[b]Les and Jeff's (and Murph and Maddie's) Excellent Adventure - Final[/b]

Jeff is a noticeably different person, as he takes my hand and leads me through to safety. <Takes my hand??? Oh Gosh! I hope he doesn’t think of me as Polly Purebred now. A chorus of, “Oh Where, Oh Where has my UnderDog gone” starts to reverberate through my brain. argh! I hate that.> . Anywho, there’s no more incidents as we make our way down the rock, back to the car. As we buckle our seat belts, I glance over at him, and marvel that he looks like he’s just been out for a leisurely stroll through the mall, not a speck of dirt or a hair out of place on him.

I look down at myself and take in my bloody, bruised and disheveled appearance and laugh to myself thinking, <This is most definitely our last date>. I’m later surprised that night when he calls to say what an incredible experience he had that day. That he felt such a sense of accomplishment, a truly exhilarating adventure, his voice full of self-confidence. I look down at my battle scars from the day and smile to myself, <Well, dull it wasn’t. A most excellent adventure, for sure. Eh, maybe someday, I’ll strive for peaceful serenity.> 

The End

[b]Les and Jeff's (and Murph and Maddie's) Excellent Adventure - Part 3[/b]

After a quick perusal of my injuries, a lil’ blood, scraps and bruises <hummmm… does leaving a trail of blood on the rock constitute a departure from Leave No Trace theory?>, I’m off hunting the next challenge. I lead us to a section of rock where you can climb down into a crevice. We could easily walk around this and continue on down the nice open expanse of rock, but never one to choose the easy way down, I quickly discard this choice and make a beeline for the crevice. One has to wonder at this point why on earth Jeff and Murph are still allowing me lead. We slide down about an 8ft incline to the first ledge. Once there we realize we’ll never be able to get back up from where we just came, so the only way out is down.

We’re now in a narrow crevice about 3 ft wide, with about a 6ft drop to the path below. Still leading I jump down to the path. Jeff starts and stops several times, doing somewhat of a jitter step, afraid he’ll hurt himself, if he jumps. Murph’s already leaped into my arms, so we’re all patiently waiting for Jeff. I finally decide he’s not going to jump, so I encourage him to put his back on one rock and his feet across on the other rock, and inch his way down the rock, which thankfully he does. His elation at successfully maneuvering the rock is short lived, however, when we realize that the path we saw from above leads to a 20 ft drop to the rock below.

He starts to panic then, thinking we’re trapped, ”What’d we gonna do?!?!? What’d we gonna do?!?!?”. I have a brief flash to Carol Burnett’s Scarlett slapping Vicki Lawrence’s Prissy in the Gone With the Wind sketch, as I contemplate how to handle a panicked person. I dismiss the slapping option and decide instead on giving him something to do. I suggest that he scout the thin crevice off in the other direction to see if we can fit through it and if it’s going to lead out to freedom or to a dead end. The timid “Shoeshine Boy”, who leaves to explore on his own, is soon replaced with confident “UnderDog”, upon his return to jubilantly announce that he made it through. <hummmmm... he must have consumed the super energy pill stashed in the secret compartment of his ring, somewhere along the way>

(ending coming up next)

[b]Les and Jeff's (and Murph and Maddie's) Excellent Adventure - Part 2[/b]

We finally get to a spot where there's somewhat of a jump to get to the next rock. Maddie and I easily make the jump and look back to see Jeff staring pensively at the gap between the two rocks. He doesn't think he can make it while holding the leash, so I have him toss it over to me and call Murph to me, who easily leaps across. Figuring Jeff will follow along, I start down the next rock. Murph has other plans and decides he likes another route better and heads off behind me. As I turn to try and yank him back in the right direction, I tilt backwards just a tad. The weight of Maddie on my back is just enough to make me totally lose my balance. Now falling backwards off a six foot drop, I have a momentary thought about squishing Maddie, so I throw my left arm out towards a tall rock next to me to get my body in an "L" shape. I glance down to see cactus below me, so I spread my legs in an attempt to miss them, not being completely successful, <Ooooo! That’s gonna hurt... Annnndd... It does>. Nothing left now, but impact with the hard rock. <Weeeeeeeeeee!!!> Fortunately my dog pack is like an external frame pack, with a nice metal bar surrounding it. Instead of breaking my tail bone, I only end up severely bending the frame. <whew>

As I lay there marveling at the fact I haven’t broken anything, I peer up to see Murph perched on the rock above me, peering down, with his tail wagging a mile a minute, with an excited expression that calls out <WooBoy! That looked fun! My Turn! My Turn!> At this moment I realize my momentum carried me over to lay flat on my back on top of Maddie. Not a peep out of her though. I quickly look back to be met with an icy stare and I can almost hear the voice of Vicki Lawrence’s Mama character, come oozing out of her, <What the Heeellllll are you doing?!?!?> to which I give a sheepish grin and shrug in way of apology, fleetingly forgetting that she’s blind and the gesture’s lost on her. I give her a quick scratch on the head and then glance over to see Jeff still rooted to his initial spot on the rock, with a shocked expression on his face, which I’m not sure whether is due to fear that I’ve seriously hurt myself or aghast at my sprawled, unladylike position across the rocks. So I holler up at him, “YooHoo! Help here. Annnnnytime now.”

(Continued in Part 3)

Hi everybody!

I thought I'd post a lil' short story that Mom wrote a few years ago, about a lil' adventure we all took to Enchanted Rock in Texas.  This is before Oz and Gull, but during the time we shared our life with Maddie, my lil' Cairn sidekick and Mom's soulmate dog (are so she says). Maddie's since went onto Heaven and Mom still misses her, but I gotta say me and my hair are somewhat relieved for the reprieve from her yanking it out, during one of her irrational rampages.  My hair doesn't quite grow back like it use to and dang! if it don't hurt to have somebody yank it out by the roots anyway. :)

Anywho, that's enough set up for the story.  Here we go:

[b]Les and Jeff's (and Murph and Maddie's) Excellent Adventure - Part 1[/b]

Written by Les (or as referred to in the dog world, Murph's Mom ;))

I never really gave much thought to what I get out of hiking other than I enjoy it immensely, until I went on a day hike to Enchanted Rock State Park in the hill country of Texas, with my then boyfriend, Jeff. Jeff was very hesitant climbing up and over rocks, while I didn't give it much thought. He seemed fearful, so I finally asked him what was up, assuming I'd find out he was afraid of heights. His response was that he'd thrown his back out once trying not to fall, so he needed to be extra careful. <hummmmm... hurting yourself, trying not to fall and hurt yourself. This I did not understand>. As a card carrying, klutz my philosophy is if you fall, just enjoy the ride, until impact. A skill, I ultimately get to demonstrate for him on this trip.

We'd been set up by a mutual friend, who thought we had a lot in common, which I was beginning to have my doubts. We'd been on a few dates to movies and dinner and I felt it was time to find out, if he enjoyed my love of the outdoors and animals. So off we head to the hill country, with my two Cairn Terriers in tow. Maddie, who's blind and experiences nature from a pack strapped to my back and Murph, who's very adventurous and exuberant, from a leash. As we take the easy way up, everybody seems to be enjoying themselves. Then feeling the need for something more challenging, I start searching for paths with rocks to scramble over. Murph, easily jumps from rock to rock. Neither of us realizing Jeff's fear, forge obliviously along. Murph naturally pulling on the leash trying to keep pace with me and making Jeff feel like he's about to be pulled off of every rock. Not a good situation for someone who's afraid of falling.

(continued in Part 2)

Hi y'all!

Wow, Mom is jonny on the spot now.  Has already posted a new music video at NothinButtDogs.com.  She bribed us to be taped in these most embarassing booties and then proceeded to laugh at us.  Hrumph! 

Anyway, take notice that the booties we're sporting are the exact same pair.  Man, those Collies got tiny paws.  They do indeed live up to their Barbie Toes nickname. :)

Check it out at Music Dog Videos. It's the video labeled Boots.

The Murph Dog...

Hi y'all!

Mom finally added a new music video this month at NothinButtDogs.com.  See how a Collie tries to stay cool in the Texas heat.  You'd think with a long nose like that, bobbin' for ice cubes would be easy, wouldn't ya?  Personally I chose hangin' in the A/C to battle the heat. :)

Check it out at Music Dog Videos. It's the video labeled Bobbin' for Cubes.

The Murph Dog...