Page 35 – De & the Dachsies

Weekend in Review

Arriving home from my most recent RV outing yesterday evening, sunburnt to a crisp, I looked back on my four days spent in Anchorage, Alaska, mostly with pleasure. With a couple of notable exceptions, but I’ll save them for another blog post.

Note to self; purchase better sunscreen. The stuff I brought with me on this trip was obviously not up to the task of protecting me from our intense, laser-focused Alaskan sunshine once it finally decides to grace us with its full summer brilliance. 🌞

On the bright side; with my recovering but still sore feet seriously well protected by the deep-cushioned heels and proper arch support of brand new Hoka One One running/walking sports shoes from REI, I found myself able to actually enjoy the first two full days of the 4-day K9 Nose Work Trial. Baxter & Rhonda were both entered in the NW3 level and had a blast.

Saturday’s trial started out beautiful but pretty chilly (you may notice Ronni wearing her light sweater in the morning Exterior search photos), but the sun came out later in the day.

Ronni had a fun trial day for her first attempt at the challenging NW3 level. At this level, there are an unknown number of hides (between 0-3) in each of six searches throughout the day, and yes, there is the possibility that one of the searches might even be empty, with no odor/hide at all.

Ronni hunted enthusiastically all day, literally pulling me into search after search.

She did find and correctly alerted on every single hide! Interiors, Exteriors, Containers & Vehicles!

Unfortunately for me, she also “optimistically” alerted on several non-hide objects, putting us out of the running for a title. This was likely because, not knowing how many hides were out there, I kept her hunting too long. 🤷‍♀️ Ronni is young yet and we’re still working on our communication skills. She really likes to hunt!

By Sunday, it was full-fledged summer, warm and sunny, which is Baxter’s favorite trial conditions.

He did an awesome job all day in his NW3 trial, passing in 3 out of 4 elements. Baxter and I have been a team for many years, so knowing when he’s found all the hides is less an issue than with Ronni. He’s a pretty clear communicator.

We hit a snag in Containers with a missed call on my part (Baxter found the hide but I didn’t believe him so didn’t call alert) in one search, and had an optimistic false alert (we like to call it the “but it’s the last box” syndrome) in the 2nd Container search.

So no title, but it was sure great to see Baxter working again with his old self-assurance and jaunty aplomb. Absolutely made my day. ❤️❤️

On Monday, I was volunteer videographer for the NW2 Trial, which had the added bonus of allowing me to watch all the NW2 dogs compete. Folks who don’t donate a day to volunteering at a trial have no idea how fun and educational it is.

By Tuesday, my feet were pretty much telling me to sit down and stay down, and I honestly tried! I wasn’t terribly successful, but I did try.

A lot of my nose work students were competing at the NW1 level this day and I wanted to be there to root for them. The NACSW is finally once again allowing limited spectators in at least the outdoor Elements, so I carried my little camp chair and followed many of “my teams” from Exteriors to Vehicles in the afternoon, sitting when it was possible.

This long weekend was happily spent playing with dogs and catching up with old friends – some of whom I hadn’t seen since before the pandemic hit.

Of my students; one earned her 2nd NW3 title on Saturday (the ONLY title earned that day!!), another earned her 2nd NW3 title on Sunday. Both were awesome performances!

Monday saw a couple of my students come within a hair’s breath of titling – so close!

Tuesday’s NW1 competition had a LOT of my students represented, with a bunch of NW1 titles collected at the end of the day. Of those who didn’t title (hey, you have to pass all four Elements without a single missed alert – it’s not easy or everyone would pass), there was still wonderful teamwork and lots of success in individual searches – it won’t be long for any of them. ❤️

The whole weekend was beautiful. We periodically had eagles floating overhead, magpies noisily supervising the parking lot, Canada geese flying low overhead and occasionally stopping in to watch the action from the sidelines.

We even had a yearling moose trot right through our Exterior search on Saturday! Everyone was able to move safely out of the way and he continued merrily on his way with no harm done. Only in Alaska, eh?

Several of us overnighted in our RVs all weekend in the [then] quiet, peaceful parking lot. I was parked near a grassy area along a line of trees and enjoyed listening to bird song well into the night.

All in all, it was more than worth the sunburn. Where did I put the Aloe?

Because I Need Feet to Play

Last weekend’s 3-day Barn Hunt trial was tons of fun, if exhausting.

A great deal of the exhaustion was sadly pain-related, which is difficult to ignore and can take a lot of the joy from even the most fun event.

I have been delaying treatment for my regularly stiff, achy, swollen knee for nearly a year, due to covid. My doctor had initially told me that I could come in for a cortisone injection last fall, but since they were mostly doing tele-med appointments, I chose to just babied it along over the winter. 🤷‍♀️ I honestly thought the knee was the main problem … along with just being out of shape.

As it turned out, my knee was far from my biggest medical issue.

Then 2021 arrived, and with it, covid vaccinations. Yay! I pretty quickly TRIED to up my activity level, walking and getting the dogs back into training. Dog sports trial premiums started popping up, and I felt the need to make up for lost time.

The first 2-day Scent Work trial I attended with Baxter & Rhonda shone a glaring light on several issues I would have much rather ignored. And they weren’t even full-day events! 🙁

1. The dogs really missed participating in dog sports – they were eager for more. I felt so guilty for depriving them. So we attended a couple more weekend trials; Scent Work and Barn Hunt.

2. At this point, three trials in, my knee was screaming at me and obviously needed attention. There was no more ignoring it.

3. I was unhappily surprised to realize that by not bothering to wear my custom orthotic inserts over the past 10 months (which truly hadn’t seemed all that important since I didn’t think I was on my feet that much), I was now suffering from a doozy of a flare-up of planter fasciitis, which had been pretty much completely under control for 20+ years. Oh ouch.

Still, I continued to put off treatment. I really stubbornly didn’t want to think about it. I knew what was inevitably coming (cortisone injections or worse) and had somehow convinced my subconscious that the knee and foot problems would probably go away if I just worked at regaining my overall physical condition.

Wrong. 😢

Since I couldn’t let my athletic little dogs down, and I really love these dog sports, I had to step up. I made two separate doctor appointments – and I’m sure it was pure coincidence that they ended up being on the same day. 🥺

So yesterday, I ended up getting a cortisone injection in my right knee … and then, two hours later, in both heels. Ouch! Really!

I also discovered, via the magic of X-rays, that a substantial part of my foot problem (and the reason my left foot has been so much more painful than my right) is a humongous heel/bone spur on that foot.

I don’t remember a heel spur from my last podiatrist visit … 24 years ago. But it’s sure enough there now. The doctor said he’d seldom seen a bigger heel spur, and credited my 24-year-old (really well made!) inserts for the fact I was walking on that foot at all.

The podiatrist started talking about a “boot” for my left foot (to take all pressure off my heel) until the swelling was under control and my new custom orthotic inserts arrived … but then he noticed my mutinous expression (I was envisioning trying to do Barn Hunt or nose work in a big black boot) and modified it to a promise that I get a pair of seriously arch-supportive shoes and continue wearing my old inserts until the new ones arrived. Win! I think …?

I may have to return for a follow-up injection in a month, probably just in my left foot. 🤷‍♀️ I’ll think about that later.

Later in the day, after a much deserved nap, I discovered that although my knee already felt substantially better (why did I wait so long??), the topical pain-killer had worn off and walking AT ALL on feet that had just had big needles poked in and shoved around in them was … unwise. 😢

I grabbed a bottle of Ensure for dinner, took an Ibuprofen, slapped a pair of Icy-Hot patches on my feet (right over the bandaids) and crawled back to bed.

This morning, I was relieved to discover I could actually walk, sort of. After donning slippers with thick foam inserts, I managed to take Ronni out for her morning ablutions and make coffee for myself.

It’s 11:00 am now, and each walk has been less painful. I think the cortisone is beginning to do its work. 🥳

It had better kick in quickly though – Baxter, Ronni and I have a 4-day K9 Nose Work trial starting this weekend! I need my feet!

Defying Gravity

My day started out absolutely gorgeous. I awoke early (6:30 am; thanks Ronni 🙄) to sunshine, green trees and sparkling water. After dressing Rhonda in her warmest felted coat and donning my own down jacket, wool hat and gloves, we took an early morning stroll along the beach. It was 34°F.

I would’ve happily limited this early outing to a quick, 5-minute potty walk and crawled back in bed. Rhonda, however, had already spied some ambitious early-morning spruce-cone gatherers and was eager to disrupt their harvest.

Compromising after about 20 minutes of walking/hunting, Rhonda agreed to continue her squirrel patrol from the warm front seat of the RV while I made coffee to take back to bed with me.

This was a travel day, but we really didn’t have far to drive, so I was not in any hurry to get moving. Besides, it was really good coffee. ☕️

I spent the morning tidying up “Roada” and washing my hair. I ran the generator long enough to quickly blow-dry my short, silver-gray mop, then went about securing everything in preparation for hitting the road.

I had a few essential errands to run before arriving at our next camping spot; gas, propane, groceries and … sigh … I needed to dump my black and gray tanks.

I doubt it is anyone’s favorite chore, but honestly, dumping the tanks usually only takes about 10-15 minutes. USUALLY.

The problems started when I stopped at Fred Meyer in Soldotna. One stop shopping at its best (for Alaska). I replenished my groceries, filled the gas tank and the propane, then headed to the RV dump station.

It was CLOSED. More correctly; not yet open for the season. Stymied! I had another four days of dry-camping ahead. I really sort of needed to empty my tanks.

I sat in the parking lot, cell phone in hand. Finally, after several calls, and with only a few miles of backtracking down the Sterling highway necessary, I successfully located a gas station with a functioning dump station. Oh joy!

I wish I’d thought to take pictures. 😨

The average Class C motorhome’s black tank outlet is under the body of the RV on the driver’s side. You want to drive up as close to the station as possible so your hose can run the least distance necessary. 3-4’ is ideal.

You glove up, remove the cap, attach your stinky-slinky (the expandable, flexible hose that runs from your outlet DOWN and into the dump station sewer hole, and open the valve – gravity does the rest. Easy-peasy.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. That’s certainly how it usually works … but no, not today.

I looked from my tank outlet pipe (about 12” off the ground) to the dump station sewer opening … which was located on a handy (?), 8’ wide, raised wooden platform about two feet off the ground. Huh. 🤔

You may be familiar with the well-known saying, “Shit rolls downhill”. It’s a well-known saying for good reason. Just TRY getting it to flow uphill. I dare you.

So, there I was, standing at the only RV dump station I’d been able to find within 50 miles (I’m sure locals are aware of others – at least one other – but at the time, it was the only option I knew of), trying to figure out how to get liquid sewage to defy gravity.

Btw; this may well be an ideal set-up for some of the really big Class A rigs with actual “sewer bays” built into the side of their rigs at a convenient height. I’m not sure. I don’t have one of those.

Anyway, first things first. I went back inside the RV and changed into a pair of old jeans, an already dirty sweatshirt and my oldest tennis shoes. I didn’t see this going very well – might as well be dressed appropriately.

I ran my flexible hose from the RV to the sewer opening and secured it carefully. Try to imagine a 6” diameter brown slinky; first it drops 12” down from the RV to the ground, where it runs for two feet. Then it curves back up about 24” to the wooden platform, to run horizontally about 6’ more to the sewer opening. It then drops into the opening, secured only by the heavy metal lid and a good-size rock to hold it in place.

Double-checking the twist-on attachment from pipe to slinky, envisioning the disaster if back-pressure caused the connection to pop free [💩💩💩], I gulped and pulled open the valve to my black tank. I was committed to dumping the tank, one way or another.

Swoosh! The flow gushed through the hose … and, as expected, gurgled to a stop about 4’ later, when it reached the elevated section.

The only way to propel the contents of the hose further was to raise a small section of hose higher than the platform, collecting poop in a U-shaped loop, and then hand-massaging it forward (keeping the RV-side of the hose raised), climbing up onto the platform and allowing whatever was trapped on the outgoing end to then flow sluggishly downhill to the sewer.

Of course, this method also allowed some fluid to roll backwards towards the RV, where the weight of the hose continued to put pressure on the connection. 🥺

Jump back down off the platform, raise a section of hose to trap more fluid, carefully raise the trapped loop of fluid above the level of the platform, climb to the platform and encourage the content forward to flow into the sewer … and repeat.

Don’t ask me how many times I performed this awkward slinky dance. I truly lost count. Thankfully, I found myself eventually wiggling an empty hose, making sure there was nothing more to drain. Relief washed over me. The connector had held through all the man-handling.

I then started the dance anew, this time with the gray water tank. Admittedly, the mental pressure was off – a failed connection at this point would only mean a big puddle of wash water rather than human waste. Still, it was yet more work, more climbing on and off the platform, and the added task of trotting to the back of the rig to run the gray-water pump periodically.

Nearly an hour later, exhausted and dirty, with my knees and feet aching, I washed out my slinky, washed down the platform, stowed my now clean gear and drove away from the dump station from hell.

This will NOT be a dump station I return to. Nope, I’d sooner pee in the woods.

The remainder of the day went smoothly. By 4:00 pm, Rhonda and I were settled into our familiar spot at the Barn Hunt Trial site just outside of Soldotna. Not nearly as picturesque as our last campsite, but only a few yards from where the weekend’s fun would be happening!

Three glorious days of rat hunting for Rhonda! Let the fun begin!

Did I Mention Squirrels?

It’s easy to tell which trees are home to the feisty, chittering squirrels surrounding the spacious campsites in Quartz Creek Campground. Just look for the piles of decimated spruce cone remnants around the base of the trees.

Or ask Rhonda. After 24 hours in our campsite, Ronni has the “squirrel trees” clearly mapped out.

Squirrels went this way! No, that way! No, the other way! Mom! You are SO slow! 🐿

After coffee, breakfast and a good sniffy walk with Ronni this morning, I settled in for some knitting. There is nothing like a quiet campsite in the woods for relaxing.

Rhonda soon abandoned her usual spot in my lap to take up “squirrel patrol” from her raised travel bed on the passenger seat of the RV.

Bouncing back and forth from there to the driver’s seat, she had a clear view of much of our campsite, and used it to full advantage. Periodic low whines and excited yips told me there were plenty of furry rodent sightings. What fun!

A couple of times, with a scramble of paws racing the length of the RV, Ronni would swarm up the ramp to the bed to take up a meer-cat pose for the best view out the bedroom window, eagerly following the skittering path of a fluffy-tailed squirrel. She was thoroughly entertained.

The sun finally made an appearance around noon, so we took another long walk through the woods and along the still deserted beach.

Quartz Creek Campground doesn’t actually open for the season until May 21st, so campers are few and widely spaced out. Even better – camping until that date is free! It’s purely dry-camping (no hook-ups), but that is fine with me.

One of the true wonders of Kenai Lake is the vibrant color – or I should say, colors. Depending on the lighting, the weather, or just time of day; this amazing body of water changes from pale jade to brilliant turquoise, from glowing pearlescent blue-gray to glimmering glacial green.

I’ve only been here 48 hours, and these photos have all been taken within a few hundred yards of my camp. My camera really doesn’t do them justice … the color and mood of the lake continually changes. What do you think?