23 January 2020 Dix Park

With early sunsets walking options are still minimal. Today I was able to leave work on time and take a walk at Portage Park's Dix Park. The park was empty this afternoon as I took a quiet, cold walk.

The trail is an out-and-back.  It was a good way to spend the late afternoon.

20 January 2020 Fresh Snow

Snow has been sparse this winter.  This morning's gave the world a quiet blanket.

11 January 2020 Lawnfield

Typical January days in northeast Ohio are cold and grey and often accompanied by some snow.  Lately winters appear to be more mild with less snow, but still a generous portion of grey.  Today's weather described that perfectly.  It was a first visit to a piece of history that has always been not far from home.

The family home

In the current world of a president who spends his days and nights rambling incoherently on Twitter and election campaigns are run by huge machines, it is hard to imagine that an election campaign was managed by mail and telegraph from this diminutive building in 1880.

The windmill on site was designed to provide water to the Garfield home.

8 January 2020 Half Days

Ali is spending time out-of-state with family issues. That means I spend half days working from home to be with the dogs and half days at the office. My time at home includes walk-in visits by one or both looking for rubs and maybe reassurances as they adjust to a new normal.

5 January 2020 South Chagrin

Phineas is a few days past his second accupunture treatment.  He is starting to behave like his old self.  This afternoon we stretched his distance a bit with an extended walk at South Chagrin.  He did very well.

1 January 2020 Phineas on the Trail Again

Phin was six days past his first accupuncture session.  He was showing improvement, but was still quiet and tentative.  His second session was scheduled for the next day.  We wanted to report back to the medical team any progress so we cautiously decided to take him to a nearby park for a short, flat walk on a paved trail.

He was less boisterous than usual, but he handled the single loop well.  We now have him leashed with a harness and a collar.  The harness is a four-foot lead to take strain from his neck while the six foot lead is a back-up in case he manages to slip the catch on his shorter leash.  He is a beagle afterall. 😀

We dropped Phineas at home to rest from his walk and continued our day with Lizzie at a couple Lake Metroparks.  She was surprisingly calm and inquisitive when encountering a deer at one of the parks.  We didn't let her get too close since deer can carry disease.

The sun sets on the first day of the new year.  Hopefully it is better than 2019...

27 December 2019 Phineas

We both agreed that Phineas was not improving from the neck injury he had suffered. We also agreed medicating him with pain pills was not improving his comfort. We were left with three options. The first was unthinkable at this point. The second was surgery with no real assurances of success or comfort for him and a long period of rehab. The third option offered by our vet was accupuncture. She indicated she had past efforts with other dogs where the procedures helped greatly. Last evening was his first procedure. He was a brave boy with multiple needles in him as part of the process. His friendly nature helped too. It is too early to see if this has been successful, but he has one of his four treatments completed. As of today, he is still on the pain meds and clearly in discomfort.

24 December 2019 At The Zoo

We spent the afternoon together at the Cleveland Zoo.  It's a Christmas Eve tradition.  We needed a tradition as this year raced to an uncertain end.  Phineas was still in great pain, and we were approaching a big decision.  Ali would be leaving for a couple of days with an uncertain outcome for her mom.  It was a long year winding down.  It was good to be together.

It's a warm December day when the elphants and flamingos are out.

22 December 2019 Affelder Falls

There was a new cache hidden in Geauga Parks West Woods.  Rather than walk the trails at West Woods to reach the cache, we made a visit to the smaller, less visited Affelder Falls Park.  The two parks are joined by a common trail.  It was a pleasant visit on a cold day starting with a stop by the frozen Affelder Falls.

21 December 2019 Russell Uplands Preserve

We had not visited here since Geauga Parks assumed management.  The trails were much the same.  A small scenic pond greets visitors as they start on the trail.  The woods were a great place to relax as the holiday neared.

A female downy woodpecker

15 December 2019 Walking North Chagrin

We needed a break from nursing Phineas as he struggled with a neck injury.  He was resting quietly so took a short drive to North Chagrin for a walk.  Despite the blue skies, the weather was bitter cold.  We hoped to find the four caches on our walk but gave up on the last hide.  It was either well hidden or we were too cold to hunt long.

Now if we can just help Phineas with his pain...

14 December 2019 Henry Church

Henry Church was not known as a sculpture artist while he was living.  He earned his living as a blacksmith in the small town of Chagrin Falls.  Locally he is well known as the artist who sculpted a work in Cleveland Metroparks' South Chagrin Reservation.  It was once called Squaw Rock.  It is now creatively called Henry Church Rock.  This work is actually Henry Church's grave marker.  He created this in the year before his death.

I wonder how he was able to reach all the deep areas on this sculpture.

29 November 2019 Holiday Visit to Allegany State Park

We have made a few Thanksgiving weekend visits to Allegany State Park over the years.  The weather can be mixed, but the park offers a great place to hike and geocache while Pennsylvania woods are busy with hunters.  When we first arrived there was no snow and we were able to find a few geocaches.  We moved on to a trail with a few night caches hoping ot catch a break and spot the markers in the dimmer late fall daylight.  By the time we reached this area, the weather had changed enough so that the trail was covered with an existing layer of snow.  We missed all the caches, but enjoyed a great walk.

28 November 2019 Walking Irvine Flats

We were in for the holiday weekend.  There was no snow and the weather mild.

It had been a long time since we saw a spotted salamander on the trail.  This one was a little late to be out.  Hopefully it found a place to settle in for the winter.

I had no idea as we walked this familiar trail how long it would be before I saw this trail again.

26 November 2019 An Afternoon at The Wilderness Center

We made a visit a few weeks back to hike the dog side of The Wilderness Center.  This afternoon, we were visiting without the dogs and planned to hike the dog-free side.  We made a visit to the nearby Amish farm for some favorites from their roadside stand before heading out to walk.  This water area looks like a great spring, vernal-pool candidate.

This wooley bear believed there coming winter would be mild.

A few local farms have domestic ducks.  This duck seems to have escaped the farm to hang out on the big pond.  It was joined this afternoon by a grebe in the background.

When leaving we turned a corner and noticed these curious sheep along the fence line.  There isn't much traffic here so it makes one wonder what trained them to look so expectantly at he fence.