Riding in the Backyard

where my pedal hits

I really don't like to load my bike into my Nissan to go bike riding. Because of the fences and property owners trail heads are two or three miles away so if I feel like riding I ride around the house. Usually my German Shepherd will follow along.

down the path

If I do a figure 8 around the house and out to the mailbox and back my Garmin shows a half mile trip.

I stopped recording the Garmin watch data and the Map My Ride junk as just too much clutter. My old lap time around the Rose Bowl course got flushed.

up the path

The house is on a flat plot but when viewed it appears somewhat crooked. There is a fenced garden below the house and riding off the slope is not a problem but riding back up is so I dug a path on the slope. It is off camber which makes it more fun and not wide enough to stop the pedal from striking the bank. The Shepherd goes crazy when ever I try to shovel. He barks and attacks the shovel blade. So to do any digging he must be put back in the house. 

turning the corner

The ride around the garden fence requires some braking and balance and my balance is pretty shitty.

29 inch resting

Some of these pictures were taken by a Nikon and some from the handlebars with a CamPak Xtreme UHD4K. I bought that on Amazon for less that $50.00 and it actually works but using the MP4 requires reformating to load the video onto my Samsung. Reformating, resizing, reediting, retying a world of "re".

Court House Butte as seen from my
 trail

We go hiking (me and the two dogs) and we use the Nissan because the little Yorkie can walk that far without quitting and refusing to continue. The Yorkie is still a violent sort around other dogs but gets along well with my daughter's dog. 

Happy in the driveway

My cell phone is a total piece of shit and the screen is cracked but it is free. Not sure how long that will last as it was free in California and I ain't there.

in the creek

The POS phone only works if you are close to a tower and although I can see a cell tower in the distance my reception is pretty poor unless you wander around outside.

above creek

My son Dylan is on YouTube and has 60,000 subscribers and needs more cause his car just broke. If you believe in charity around Christmas time send him some money.

In the creek bed

How we communicate has changed as I learn things about my son Dylan from what it see on the tube or Gram. He once crashed at the Orange County Fair during a big jump contest and since he was in the hospital and they took his phone I learned about the crash by watching it on YouTube. Since I was on my sailboat in San Pedro I needed to find out what hospital he was in and started calling all the hospitals in OC.

Up hill towards mountain

For the record this has happened more than once (hospitals and crashing).

I keep my phone turned off as it does not work and the incoming call may not be good news.

Horse trail I ride

Happy Tails Growing Up

Have not blogged recently and after a period of being off the keyboard catching up is difficult. My Galaxy S6 is full of recent dog pictures and MP4 files. Sorting them out can be difficult. Most dog owners take pictures of their dogs just like loving grandparents. I was at the local small grocery store here in San Pedro yesterday and the young woman that takes my money was showing be her new puppy pictures on her smart phone.

Not sure how old Happy Tails is. His papers did not get an actual birthday. At six months Shepherds loose their baby teeth and he has been doing that. Pups have 28 teeth and adults have 42 the more to bite you with.

My other dog Dede was a champion for going for rowboat rides whereas Happy needs more experience.

In between fitting his life jacket I had to add 4 inches for his chest growth. When you see a puppy or baby everyday you don't see the growth. We were weighing him using a fish scale attached to his harness but he exceed the 50 pounds the scale could measure. He used to love to sit in my lap but now it is becoming difficult. 

GSD are not known as bird dogs but herding animals. My old dog Dede loved to herd other dogs in park but right now Happy loves to chase birds or bark at them. In the 22nd Street Park where he plays there are many ground swallows that fly close to the grass in circle driving him nuts.

It is sad but the area around Cabrillo Beach and Whites Point are filled with feral cats that have been dumped. There are signs posted that feeding the feral cats are against the law.. Many cat lovers feed these feral packs and of course the plastic dishes all wind up being blown into the water. A morning dog walk on 22nd Street by the sea food eatery may want  you to puke from the cat shit in the bushes.

There are two feral cats that hang around our marina. At first they were living off the rats and mice but several divers that clean boat bottoms started feeding them. Eack morning this black cat in the tree waits for his Monday to Friday feedings. The cat actually follows the drivers in the morning when they walk for coffee. Happy gets there early before the divers and chases the cat. The cat goes up his tree and Happy can't (yet). Rin Tin Tin could climb trees and Happy is learning.

Most toys don't last too long with Happy and the Easter Bunny wasn't any different. 

Malibu Kayaks

I was given this dual kayak in pretty sad shape but I cleaned it and repaired two cracks in it and it is ready to go. Taking a dog out here next to the boat is risky because if he falls off he will have to swim and getting in back on the dock is a hell of a chore. I had a neighbor who was from Los Angeles Fire Department and a LAFD diver. He had a Lab that loved to jump off the dock and swim but it took two healthy firemen to get the lab out of the water. Happy needs to learn at the beach.

Happy has several two legged friends that find balls for him and there isn't any shortage of discarded ball if you walk or ride a bicycle. Recently I had to buy a battery for my Nissan so I could drive to LACMA.

The Magic Flute

I am not sure how long I have been without a car battery maybe 9 months or so. If I wanted to drive the Nissan I would take a battery out of my boat where there are 4 fully charged 12 volts each day by solar panels. My daughter was having a 

Premieres

and I didn't have a reliable battery so smarty pants (as I often call her) sent me the money to buy a battery. Actually Frances sent enough money via PayPal to pay for parking, gas money and a six pack of beer plus chips for a dog sitter.

Happy Staying

After I got "Giant Butts" AKA Happy Tails on a rainy day where my Nissan's battery quit and "The Bean" had to bail me out Arlo (Grandson) was holding the baby puppy  and we took several trips to get the Nissan and dog food and a crying 5 pound puppy into a sailboat. That is when I started reading dog books and have probably twenty plus under my belt. I require a belt for my pants and shorts because the cost of dog food exceeds my normal diet cost. (Starving for a puppy love) .

With the addition of a battery to the Nissan the two of of could roam by car to various parks that were not within walking distance. Happy walks probably 5 miles a day with me everyday but now using the car we could go up the hill to or the local dog park. There are several great places in parks for dogs here: http://www.laparks.org/park/averill

The down side of our new mobility was somewhere shithead got fleas. The dog's name is "Happy Tails" but he has many other callings: Stinker, Butts, Butthead, Dede 2, Shithead

When you live on a sailboat and in the middle of the night your fucking dog starts to scratch banging his leg  the floor of the fiberglass boat like a bass drum it becomes impossible to sleep. 

So I waited until my SS check came in and we went up the hill to PetCo for some flea stuff. The last time I bought this for Dede was half the current price. So $76.00 later we went back to the car where I found my keys and my neck chain were not on my neck but in between the front seats and all the doors and windows up tight. My Nissan is not a coat hanger kind of car and needs a professional lock smith. So $85.00 later and thanks to the locksmith on 9th Street we were rolling again.