California Buckeye Tree

I've always liked this tree standing alone next to the trail around Spring Lake. They're very common here, but usually found in groups close enough together to conceal their nice shape. We were there early this morning, but not early enough to miss many dog walkers.

 Spike can be a handful when he knows other dogs are around. I let John wrangle him but walked behind them urging John to talk to Spike and to be consistent, neither thing being among his strong points. Spike loves meeting other dogs and tends to rush at them. Just as we didn't know what his intentions were when we first got him, other dogs 9or their people) don't always appreciate this kind of attention now. Consequently we tended to avoid places with a lot of dogs at first, but now that we know he just wants to 'say hello' and move on, I think it's important for him to learn proper behavior around them. 

I would walk him myself, but he's got four legs and a low center of gravity and I don't.  I don't quite trust the new knee to withstand  being jerked around yet, but sometimes I feel as if I am trying to train both Jo
John and Spike!

The rest of the day has passed pleasantly enough with a little work in the garden and watching John wrangle the power sprayer he borrowed from Dan to clean the pavement and decks around the house. HIs approach with the sprayer is similar to his approach with Spike, i.e. letting it drag him around. But it is a more or less inanimate object and not subject to treats, or being talked to, so the approach works better.

I spent much of the day working on the baby quilt as I want to show it to Kathy when we go on Monday.