Rescue Romp

Last Sunday was Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta (GRRA) annual fundraiser, the Rescue Romp. Every year we invite all the Golden Retrievers that we’ve rescued to a BBQ (they can bring their humans if they want). The day consists of food, games, shopping, and socializing. The day is a lot of fun, and it gives all the volunteers a chance to see how dogs they helped rescue are doing, and it gives the dogs a chance to show off their human families.

Most of the day I spent working at the Golden Store. This was OK with me because all the money we make selling t-shirts, sweatshirts, magnets, etc… goes to helping find homes for Goldens and Labs.

I am somewhat surprised that the psychiatric profession doesn’t protest and boycott this event. Because a person cannot be depressed surrounded by so many Goldens and Labs. Just looking out over the sea of dogs just made me smile.

High Falls State Park

My busy week continued with a hike at High Falls State Park. The park is located about 50 miles south of Atlanta, off of I-75. Buddy and I took off around noon on Saturday, and drove about an hour and a half to High Falls.

This is one of the most scenic parks I’ve been to so far. It has two hiking trails that total 5 miles. The first trail is the Towaliga River Falls Trail and the second is a Non-Game Trail. Both trails are located in different parking lots on opposite sides of the river. They are not connected to each other, so you will have to get in your car and switch parking lots if you want to do both trails.

Towaliga River Falls Trail

The Towaliga River Falls Trail is a mile and a half trail that runs along the falls and river. The trail starts off going down stairs along the falls, but unlike Amicalola Falls the stairs are wooden and easy on both human and dog. The stairs lead to a couple of nice observation areas that you can take some nice pictures of the falls (see below). The trail continues along the river with a few places to climb out on the rocks and for Buddy a few places to lay in the water and to swim.

This was a very scenic trail, with photo opportunities along the way. My only problem with this trail was that it was not well marked and it had many side trails, game trails, and trails leading to private property. Buddy and I did get off on one of these trails and got a little lost (and I forgot my Dick Tracy Watch at home, so I didn’t have GPS). Luckily, with a waterfall being so close I was able to follow the sound of the water back to the starting point.

Non-Game Trail

The non-game tail is a two and a half mile trail that runs through the woods. This trail was not remarkable or scenic. It is an easy to moderate hike through the woods on a single track trail. The trail featured mostly gentle climbs and descents that cris-crossed a small creek. I enjoyed the non-game, but I wouldn’t drive an hour and a half just for this trail.

The combination of the beauty of the Towaliga Trail and the exercise of the Non-Game trails made for a very enjoyable hike. I would recommend this hike to anyone, especially photographers.

A Busy Week

Sunday

Last Sunday I went Hiking with Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta (GRRA) at Fort Mountain State Park. This hike was a lot further away than we have done in the past, so we started later and only hiked the Lake Trail and Big Rock Trail. The group always enjoys these hikes. It gives people who like the outdoors and doing things with their dogs an activity. The dogs love it because they get a chance to swim.

The only bad thing that happened was that I flooded my friends car with my camlebak (water hydration pack). Because I didn't drink too much (we only did the two trails and it was a cool day) my camlebak was pretty full, and I must have stepped on the hose or something. I didn't even know it was leaking (I was wearing waterproof hiking boots) until Lisa dropped me off at my car. I picked up my gear and found it all wet, and the floorboard was flooded.

Lisa was very sweet about it. She said she would shop vac it up when she got home ( I wonder if she used the water she shop-vac'ed up to water her plants (we are in a bad drought here in GA)).

Monday

Monday was the 15th. I do my bills on the 1st and 15th. So, Monday I drove around paying bills. I don't know why I don't mail them in like a normal person, but I drive all around Marietta paying Power, Cable, Gas and Water. I'm sure I spend more on gas than I would on stamps.

Actually I do know why I don't mail them. It's because I have a louse memory. I once got a call from cable company threatening to turn off my cable. I checked my check book and I had paid them, so I was going to go to there office and speak to them. When I got in the car I noticed all of the bills sitting in my sun visor. Not only did I not pay them, but I didn't pay anyone. That's when I started paying at the offices.

Tuesday

Tuesday I had to bring Allie into the vet for her monthly shot (Adaquin) and to pickup her monthly medication (Duramaxx). I think Allie would agree with my mom when she says;"It's tough to get old. The minds willing , but the body's not.", but the shots and the pills help.

Allie is 12 years old and has arthritis and hip displashia. When I got her at 6 years old she had heartworm, which I think damaged her heart. Nowadays, she can only play fetch for 10 minutes before I have to stop (she'll be panting too much) or or walk 2 miles or less before I have to let her lay down. She would continue until she keeled over.

I often feel guilty about taking Buddy hiking and running, because I remember how much she used to love doing those things (she was a great hiking companion). Getting old sucks!

Wednesday

Wednesday is Photoshop class. This means I worked all day, rushed home and fed the dogs and rushed to school. It makes for a very long day.

Thursday

Thursday I went to the Atlanta Thrashers game. My sister and brother-in-law buy season tickets, and his brother and I buy half of them from them (so I buy 10 games). I then sold 4 of them to a friend of mine (your welcome).

The game was the second one I saw this year (the first was a pre-season game) and they won both. The Thrashers have not been doing well so far. Thursday's game was the first game they won this season, so I called my brother-in-law and suggested that I was good luck, and that he should give me all of his tickets until they lose with me there.

I took a friend that has never been to a hockey game. I'm pretty sure we have another convert.

Friday

Friday is finals day for the class I'm teaching (Air Brake System). I had to go in early so I could write the test (I have a database of questions). I designed a test that wasn't too hard, but still had 4 students fail. This means all my plans for next week are out the door. I will have to spend time re-training them and re-testing them. Here I thought I was done with them.

Two Dogs and a Fat Guy Again

As you read in my last post, I am back down to two dogs (if anyone from GRRA is reading, I'm not changing the name of my blog). Not only is the first part of the name of my blog back to being true, but the second part of the name of my blog is fast becoming true.

After the Corporate Run my legs hurt for a week. I once read that running on concrete was the worst thing for you knees, and I now believe it. It also said that TrailRunning was the easiest on your knees, and this may be true, but sitting on the couch is even easier. Sitting on the Couch is what I've been doing.

Since getting kicked off the Jack Abbott trail at Lockheed I've not been motivated. I think two things are causing this: One - it's getting darker earlier. This means I have to get out to the trail earlier, even though I am working later (I'm currently teaching a class). Two - now that I can't run at Lockeed, I have to drive a half hour to a full hour (instead of five minutes) to get to a good trail to run on. This means I have to get out on the trail even earlier.

Rushing home from work to rush out of the house to run feels too much like work (by now you all should know how I feel about working). So I've been sitting on the couch a lot more. Because I'm sitting on the couch more, I'm gaining weight again. This means that my blog name "Two Dogs and a Fat Guy" is becoming truer and truer.

I think I'm going to write Lockeed/Martin and get them to tell me what the trail policy is. Hopefully they will let me and Buddy back on the trail, because if I don't do something soon I might become the next "Jabba the Hut" (without the cool bikini girls dancing around).

Two Dogs and a Fat Guy Once More

Last Thursday, Dottie (the little stray that I was fostering) was spayed. A family had adopted her, but I held on to her so she could be spayed and heal up. Sunday, after showing no ill signs from her spaying, I met the family that had adopted her at the dog park and turned over her leash to them.

Upon returning home without Dottie I actually think I saw Allie (my lab) smiling. That night I sat on my couch with Buddy (my golden) and relaxed in the calm of the house. Fostering Dottie was a lot of work, and as a lazy guy, I don't like doing a lot of work. I tip my hat to, and thank all the people (especially with Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta(GRRA)) who bring foster dogs into their homes and give them a place to stay until they find their forever home.

So, once again I am 2 dogs and a fat guy.

The Corporate Run

Recently I ran the Kaisser Permanente Corporate Run (I did poorly). If you don’t know what the corporate run is, it is a benefit run for local charities. It is made up of businesses from around the area sponsoring teams (my company had about 100 runners).

I had been training with Buddy leading up to this run, and discovered my training was woefully inadequate. About 2 miles into the run I was done (it probably didn’t help that I worked most of the day, walked to the staging area from the train (over a mile), and walked around the staging area for 2 hours). Every time my heart rate monitor went off I would walk till my heart rate dropped low enough for me to run.

To explain how done I was; at one of the water break station a beautiful woman ran up next to me and grabbed some water (now some of you might know I’m not the most forward person when it comes to women (my friend Steve is laughing about the comment “not the most forward”), but in this environment I can usually say “how’s it going”, boy that hill was tough”, or something run related), but I couldn’t breath well enough to get out a sentence.

If that’s not proof enough; at this point the woman poured the water over herself, and continued on with the race (I’m not sure she knew or cared, but when you pour water over a white tank top it becomes transparent and when the water is a lot colder than it is outside the body reacts). Now this beautiful woman with the transparent shirt and high beams on took off. You may be thinking even if I couldn’t breath enough to talk to her, I could enjoy the view, but no, I was too out of breath to run next to her.

I continued on walking and running, but I could always tell where the wet t-shirt woman was. I would look forward in the distance and see guys with their heads turned, running into each other. It took me over 40 minutes to finish the 5K.

Fort Mountain State Park

Last week, when Lisa and I went Amicalola Falls State Park, we saw a sign for Fort Mountain State Park. Last Sunday I decided to investigate it, and determine if it would be a better hike for the group.

Sunday, I made a late start of it, and headed towards Amicalola Falls to where I saw the sign. I didn’t go to Map quest because my hiking guild said it was off of US52 and that is were I saw the sign last week. I never imagined that someone would put up a sign for Fort Mountain unless the park was close by. Boy was I wrong, oh so wrong. Fort Mountain and Amicalola Falls are about 50 miles away from each other and not highway miles - noooooo - winding mountain road miles. It took me an extra hour and a half to get there. Had I done a little research, I would have realized it is close to Ellijay and gone up I-575 (I went home that way and it took me an hour and fifteen minutes) and saved myself a lot of time and miles (I am so glad gas is so cheap) (that last comment is sarcasm, in case you thought I was rich and thought $2.78 a gallon is cheap).


Big Rock Trail
Big Rock trail is along and over an old waterfall bed. It is only a ½ mile trail but it is difficult at times. The sign say’s its moderate to strenuous, and it is. It starts off as a rocky/rooty trail that is two people wide. This part of the trail is moderate. At about the half way mark the trail is split. You can continue on the rocky/rooty moderate trail, or you can climb the dried up waterfall (it’s not totally dried up, it still has a little creek running through it). Buddy and I decided to climb the falls. This is where the trail can become strenuous. The falls were made up of platforms of large exposed rocks. If you have bad knees, aren’t too stable on your feet (you’re clumsy), or you have a small or old dog, you may want to stay on the moderate trail that runs next to it.


Lake Trail
The lake trail follows a small lake in the park. It is an easy, wide trail that is a little over a mile long. The lake has a little sandy people beach (I didn’t ask if dogs were allowed) and many camp sites off the lake. This means you will see other people on the trail. At the other end of the lake there is a picnic area with a wide open area for a dog to swim (I am assuming that the lake is OK to swim, considering they built a beach on it). All in all, it’s a nice easy hike for everyone.

Tower Trail
This trail is actually three trails in one. Buddy and I started off up a wide steep trail leading to the top of Fort Mountain. Where the Big Rock trail became strenuous because of the technical difficulty of the waterfall, the Tower trail can be strenuous at places due to the steepness. Before you get to the top you will come to a side trail with a red blaze, this leads to the scenic overlook without taking the steps (I didn’t know that at the time). Closer to the top you will come to the steps that lead to the scenic overlook (once again I didn’t know that at the time). These steps are the same type of grated steps that are at Amicalola Falls. There may not be as many as Amicalola Falls, but there are still a lot of them (this is the way I went, and Buddy was not happy). After taking photos of the scenic vista we headed back up the steps (Buddy was even less happy) and continued on to the tower.

The tower was cool. It is located at the top of Fort Mountain and is old. This is not a park ranger tower; it is an early settler’s tower. Much of the tower’s history is shrouded in mystery, but it’s thought to be built by early Welsh settlers (so bring the Corgis, they might like sniffing some of their history).

Heading down the mountain is easier than going up (duh). The trail that leads down the mountain is the original trail leading to the tower. Old platform steps (not grated steps, thank god (Buddy said you’re welcome; he’s dyslectic)) are made using the rocks from the mountain. Part of the way down you will go by a rock wall. The rock wall goes on for over a mile and at some time reaches 9 feet tall (I read that, I don’t know that for a fact). The portion of the wall by the trail is only 2 to 3 feet tall, but when you see all the rocks used you will be impressed (especially if you ever helped a friend with expanding his patio). After the wall it’s a short way back to the parking lot.

In conclusion I highly recommend Fort Mountain State Park. Along with fun hiking trails, the park offers many miles of mountain bike and horseback trails. It also has a swimming beach, camp sites and cabin rentals. All in all, I think I will try and rent a cabin there one weekend and explore everything Fort Mountain has to offer.