Mt. Umanhum

After 5 vet appointments, Mom’s vet has ruled out most of the stuff that would leave her lying in a heap in a patch of poison oak, so she finally felt comfortable bringing me out to the trails again. Forget the fact that hot, hazy mornings might leave ME lying in a heap in a pile of poison oak, I was just happy to be out there in the trails around Mt Umanhum (

🎶doot doo do do doo

🎶). I was so happy to be out, that Mom and I invented a new game called “traveling tug-of-war.” It goes like this: I would sprint after the smell of some critter until I reached the end of my leash and had to pull Mom with all my might toward some shrub while she made herself an anchor. Then it was my turn to be an anchor, and I would stand there and sniff at the shrub as Mom jogged by and pulled the leash tight, and had to practically run in place to pull me back uphill. We traded off like that until finally I was bored with critters and we invented a new game called “speed hiking” which involved running uphill for a minute or so until Mom’s heart rate spiked to a thousand-million-billion beats per minute. Then we would walk until she no longer felt like she was going to poop her pants. We went on like that until we had gone exactly 2.5 miles, at which point Mom plunked her butt down in the middle of the trail and took my picture. I hate pictures, so I made a point of standing in front of some ugly weeds and not looking at her.

On the way back down, Mom was worried that I was going to drag her down the steep, slippery trail. But that’s what cool Oscar does. Hot Oscar just sat right on her heels and behaved like a model citizen. I didn’t even sit 2 inches behind her so that she would kick me under the chin and trip on the leash (both of which happen often in cool weather). –Oscar the Hot Dog (Make sure to click on the video for the full effect)