Keeping Cool Across the Road

I've been taking the dogs for walks Across the Road every evening. A big part of that for them is getting in the water. And I don't even mind getting splashed with dirty water since it's been (as the weather people are fond of saying) in triple digits. Rusty showed photos in his blog of Ginny's new toy that floats. That's an improvement over me having to fish the old toy out of the bottom of the canal. However, it doesn't mean that I still don't have to do some fishing. I think that at first it was a mistake, but now Ginny purposely drops the Toy on the side of the cement canal. I guess she has learned that someone will fetch the Toy if she doesn't. She has also learned that although she can swim against the current in this canal it's a lot of work and it is hard to get out with the steep angle of the concrete.  I have learned two methods--if it is close enough to the side I can usually just reach it with the leash looped into a lasso. My newest method is to scoop it out before it goes under one of the "bridges" (2 x 12 planks). My best idea is to teach her to NOT drop the toy in the cement canal. We're working on that.In this ditch it doesn't really matter. Usually there is no water here, but this week they are irrigating the tomatoes and this is the tail-water. This is at the beginning of the walk so Ginny got in the water right away. She was surprised with the Toy disappeared through that hole in the tarp.She really couldn't figure out where it went.I brought her around to the other side but when she looked in the right place the Toy was in the vortex of water.It's hard to get a dog to look where you are pointing. Ginny never did see the Toy and guess who fished it out. This is the canal where it is acceptable to drop the Toy in the water because Ginny will bring it out.

I throw it and Ginny fetches.

Two wet dogs. By the way, Maggie is with us all the time but she doesn't get in the water very much--only up to her chest. She is usually hoping to find ground squirrels or other varmints.  

Planting Tomatoes Across the Road

We finally found out what crop was going in across the road.We suspected after the soil was worked over and over and finally bedded and rolled smooth and flat like this. Then for a few days these tractors and other supporting equipment (water truck, fork lift, portable toilets) were parked at the edge of the field. On Sunday planting began. Although I've seen the tomato planters (people and equipment) working from a distance I didn't know how it all worked. There are six seats for people in the front and several shelves for flats of tomato seedlings on the back of the transplanter. (I looked it up and that's what the equipment is called. One brand name is Ferrari.)  A truck hauled in huge wooden crates full of flats of tomato seedlings and the forklift moved the crates from the truck to where they were needed. I walked over there Sunday evening and took more photos.Here are empty crates filled with the seedling trays. They struck me as interesting. I looked up on Google how the transplanter works and found videos of some smaller ones. In those the person places individual seedlings into funnel shapes that are part of a revolving horizontally positioned disc. There is more to it than that but as the disc goes around and the tractor moves forward the seedlings drop through the funnel thing into the ground.In this equipment there were no horizontal discs with funnel shapes. Instead the seedlings drop down between those two metal "wheels" in the very center of the photo. (The wheel in the foreground is the one of another pair, but the other wheel is just out of the photo to the left.) You can barely see a left-over tomato seedling between those wheels. At least I can because I know it's there. So the person sits on that yellow seat (and there is another right under where I am taking the photo) and places the seedling in position but I'm still not sure exactly how that part works. Part of the equipment is making a small hole or furrow into which the seedling will fall. At the same time the tractor is driving forward (towards me, the photographer) and the metal wheels serve to fill in dirt around the just-planted seedling. At the same time there are water barrels on the tractor and somewhere that water is being injected into the soil right around the roots.Am I getting a little carried away here about something as mundane as planting tomatoes? I am fascinated with the combination of automation and requirement for people. And living in the Central Valley of California one could use this as a platform to expound on social issues, political issues, and water issues. But right now I'm just interested in that simple question of "how do we get tomato sauce?" because I'm pretty sure that these are processing tomatoes.

I walked around the field (my usual walk Across the Road). The field wasn't completely planted yet and this little seedling was on top of one of the crates still full of seedlings. I was pretty sure that it wasn't going to live through the night so I carried it home and planted it. We'll see if it can keep up with all of it's kin (if I can save it from gophers). The part of the field that was planted has two rows  of seedlings in each bed. They pulled a ditcher along the edges and are beginning to irrigate today. Stay tuned to follow the story of the Tomatoes Across the Road.

Ginny's Favorite Things

Rusty and Maggie don't fetch. They don't see the point. Ginny, on the other hand, has learned the fun of getting people to throw things for her. She is obsessed with this $10 toy. In fact she is so obsessed that I can see the focus that Rusty has for herding is the way Ginny acts with this toy. Hopefully when the time comes Ginny will be able to think about sheep with the same concentration. Right now it's fun for her... ...and it's good for me to have a way to help her burn off energy with something as easy as standing in one place and throwing something. Ginny also loves to swim in the canal Across the Road. In a recent blog post I described how Ginny is always on leash now on our walks. Swimming in the canal is an exception. So far when I let her go into the water (which did not work well on leash) she hasn't tried to run off and chase birds. But I don't let her off for long--only while she wants to swim. I decided to combine the Toy and swimming.   I started by throwing it right close to the edge in case I was the one that had to retrieve it.  It became obvious that I would not be the one going in the water so I threw it a little farther.

 And farther. No problem. On one throw however it was much closer to the far bank and that's where Ginny got out... ...and then left the Toy.   I told her to go back for it.

She brought it back by walking along the bank until she got to one of the above-water crossings.

I think she would make a dock-diving dog or whatever they call that sport where dogs (many border collies) jump to retrieve favorite toys in water.  That would be fun if there was something close by. But we may have to stick with the canal.

It's Spring Across the Road

I just posted springtime photos taken near my house. Then I looked at my iPhone photos and found some from Across the Road.  Almonds blooming along the canal.  Mushrooms.  Mustard.

 Even thistles are pretty.Wild radish.The alfalfa field. Rusty has posted in quite awhile. There are a lot of dog photos so I'll let him use the computer tomorrow.

Ginny Across the Road

Have you seen Rusty's blog with photos of Ginny and Maggie playing? They look fierce there. That's a different kind of play than when they go for walks. This is the third successful trip Across the Road With Three Dogs. I think we've got it down now that Ginny will walk on a leash without trying to play with the others. Once we're to the dirt road along the canal I can let her go and all three dogs run free. I don't worry about Ginny as long as she is with Rusty and Maggie. She stays right with them.   When I take my camera Across the Road my walk could not be considered a workout. It turns into a pretty leisurely walk because I get easily distracted by envisioning things in photos. I guess the dogs like that because we're out longer.

 

Can you believe this blue sky? What a day for January! But it's very troubling that we haven't had any rain since December. Another thing about a blue sky--it shows up the slightest dirt on my lens or in my camera. But I'm too tired to fix it now.

Landscape

These remind me of photos taken flying over Nevada at 30,000 feet.

 But if that's the case then this is scary:

  These are from my last walk Across the Road.