With A Little Help From His Friends

Sasha trying to wake up at dawn

Mama Owl was giving me the tail while feeding The Lone Owlet this morning.

Jetties in the glow of the almost rising sun

A dragon over Resa’s Wolf Tree

Spunk and Jake

Snapping turtle on the irrigation ditch bank

When Jake and I went out for our afternoon walk, my neighbor, Sara, and a cyclist were pondering the snapping turtle on the irrigation ditch bank, headed away from the Clearwater ditch and river. Sara got an old horse feed bag, we got the snapping turtle in the sack, and I carried him to the river. 

He was looking very dry, but still had a lot of snap in him.

He was still upset over being bagged and carried to the river, so he gave me a menacing look.

Sunset

After he got into the river, he stretched out and soaked under sunset clouds.

Jake watching the turtle soak in the shallows.

The turtles view of the sunset

Spunk

Happy Bowie

8:30 AM

Shadowing

We spent a wonderful afternoon at Susans’ for Memorial Day We even got rain!

Bowie was happy to see us.

Bowie demonstrated his head in a jar crawl.

Bowie’s view of Jake as he puts his head in the jar.

Sunset from the east side of Albuquerque

Daytime

Spunk and Silver

We met on nice horse on our mid-morning walk

Jake chillin’ in the shade

Silver

Loki

Jake: “I say! I say! You’re boring me boy!”

Comorant hanging out in the middle of the river

Sunset

On the Wrong Foot

Interesting result

Jake tried to get me up at our normal walk time, which with the time change was 5:00 a.m. I told him to go back to bed. He had to wait until the afternoon to go on a walk because I had a lot to do in the morning and early afternoon. The afternoon was beautiful. We got in a three-mile walk. Surprisingly, we only saw a couple walking their dog and two cyclists for being such a beautiful afternoon. 

Silver, Glenda and Sasha stayed in bed longer than Spunk, Marble and I did. Spunk and Marble would have stayed in bed if I hadn’t gotten up.

I saw this Shelby Cobra on the way home from the store this morning. I can’t tell if it’s authentic, but it’s a great-looking car.

Spunk thinking about life, the universe, and everything after we got out of bed this morning.

Jake was seeing if the perpetual sneaker on the coyote that only coyotes, Jake, and I seem to walk on, would fit his right paw. He discovered that he got it on the wrong foot.

Almost got goosed by a couple of geese doing a close fly-by!

“What’s the password, Paparazzo? Sorry! ‘What? I don’t need no stinking password!’ is not the password. Ya wanna try again?”

Spunk

Lead a Horse to Water

Vato Kitty is convalescing at Laurie’s parents’ house after sustaining some serious wounds from fighting.

I showed some riders how to get to the river bed on their horses.

Jake trying to catch a little shade.

“Hey, Paparazzo! What did you do with that roadrunner you shot yesterday?”
“Look out! He’s Right behind you!”

“Talk to the tail! Stupid paparazzo!”

Dragon Tree

If The Shoe Fits

Not a cloud in the sky

Jake and I ran into a sassy Roadrunner on our afternoon walk.

He stopped to sun himself for a few minutes.

Ready to pounce

Jake tried on the lost shoe to see if, by chance, he was Dogerella!

Cranes foraging on the edge of the bosque

Happy Birthday, Jake

Jake turned 9 today. For some reason, I thought he would be turning 7, but no. He is 9, and old man like me. He got to sleep in for his birthday. We had leftover pizza for breakfast. Jake got the pizza bones (the crust) after his regular breakfast. We went out for our morning walk at noon.

We walked down to the beach, and Scoopy took Jake for a scoop on the wet sand.

Then Jake claimed his own island in the middle of the Rio Grande.

He made a couple of laps around the beach in celebration of his island.

Jake was a little dirty, a little tired, but satisfied with his birthday celebration on the beach. The rest of our walk was uneventful.

On our evening walk, Jake romped with a miniature Austrian Shepherd and made a new Japanese friend.

Dusk

Daddy Owl hooted “Happy Birthday, Jake” from the top of a tree.

Dusk sky

Love & VD

Sunrise on VD

Besides making a great name for a rock band, Love & VD seemed an appropriate title for VD. The popularity of both in 2026 may be in question as fewer people have been hooking up and shacking up in recent years. For old, married folk, there is plenty of romance to be found in a heart-shaped pizza!

Jake and I walked through a tangled tunnel of love with pink markers this morning, and ran into…

The cranes were not in a loving mood

Jake found himself with a river to the left of him, bosque on the right. There he was, stuck in the middle with tree.

Does anyone remember “Tunnel Of Love” by Dire Straights?

“BIG YAWN! That’s what I think about Love & VD. There’s no way I can love a dawg, especially not a Virtual Dawg!”

We ran into a sweet Bernese Mountain Dog on our evening walk.

The Sandias were a nice VD red at sunset