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Jasper out on patrol again, making sure the neighborhood stays safe. He deftly slipped behind this bird of paradise bush to spy on potential wrongdoers . (Yes, I know the bird of paradise plant in Arizona is weird, not looking at all like the "normal" bird of paradise)
Jasper in front of the infinity fountain at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. We had a little outing there last weekend.
Jasper is sort of a self-appointed neighborhood watchdog. Don't want riff raff to sneak in and do evil
Jasper watching his human mom re-enter the family room. Hope springs eternal that she's bringing a treat or some delightful new toy. Alas, not this time. But we did play some more, so there's that
For whatever reason I'm fascinated by the twisty trunks of the mesquite trees common to our community. Jasper posed for me but was really more interested in passers by than me and my infernal click box
Jasper knows that it pays to be a bit paranoid, casting a quick sideways glance to ensure his mom doesn't flank him and steal the OddBall.
We had to do a bit of yardwork on Saturday morning, trimming the bushes and tidying up. Jasper just kept dropping the OddBall in our path. And we'd dutifully pick it up and toss it every time. It does slow work progress a bit, but Jasper believes the primary reason to be in the back yard is to play. None of this "work" nonsense.
..., cried Christmas Bear. Jasper seems to have chosen an unfortunate place to bite Christmas Bear for toting around. That's GOT to hurt! Poor Christmas Bear.
Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games
We got everything you want honey, we know the names
Guns N' Roses 1987
While Jasper isn't exactly a Guns N' Roses kind of dog the title seemed fitting enough. And he can fit the first two lines of the song into his philosophy.
Jasper tries to make sense of the petroglyphs etched on the canyon walls by the Hohokam tribe some time during the first millennium AD. He says that they're instructions on giving your dog more treats and more play. Go figure.
The walls of Hieroglyphic Canyon, outside of Gold Canyon, Arizona are covered with petroglyphs. They are fairly well preserved and intact given that there are people climbing all over the rocks on a daily basis. You can see one of the petroglyphs on the rock Jasper is standing on.
(Is being a canine anthropologist ironic? I don't know. Maybe not)
Jasper gave the playground equipment a quick try. Fun, but ultimately not his bag. There's no Oddball involved - how much fun could it be?
Is it an optical illusion or is that right handle bigger than the left? Did the designer have no sense of symmetry? Just something I noticed.
When the humans stop playing for a bit, Jasper will plop down on the hearth with a heavy sigh. "How long must I wait for the fun to resume?!?" Poor neglected dog 😜
(Haha, I just noticed that the map no longer says "A mysterious place with no name" But its not the San Tan Mobile Village either.)
Well the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch is still open. It provides a lot of very wide paths suitable for walking and maintaining proper social distancing. So I took a couple Jasper portraits during a walk this weekend. Jasper's paws are on a mesquite tree trunk which can take on some pretty interesting forms. This one shoots horizontal for quite a ways before turning skyward.
Though clearly not in the mood, I made Jasper sit for a portrait last weekend. An ugly foreground but its what i had to work with in the moment.
Jasper takes his post on the cool tile floor of the dinette supervising as we finish clean-up after lunch. He'll also help out with the stray bit of cheese that might be left on a plate. You know, just in case the garbage bin is full and we have no other place to dispose of stray cheese
Jasper gets a dog bone/biscuit last thing at night and first thing in the morning. So when the alarm goes off in the morning, I go downstairs to start the coffee and I'm often greeted by this as I come back upstairs to the bedroom to get ready. "You better not have forgotten my bone. I get a bone you know. It's a dog's right. Under the law."
I get the feeling that Jasper was not as amused as I was with having this toy placed on his head. All fun and games at first, but apparently it got old quickly. I think Jasper looks good in a hat.
Jasper has a bit of a weird stance in this shot, his hind legs wide. But he still looks handsome while enjoying our walk at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch. Must sniff for turtles!
I thought it was funny how Jasper put Wuffy face-down in a scissor lock while playing last night. As I described in my other Jasper post,, he was just insane about play last night and really wanted to show Wuffy a thing or two (link to other post in first lcomment)
Messing around in Lightroom. The background was blown out anyway so I went all the way. Since finding this tennis ball in the neighborhood green space, Jasper has made a nightly practice of running around with the thing. But at 110-112F, (43-44C) at evening walk time, Jasper knows his limitations. Fun is fun though so ball transcends heat for a few minutes at least
It seems Jasper's tummy has gotten a little more sensitive. So we've switched to a new food specifically formulated for sensitive tummies and sensitive skin (as it turns out he stops to scratch a lot too). You never know when you switch to a new food, but the vet seemed to think this would be a good one and Jasper seems to like it.
When I was in Tasmania and observed these white pelicans at a pier, I pondered whether they behaved and cried differently with respect to the ones I see regularly at Alviso, California. What do you think?
We've spent a lot of time in the greenspace as Jasper continues to convalesce from his hind leg strain. Gentle walks with lots of sniffs. Of course that doesn't stop him from wanting to run and go on long walks, but we need to limit him. He seems to be slowly coming back, but it will take more time and on-going restraint from big physical activity. Camera on the ground for this shot to make him look larger than life.