Last Days in Napa

I'm writing this post a week to the day since I got home from my dog-sitting adventures. Upon my return home, every day life caught up with me again and I couldn't find the time to write about my last couple of days at Jason and Sarah's until now.
Thursday was my last day with Porter as his dog-sitter and we spent it in our typical fashion - breakfast, dog park, work, lunch, dog park, work, then dinner. Jason and Sarah were due to arrive home that evening and Porter and I had a little clean up to do around the house. After dinner, we settled in for a quiet evening of TV (I finally finished season three of "Dexter") and a lot of ball throwing. Porter finally settled on the floor and I fell asleep on the couch as we waited for "mom and dad" to get home. They arrived close to midnight and Porter was immediately up and around and ready to play the minute they walked in the door. Jason and Sarah looked well rested after their Hawaii adventures and we visited for just a little bit before we all turned in for the night.
Friday morning I was up early as usual but since Porter's kennel resides in Jason and Sarah's room (and they were still sleeping) I didn't feel comfortable with going in to let him out and instead, ate my solitary breakfast and made a pot of coffee while I waited for them to get up. It wasn't long before they were both up and around and Porter bounded over to me and gave me a big lick on the hand. Jason let him out into the backyard and followed him outside to inspect whatever damage Porter might have inflicted on the yard in their absence. I took my coffee outside too and, as Jason walked around his yard, I felt as nervous as  a renter trying to get their security deposit back from the landlord after a final inspection of the apartment. Had I swept enough of the excess dirt on the patio from Porter's first digging foray so Jason wouldn't notice? Had I filled in the various small holes in the dirt he had created? Had I policed up all Porter's little "gifts" that I might have missed during the week?
I guess I passed the inspection without too many demerits and we decided to head up to Alston for Porter's morning walk. Porter was overjoyed to have his 'parents' back and ran around in his usual bear-like lumbering way. We did two laps before getting back into the car and heading home. I puttered around with some work while Jason and Sarah took to their laptops.
It looked to be another beautiful Napa day and we decided to head downtown to the Bounty Hunter for a "Pony Express" lunch. We decided to take Porter with us, since the Bounty Hunter has some nice outside cafe tables and it's very dog friendly. I had the pleasure of sitting in the back seat with Porter and I felt a bit like a grandma sitting in the back seat with the baby in the car seat. He would lean over occasionally and give me a big lick on the face, slobbering all over my brand new cardigan I bought in Yountville the day before (and paid way too much for - but hey, it was my reward to myself for making it through the week). We settled at the cafe table at the Bounty Hunter and Porter settled on the ground beside Jason as we ate and behaved himself quite well until a small group of Japanese tourists decided to wake him up by coming over to the table to look at him like he was a tourist attraction. Perhaps they mistook him for a hairy Godzilla.

The View from William Hill Estate

Porter and Jason

After an excellent lunch we decided to do a little wine tasting and Sarah Googled "Dog Friendly Wineries" on her Droid. We headed over to the Silverado Trail and up to William Hill Estate winery. Tastings are by appointment only but we got lucky and arrived to a nearly empty parking lot and a friendly tasting room attendant (for lack of a better word) who set us up outside on the Adirondack chairs for a couple of different wine flights. The view of the Silverado Bench was absolutely spectacular. Jason tied Porter to a very strong, shady tree and he enjoyed his own bowl of water while we tasted some great wine. The sun was warm, the wine was good and all was right with the world.
After leaving William Hill Estate we headed over to another dog-friendly winery, Alpha Omega, in Rutherford on Highway 29. Sarah said they had taken Porter there when he was a puppy for one of his first "socialization" outings. The grounds were nice with a huge covered patio, fountains, and a large grassy area with a picnic table where we parked ourselves for another tasting. The woman who served us was obviously a dog person, as she carried dog treats in her pocket. Porter was immediately in love as she fed him a couple of treats while pouring us our wine. Porter spent a lot of time on the ground near my feet and the woman remarked ' oh look, he loves his grandma.' I was quick to correct her that I was "nana" not "grandma"and she laughed. "I'm a nana too," she said, as she gave Porter another biscuit. The sun was behind the hills as we headed home for a casual dinner of spaghetti and salad. I had my suitcases to pack (I'm not a last minute packer - I like to be ready in advance) and Porter, tired from the days' adventures was in a pretty mellow mood.

Dogs and Brooms and Games - oh my!

What is it about dogs and brooms? I thought perhaps it was just an oddity with my own dog, Riley, a hyped-up Jack Russell Terrier, who goes absolutely teeth-baring crazy whenever I bring out the broom (or the vacuum cleaner for that matter). He attacks the broom, snapping at it like it's his worst enemy. I find it rather comical but more than a little inconvenient when it comes time to sweep the kitchen floor.
I found out today, however, Porter has the same affliction.
I was doing some tidying up around the house, getting ready for Jason and Sarah's arrival back home tonight, and brought out the broom to sweep the hardwood kitchen and living room floors. As I started to sweep, Porter just backed right up and then literally pounced on the broom as he uttered one of his infrequent barks. I kept sweeping, thinking it was just a fluke, but he kept pouncing and barking. Then he decided it would be even more fun if he ran through the pile of dirt/dog hair that I swept up, so that I could sweep it up again and he could bark and pounce again. It was like we had invented a new game.
Actually, over the course of the past couple of days we have invented a couple new games involving his various rubber toys. I suppose I'll have to fill in my son on these new games, because I'm sure Porter will try to get him to play them too.
In Jason and Sarah's house, it's pretty much a straight shot from the back door to the front door, so I station Porter by the front door, giving him the "sit" and "stay" command and then I stand by the back door and roll the ball like a bowling ball towards the front door, telling Porter to "leave it" as it approaches him. Nine out of ten times he actually obeys and I'm impressed by his self-control when I can see on his big doggy face that it's just killing him to not be able to just scoop up the ball and run with it.
Another game is a variation on soccer and also involves the green ball. I set Porter up in the narrower doorway between the kitchen and living room (the goal) and then try to kick the green ball past him. Let's just say he's a much better goalie than I am a kicker.
I'm more than a bit sad that my time here is coming to an end and officially, today is my last day as dog-sitter. I'm sure though, the kids will be so tired in the morning that I'll get to have one more run at Alston with Porter.
I'm a little teary just thinking about leaving the big lug, who, by the way is laying on my feet as I write this and is snoring like a chain saw (which I find rather comforting and reminiscent of my husband Jack).  I hope that I've proved my skills as a dog walker and get asked back for a repeat performance sometime in the near future.

Day Five (or "The Day Porter Found his Bark")

Yesterday was a momentous day. I actually heard Porter bark. Not just a half-hearted 'woof' but a deep down, full bellied, full throated bark unique to big dogs. Until yesterday, he had never really barked. I thought perhaps somewhere he might have some latent Basenji DNA (Basenji's are dogs that don't bark - although they do make some interesting yodeling noise as well as howling and growling). I admit, I wasn't upset that he didn't bark. It was a bit of a relief, in fact, to have a silent dog, as my dogs at home are anything but..
We were out in the backyard when it happened. I was throwing Porter the ball with one hand while holding my lunch time sandwich with the other. I don't even know what it was that set him off, but the next thing I knew he was over by the fence and proceeded to let out a series of big healthy WOOFs and then ran to the patio door like he wanted to go inside and bark some more. I elected to keep him outside though and he continued to run up to the fence, plant his big paws, lower his head and just bark, and bark, and bark, and bark....and then he stopped. And I haven't heard him bark again since then. Very strange...

Day Four (already??)

Porter and I seem to have settled into our routine. Up at 7, off to the dog park (at 8:30 this morning, which was so much better traffic-wise than 8am) for at least an hour and then back to the house for work for me and a nap for Porter.
Today, however, the weather was not to be ignored. It was sunny and 80 degrees. That's right. 80 degrees in November, which should be against the law, and I felt compelled to play a bit of hooky this afternoon from my telecommuting duties to take advantage of such great weather.
Porter and I headed north to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, on Route 29, just five miles north of St. Helena, for what I was hoping was going to be a good hike on the trails in the park. Alston dog park is great, I just needed a bit of a change of scenery. The drive up to the park was great, if you call have a dog drooling in your ear the entire way a fun ride. I think he just feels a bit confined in the back seat of my rental car and has to be a part of the action up front.
We got to the park and imagine my surprise when I read the rules posted at the entrance that stated "no dogs on the trails." What the heck? No where on the park website did I see anything about it not being a "dog friendly" park. And on top of that I was supposed to pay an $8 day use fee. Needless to say, I was a bit miffed. I parked my car in the lot by the Visitor's Center and went over to one of the ranger's who was parked in a truck to verify that in fact, I couldn't take my dog on the trail. She was very nice but stated firmly that I just had to stay on the paved roads and couldn't wander go off onto the trail. I asked about paying the day fee and she asked how long I would be staying and when I responded it was only going to be long enough for Porter to get out and walk a bit and have a potty break she said I didn't have to pay the fee. I was really disappointed because it was such a beautiful park. Then I happened to read the notices posted on the park board about "What to Do if You Encounter A Cougar" and I wasn't quite so disappointed not to be out hiking along the trail. I imagined if we met up with a cougar, Porter would probably just roll over and wait for it to sniff his private parts before the big cat decided to make me his lunch.

After a quick water break, which Porter promptly dumped out of his own little travel doggy water dish, we were back on the road. I still wasn't quite ready to surrender the beautiful weather, so we headed over to the Silverado Trail (the less "touristy" wine trail in the Napa Valley) where, as I was driving a bit aimlessly, came across a sign for Lake Berryessa. Now I have to admit something here that's a bit odd. At one point in time I had a bit of an obsession with the Zodiac killer (or perhaps it was just an obsession with Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gyllenhaal who were in the movie "Zodiac") and read a lot about him and one of the locations where he murdered  a woman-(her boyfriend survived) was Lake Berryessa. Creepy, I know - and a bit weird, but I wanted to go out to Lake Berryessa, just so I could say I had been there. We stopped at a small park on Sage Canyon Road and got out and walked the trail for a little bit. I know we were nowhere near where the Zodiac incident took place, but it still gave me a bit of a chill. Porter was oblivious and was happy to keep picking up big sticks to carry in his mouth.
After the weirdness of Lake Berryessa, I decided to head back to the Silverado Trail and went over to the Plumpjack winery, which I remembered as one of those wineries listed as being "dog friendly." I had a nice wine tasting while Porter lay contentedly at my feet until several pesky people decided to say "hello" to the "cute puppy" which got him all excited again and I almost lost my wine glass from him pulling on the leash. I got a look at a bat autographed by former Red Sox player Johnny Damon (I refuse to acknowledge him as a Yankee) when he stopped by Plumpjack for a wine tasting while on his honeymoon a while back.
Porter fell asleep in the back seat on the way back home - much like the toddler he is - after the day's big excitement.
I think I'm finally getting the hang of this....

Day Three (or "It's Like Having a Toddler All Over Again

I have given birth to three wonderful children. Two of them are adults now and the other one just thinks she is. All those years of dealing with them as babies and toddlers has given me just the right amount of experience for dealing with Porter. In fact, today was a vivid reminder of all of those years because dealing with this dog is just like handling an energetic, stubborn two-year old that I can't turn my back on, have to keep constantly amused to keep him out of trouble, and wear out so he falls asleep so I can get some work done (because, after all, this is a "working vacation).
Since we went to bed relatively early last night (9:30pm) he was stirring in his crate by 6am, making this little snuffling noise just loud enough to let me know that he was awake and he wanted out. I ignored him for another 45 minutes and the snuffles turned into whines so I had to get up. So, we were up at 7am and had eaten breakfast by 7:10.
As I said before, this is a "vacation" where I actually have to get some work done (thank god for telecommuting) so spending two hours at the dog park today wasn't really an option. Since he did so well in the car yesterday, I decided we'd drive up there instead, thereby saving at least 45 minutes of total walking time up and back. I grabbed the car seat cover out of Sarah's car and spread it across the back seat because I knew he was going to be one, big smelly wet mess by the time we got done.
We were in the car by 7:50 am but I had forgotten something; even though I'm here on leisure time, everyone elses' life goes on and that meant school - and all the traffic that comes with it, since Jason's house is close to an elementary school. So, lesson learned. Do not leave the house until after 8am.
Even though it was a Monday morning and a work day,  Alston was still relatively busy. Who are all these people that have so much free time to walk their dogs on a work day? Perhaps they're the recently unemployed, I don't know, but there sure were a lot of people there on a Monday morning. It was a beautiful one too. The sky was blue and the hot air balloons were out in full force, drifting over the field. It was just like an ad in a chamber of commerce magazine enticing people to move to Napa. "Come to Napa where the sky is always blue, dogs are always welcome and it's 71 degrees in November." I wouldn't be a very tough sell right about now.
We saw some more familiar dogs. There was "Merlot" (another chocolate lab), "Pinot" (a tiny Chihuahua), and a Weimariner named "Cab" (which I'm sure was short for Cabernet). This is wine country, after all, and who am I to talk, considering Porter is named after a type of beer. I wonder what these people named their children, if they have any?

We only did two short laps today and were back in the car after just a half hour, but it was long enough apparently, because we got home and Porter promptly fell asleep in a patch of sunshine by the patio door. I took the opportunity to do a load of laundry, start the dishwasher and actually get some work done. Deja vu all over again from when the kids were little and it was a contest to see how much I could get done during nap time.
One of the funny things about this dog (and trust me, there are plenty) is the fact that he has his own little area in the kitchen, fenced off by a kids' playpen gate, which is probably two feet in height, yet he hasn't figured out yet that if he wanted to he could either knock it over or just jump over it. Well, okay...maybe he couldn't jump over it (not because it's too high, he's just too clumsy). It's so funny. "Porter, go to your kennel" I'll tell him and he'll amble in to the fenced area and lay down, while I fix the flimsy latch on the gate. I hope the day never comes when he figures out he's just one little bump away from freedom.