Kia and Skip

Our boy Skip does not really like the foster dogs to encroach on his space. So when I glanced over at the bed he was sleeping in and saw Kia there too, I had to get a couple of shots. She is good with our dogs, doesn't annoy them like some puppies we have fostered. Skip just gets annoyed on principle but it was so nice he could just relax and let Kia cozy up to him without a fuss.

There's Bear In Those Woods

We haven't done a lot of our usual walking out in Sultan since we got Kia. For one the mosquitoes and biting flies have been horrible the last few weeks which is really not a fun time for us or the dogs. But there is another reason we have be doing other closer in walks...

Here is why...

Bear! We have had a lot of bear in our neighborhood trail we do and from the scat on the Sultan trails, large bear scat and small/baby bear scat, we have decided to take a hiatus from our usual morning walk with the crew.

We did do one quick walk though with Kia but we kept it short and stayed on the service road where we had, and ant bear had, plenty of opportunity to see each other. We didn't see any bear this day however and although they are awesome creatures, it was fine if we missed one another.

You can see in this video how Kia goes right toward the rocks to get over the stream but she gets some help from foster day to get across. Jenny just goes for it, she has done this many times.

Here you can see how much visibility we had, and we made sure to do a lot of talking and making noise to let any bear in the area know we were here. There were no issues though.

LOL, Kia was having a blast.

She loves to explore and that is one of the things we just adore about her. Tim is being brave to get up on this contraption.

Love this!

She had to check off the main trail too, here she is sniffing the end of a small fallen tree. Maybe she smells bear!

She is always thinking if she gives eye contact that she will get a treat. We have taught her too well maybe?

Behind this small dam is a little lake that has made it into a few past blog posts. This is the water for the small town of Sultan. There was water this day but I am sure in just a week's time there is very little to no water coming off the waterfall, we just haven't had any rain and we didn't get enough snow melt to have this run into the summer like it does a lot of the time. I suppose they will have to release extra water from the bigger dam further up for the town to have what it needs.

This is the lake that is created from the small dam, it was low this day. It is really a pretty little place to be.

I picked a few Salmon Berries and Kia thought they were quite tasty!

Rounding back we took the service road out to the main paved road in. Kia checks out some of the equipment that is in the area.

And the little sweetie was crashed out by the time we got out to the main road. Kia in her crate in the back seat. She had a fun adventure to dream about.

Kia Has An Adventure At The Maltby Farm Stand

Not too far from where we live is the Maltby Produce Market. http://maltbyproducemarkets.com/  and we come to buy our produce, grass fed beef, and fresh free range eggs a few times a week. This is my kind of shopping. This farm stand is wonderful and most everything is locally grown and grown without the use of pesticides or herbicides. A lot of the produce is fresh picked daily and so are the wonderful eggs!

Behind the stand is a small animal area, the chickens where we get our eggs and some goats. There is a little trail and mothers will bring their little ones to visit the chickens and goats and we thought it would be a great opportunity for Kia to get a little exposure to these animals as well.

Kia quietly checks out the chickens

Smelling the air, sooo many smells right here on a warm day.

She spots the goats and is not quite sure what to think.

She gets to hang out with foster dad to make sure she is okay.

This silly billy goat was trying to get these little girls to feed him, he was very tame and seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

Kia wanted down and is happy to check out the goats from a safe distance.

Getting brave.

Such a curious girl.

I loved seeing her work this out.

 

Inside the farm stand, such a welcome sight, all these colors and such variety.

These tomatoes really do taste like home grown, they are wonderful. My fave are the light orange ones on the right in the round bowl.

I have made a lot of Baba Ganoush this year with all these fabulous eggplants!

These strawberries are so yummy, not like the cardboardy CA strawberries.

We always get some of these homemade jams and we use them in everything. Really you could eat it right out of the jar :)

I don't think Kia was actually supposed to be in here but no one said anything. They know us here, and we don't make this a habit.

These are the best eggs and I always pick some up for gifts when we meet friends.

Aren't they beautiful?

Kia's Big Day Out (part 4 Tolt River, Carnation, WA)

Next stop was Tolt River in Carnation. What a glorious day it was for Kia to be able to check out the river. We parked in a shady spot and because there were quite a few cars in the lot we decided to leave Tim in the car while we took Skip and Kia up to check out the river. Tim can get a little over reactive when we see other people and dogs and we weren't sure how many people we would bump into. Because we don't want Kia to feed off of that energy or decide that people and dogs are to be afraid of or barked at we felt this was the best decision. Skip is great in public and he was instrumental in showing Kia the fun that the water held.

Here she got to experience sand beneath her feet.

Kia was super curious about the river, no hesitation

Skip and Kia went right in together, she was really mirroring Skip and what he was doing.

Then she started to splash around!

Skip looking for a stick to rescue, his favorite water activity

This was a great little swimming hole, they found this spot enticing.

Dave threw a stick in for Skip to rescue and he gets right to work.

Kia serves as back up for Skip

No water adventure would be complete without a roll in the dirt.

When we got home we had one tired pup on our hands....

...sweet dreams......