Kemba and his cousin Bruce, by consensus, get along as well as any two dogs can.  Or, to be more specific, as well as a mellow, sweet, food-loving six-year-old black Lab and a hyper-energetic, exercise-freak, doesn’t-know-when-to-quit, one-and-a-half-year-old Duck Toller can.  They’ve spent weeken…

Lye Brook Falls.  Lye Brook Falls.  All winter, whenever we’ve done hikes in the woods, I keep hearing about the time back in the fall of 2013 — I wasn’t even born yet! —that Beagle Man and Langdon and Mike made it up to Lye Brook Falls.  No disrespect, but if those oldies could get there, I could…

We’ve seen a bunch of firsts for my Duck Dog this past week:  1. his first, legit, off-leash, multi-mile run with me (Eureka!);  2. his first successful, full-extension, airborne Frisbee snag (see video), and 3. his first writing class audited! That’s right — I took Kemba to Trinity with me Wednes…

I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. For 38 years, running has been my primary sport.  For 13 years, dogs — first Ricky the Beagle, now Kemba the Duck Toller — have been my passion.  From the git-go, my goal was to combine the two: to go running with my dog. By now, you’ve all heard the story of…

It happened the first time maybe a year ago, on our second visit to Lake Mohegan.  I’d parked in the lot near the Cascades.  My game plan was to walk around the lake to the main beach/recreation area, then continue the loop back to my car.  Kemba and I had taken this route the only other time we’d…

I know, it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me.  Don’t think I haven’t been wanting to write.  Ah, well, but that’s Beagle Man for you — love the one you’re with.  If he’s not hogging the bylines for himself, then it’s Kemba — you know, He Who Can Do No Wrong.  Speaking of forgotten dogs, I w…

It’s been a great Friday so far.  And yes, I do know my days of the week.  Duh.  I can also tell time, though this may be news to Beagle Man’s friend Rick.  Has anyone ever taken note of the fact that I wake Beagle Man every morning at 8 o’clock, give or take a couple of minutes?  And that I gaze a…

Let’s just get one thing out of the way right off the bat:  Does this (photo below) look like just some T-shirt?  Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking about Kemba’s wiseguy remark in his post just before I left for Austria (One Tough Week Ahead) — that Beagle Man “better bring me  back something pret-t…

I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little bit worried.  Beagle Man leaves tonight for his annual Alps ski trip with Matt and Greg and their friends.  I saw him packing his bags.  That means Mom’s in charge of me.  Which is fine. . . in certain ways.  I mean, I’ll get fed.  And she’ll throw me some r…

Yup, you remember correctly:  Vermont — the place where Kemba cut his paw wide open in mid-November, forcing him to the D.L. for an entire month.  But Vermont is also, for a cold-weather dog who hails from Nova Scotia, a little slice of doggy heaven.  And as they say, you gotta get right back on…