plans, so. We headed to Lair o' the Bear, which is a county park up in the mountains a ways. It has a lot of creek access and is an easy trail, all dog-friendly.
Regrettably I always forget that it's a bit too... people-y. It's *always* crowded, and I get why. It *is* a nice trail, that's not TOO far to get to, that allows dogs and bikes, that has enough water access that you can wade or even swim if you're good with shallow water, the trails are mostly pretty easy, but offer a few more serious ones if you want, it's completely free...
But there were so many people. Every little inlet we found had people, and it felt like we had to step aside every couple of yards to let other people and dogs pass. (Cy and Bella are both friendly, but I don't trust other people's dogs.) No one was being awful or obnoxious, it was just other people enjoying a hot day at a nice park, and I'm sure we were just as annoying to them, but... bleh.
Still, it was quite pretty.
The creek was fairly high and the water was pretty fast, but there are still some nice shallower, sandier areas that are good for dog or people wading.
Bella, in a pretty, sun-dappled part of the creek.
After this, we did go down a smaller little path that leads to a usually quieter access point. There were a few kids (young teens) there when we arrived, but we headed to a different part, and they left in a few minutes.
It was a good spot for the dogs to both wade, and Alex and I sat at the shore and looked for neat rocks. (All do, predictably, look a lot cooler when they're wet, lol.) But we found a few pieces of smoothed glass (like sea glass, but this isn't the sea), and some nice little quartz and other pebbles.
It rained a little, even though it was sunny. Then there was a little thunder, so we started to head back... but then it cleared back up. We decided to go a little farther up the main trail to check out the culvert that goes under the road. Last year we went through it for the first time, and found some really neat art that had been done down the tunnel.
A monster-y face!
And a dismayed looking ghost face.
This was the most elaborate new piece since last year.
And this one was here last year, but it's neat, and I'm glad it's still there.
Met up with an acquaintance to do a shady deal for a fancy plastic horse.
Ran some errands to get groceries and then crickets.
Got home, had to clean the kitchen so that I could use the sink to clean Broccoli Cheddar Bomb's habitat, which has been pretty overdue. I think I'll definitely do it that way in the future - I've typically used the bathtub, which always ends up killing my back where I have the bad disks... standing at the sink was a lot less painful.
BCB has a nice clean habitat, and some fresh crickets. I am *tired*, even though it was mostly an easy day.
I'm hoping I manage to get at least a LITTLE writing done tonight. My fic uploading project is done! Hooray! So finally my additional time can go to writing again!
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Impressive that the painting lasted a year without getting tagged up!
Shady horse deals, interesting!
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And yes - I was a bit surprised that the painting was still there and unvandalized!
Lol, shady horse deals. [Last weekend was the big national convention for the biggest model horse company. There are always a ton of exclusive models, and while we had a friend picking up a few for us, another local person wound up with an extra that she was going to sell. She's a pretty famous artist - mostly in ceramics - but has done some sculpture work for model companies as well. She was also very kindly selling this one at-cost, which is *really* quite uncommon. So we met up in a fast food parking lot to buy a fancy plastic horse, while she was on her way home up in the mountains, lol.]
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We were cursed this year, because the "surprise" model that was revealed only after the event started had 11 variations... on an extremely popular sculpt that's of course one of our favorites. The friend we met up with sold us one of the variations. There's no way we'll ever wind up with *all* the versions, but getting a few of them would be nice!
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Broccoli Cheddar Bomb!! I'm sure he's very grateful for the nice clean habitat and crickets.
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<3 Broccoli Cheddar Bomb seems happy - he again didn't spend the next couple hours after the habitat clean trying to climb up the corner, so I guess my interior decoration met with approval!
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And the dogs had a good time! Cy did too, I just didn't get any good pictures of him. They had a nice time wading in the little shallows where we were looking for rocks, ha.