Things I learned this week- Big lazy dog edition

Today was a great day for us. My husband rearranged his schedule so that he will have Sundays off for at least a while, and today was our first family day off in a long time. We celebrated by taking the big dogs into the woods where we hunted for mushrooms and sighted in the rifle for deer season, which starts in a couple weeks. Here's what I learned this week:

* I learned you can teach an old dog new tricks. Gus, pictured above on the right, hates to be wet. I would say he has hydrophobia, but you can't say that about I dog, I guess, lest someone think he's rabid. But today, Gus crossed a small creek, twice.

* I learned that it is not legal to shoot at a paper target on a live tree in Oregon. Thanks, Trooper Young! (no ticket, just a warning) (who knew?)

* I learned that late September is too early for chanterelles around here. The forest litter is pretty dry and crunchy, I guess we need a little more rain.

* I learned that prescription strength Ibuprofen is a surprisingly effective pain reliever. It's really good stuff.


And here, just for fun, is a video of what we go through when we travel with the big dogs. You must know that both dogs are 100% capable of getting in and out of the truck, but it seems like they take turns being too tired or too old or too fat or too stubborn. They seem to do better with a running start, so that is why we run them up to the bumper.
**A note about Murphy's coat: Murphy is a Siberian Husky/ Newfoundland mix. He has the worst possible coat imaginable. He has an oily waterproof top layer from the Newfoundland, and a woolly undercoat from the Husky. So, when he sheds, the woolly undercoat tries to escape the oily topcoat, and it makes a sticky woolly stinky mess. And, for more fun, he sheds in stages- you can see here that his back and chest are done shedding, but his legs have just started. So that's why he looks neglected. But trust me, he isn't. What you see aren't mats, they are clumps. Yes, there is a difference.