Stop, Drop & Roll

Darcy's signature move when she's playing is to throw herself to the ground and roll over without missing a beat. This tends to leave her covered in grass, leaves, mud, sand, mulch and other interesting substances (most of which are later deposited on our bed). It's also the main reason for her rather unfeminine but accurate nickname: Pigpen!

This morning she put on an impressive series of rolls, even for her, while playing with Duncan. And for once, I actually had my phone handy to record it for posterity. Be sure to crank up the volume to hear her ferocious growls!

Playing at Pinery

Yes, I admit it - I have been negligent in updating the D&D Fan Club about their stars. I blame summer. We spent months with Darcy napping on the living room AC vent, while Duncan napped on the dining room one. Occasionally they'd trade. Not exciting to watch.

But recently things have picked up. This week, for example, we spent a day picnicking and playing at Pinery, mostly to avoid the guys who were climbing all over the house installing news eaves troughs. It was a great way to spend a day!

We had the park almost completely to ourselves; as far as we could see in both directions, there was nobody else on the beach. Duncan and Darcy had a lot of fun running and playing on the sand (that's Duncan in his spiffy blue harness, and Darcy in Kerry's old green one, because she chewed the buckle off her spiffy purple harness):

This was the first time Darcy had really been able to play in the lake. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, but Duncan showed her how to wade in the shallow water:

It wasn't long before she decided that the water was great fun.  She ran and played for the longest time. Duncan, being older and wiser, realized the water was cold, so he played for a while then stood on the beach with the grownups, watching the silly pup:

And then she got daring. She ran as far away as she was allowed, then charged back at full speed. Over. And over. Again!

Eventually, we decided to leave the beach and go for a hike in the woods. Darcy loves hiking, unless Duncan gets ahead of her:

Duncan loves hiking, as long as Darcy is behind him:

The trail was one dog wide, so we traded places a lot! But there were interesting smells:

And a river to pose beside:

We ran into traffic problems on the way home, so the trip took 4 hours, compared to the usual 2+. But both dogs were so tired they slept the whole way.