Cave canem.

Cave canem.
Mosaic in Pompeii,
photo by Greg Willis, 2002

22:49 min - 4.8 km (3 miles), cold biting on my cheeks

Grieving for Strelka.

Among other moving episodes, we remembered how beautiful he was barking and galloping to the gates with his mane waving.

Which in turn brought to memory the old sign that was on the gates of one of the family houses — 'Cave Canem'.

'Beware of the Dog'. And we wondered if anyone has or would have one in Latin these days. 

Strelka

(35 min digging)

Today, said final goodbyes to the best cutest kindest dog in the world.

And the best running companion. (The vet said, 'that's why he had such a long - and healthy - life'.)

The Christmas dog —

Strelka on the left (2006)

Strelka dying and we can't do anything for him

22:30 min — 4.8 km (3 miles)

Strelka is dying.

Gilets jaunes.

21:33 min - 3 miles (4.8 km)

I was running today in my old bright yellow vest, a leftover from when I was raising funds for the good people at Help the Aged charity.

A few French cars passed — and honked in greeting. I was puzzled at first but then realized what was happening. Apparently, they took my vest as a sign of solidarity with the ever-strong 'yellow jackets' — gilets jaunes movement against Macron's oppressive fiscal policy.

Surely something must be done fast about global warming, but not at the expense of those who keep the countryside going.

Running with Strelka and Nala, Vassily the Cat in best supporting role.
The gilet jaune here is from the Marie Curie Cancer Care (I raised £2,000 for them).
Photo from 2011.

Dogs made it!

today's run (19 April 2014): 3,2 km - 20 min. 

Dogs made it! Limping Golden Strelka and Leroy, who is 83 in dog years. 

I haven't been taking them on longish runs for a some time but they are always so eager to go with me that I am now trying to train them up again.

Strelka

Good Luck, London!

Strelka.

Today's run with Leroy and Strelka the Golden: 10.03 km - 60.35 min, sunny, +10ºC.

Beautiful day. Wish good luck to all who run tomorrow's London Marathon.

As the second suspect in Boston bombings is apprehended, I recommend this little item on how K-9 Comfort Dogs help the victims of the bombings to recover. 

If you are about to choose the breed for running or companionship, note that the team there only uses Golden Retrievers, like my Strelka, the soppiest, friendliest, fluffiest dog ever. 

Here's a quote by Tim Hertzner, who runs K-9 Comfort Dogs, which has teams in seven US states with  67 dogs, all Golden Retrievers:

"After a tragic event, I’ve noticed people often first open up and talk with the dog about what happened - before talking to other people. They’re really big furry counsellors: they have a sixth sense of empathy and can sense sorrow. Playing with a dog also gives people a much-needed moment of diversion.

 

We can’t keep track of how many people have been affected by the dogs, but in Boston, we are talking thousands. When I was out with some of the dogs on a hospital visit Thursday, a woman who had just undergone surgery on her leg got out of her bed and took her first step in order to play with one of the dogs".

Run, Golden Strelka, the star of my book.

10.17 km - 62.12 min., with Strelka and Leroy. It's windy, almost stormy, fallen branches everywhere and very, very cool, 14ºC. But somehow neither the chill, nor the wind, are unpleasant.

The cutout photo below is of Strelka, the Golden Retriever, who has been my running buddy for eight years now. I made it with graphic tools in iWork/Pages, an Apple Mac word processing and page layout programme. The cutout was meant for this blog, but I also put it in the book about iWork I've been writing this year. So Strelka became a star in it. (read on below the photo)

The technique involves editing the photo's contours on a Mac. In physical terms, it is similar to what we all do as children in play groups and kindergartens – cut out a picture with scissors to glue it into a scrapbook. Except that on computers we move editing points to hide the rest of the photo and leave only the image we want. Anyone with basic computer skills can quickly learn how to do it. And not just this but many other tricks with text and images that many of us have always wanted to learn but were  afraid to try. This includes the Internet. I made the graphic title-panel for this blog in iWork/Pages too.

The book is out now, in print and Kindle versions. Cropping and cutting out photos is described in detail there, as well as many other techniques for family and professional projects, from cards and posters to brochures, magazines and books. You can read or download a sample chapter on how to make logos with iWork/Pages here (opens in PDF).

The book, iWork for Mac OSX Cookbook (link to the book on Packt Publishing), is now on Amazon and all other major book-selling websites. It's called a cookbook because of the easy-to-follow descriptions of computer techniques – just like recipes for cooking.

This weekend the publishers, Packt Publishing, are having a big promotion: if you register on their site, you can download one of their ebooks, including mine, for free.

Click on the book cover below to go to Amazon.

Happiness Is a Mud Bath

Whah'? I dinn' do nottin!

10 km - 62.34 min, cool pleasant Summer continues, +18C, no wind, cloudy.

The mud stream in the woods has dried up – nearly. Once on the path there, I let the dogs of the lead to let them run around, sniff, play and roll as much as they please.

What I didn't expect was that there was still a nice big puddle of, apparently, warm liquid mud. Of which dear old Strelka did not hesitate to take advantage. When he caught up with me he was wearing not the usual Golden coat but a very definite speckled black. With the look of pure innocence, even suffering.

- Wha? I dinn' do nottin', did I?

He was so cute, that I had no heart to tell him off.

It was Vassily the Cat who came up and sniffed him all over with utter disgust.

Snowy.

9.6 km - 57.36 min. 
- It was -10ºC in the morning, even the thought of a run was terrifying. By two in the afternoon turned mild. 


Double-layered, Moscow rules, and it turned out surprisingly pleasant. No wind. Halfway through the run got dusted by soft snow suddenly falling from out of nowhere. 


The road is mostly clear from snow now, but wonderful crunch-crunch on the remaining snow patches. In the woods, puddles are frozen with about 50 mm (2 inch) ice. 


Dogs loved the cold, kept pushing ahead.

Strelka is a Golden Retriever with a very light coat, practically white. In the woods Strelka fell behind to sniff around and roll in the snow. When I looked around I couldn't see him, then I saw him, blending with the snow...

This was taken last winter 

A True Sportsman

Strelka

 (entry by Strelka the Golden*)

9.6km (6 miles) - 56.12 min. 

Leroy really impressed me today. 

We were running through the woods and a flock of four 'bamby' deer crossed the lane and darted into the fields. I can't be bothered, you know me. But Leroy didn't chase them either and stayed with the Boss - only slighty raising his nose and looking back at him, so as to say – look, Boss, PREY! 

Boss is strange, he just looked at bambies admiringly and ran on. 

BUT: He disappeared around tea-time and came back with a huge bag of VERY red meat scraps! Waddahunter, my! 

*Golden=Golden Retriever.

'Ils sont intelligents!'

Strelka

9.5 km - 57,28 min - 9,888 steps - 16ºC - cloudy, warm, quiet, very pleasant run.

I was so proud of myself today!

Boss went for a run later than usual, in the afternoon just before the Glorious Hour. Because it was nice and warm the gardens along the route were full of dogs with their people.

Other People don't bark at us, only the Boss does, occasionally. Other People bark at their own dogs. And dogs bark at us when we pass. Leroy often gets excited and pulls this way and that, but I'm not like that, I ignore them and keep trotting on with my nose up. One has to keep one's dignity, you know.

It's what they bark that's interesting. Dogs usually bark 'Get out, or I'll get you, it's my spot'! People usually bark 'Stop! Come here!'

There was a fluffy black-and-white collie in one garden. When he started at us, the French woman there barked: 'Stop it! Look, those are intelligent, not like you!' – 'Ils sont 'telligents!'

My, we are intelligent? I am intelligent! She hasn't seen ME barking and chasing the postman! But then, I know three languages and can go through a newspaper in a few minutes – to shreds. So there must be something in me.

I felt so proud today.
 
posted by Strelka the Golden