The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

Of course this would happen at some point. It was an impromptu photo shoot that we came upon at a neighborhood dog thing. The photographer was surprised that he knew how to pose; she didn’t know that he’s had quite a bit of practice.

This is at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, from a bench looking over the bay.

I saw a Renault Twizy today in San Francisco, which is an electric one-seater car. It looked pretty cool, but there is no way the poodle would fit in it!

Yes, I am testing new GoPro accessories – getting ready for some summer fun. I now have a little floating handle and I can control the camera from my Windows Phone via the GoPro app.

		Beach Weekend–June 2014 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This weekend, Busby and I drove down to Santa Cruz and Monterey (map) for two days of beach play. We tried out a variety of beaches between the two towns. However, as we discovered, some state beaches don’t allow dogs, even on leash. Some are a bit tough to find, such as Zmudowski State Beach, which after driving along fields of strawberries, the paved road turned to dirt so we turned around, since I doubt the Volvo is good at off-roading.

Our favorite area was between Seacliff State Beach, where the S.S. Palo Alto is beached, and Seascape Beach. I’d consider it all one big beach, but after a mile or so it gets a new name. Thankfully, there are flocks of seagulls for Busby to chase and I even got a little video of it.

We also saw birds dive for food, small whales swim by, or perhaps they were big dolphin-type creatures, and one small lizard. Couldn’t get a picture of them though – they’re all too fast or I’m too slow. We talked to many other dog owners, a couple of surfers, but never found an open campground to stay for the night. State-run campgrounds and even the KOA locations all need reservations months in advance. So, we found a dog-friendly hotel instead.

Busby is now clean and passed out on the couch.

I need to learn how to hold the camera level.

These are Busby’s favorite treats, but he is a very picky eater (like me when I was a kid). I decided to I should figure out which treat he liked best. After all, he doesn’t like eating any sort of regular food, even if it’s freshly cooked chicken! So, I set out four of his favorites:

He waited patently as I set out the treats and took photos. After all, he doesn’t trust a damn thing I do, but he will wait and watch. But, once I told him (twice) that he could pick one, his order of preference was:
1. Newman’s Own "Snack Sticks"
2. Primal Dry Roast "Lung Puffs"
3. Stella & Chewy’s "Carnivore Crunch"
4. Crumps’ Natural "Sweet Potato & Liver Rawhide"

I think this means that he will eat any form of super concentrated meat. However, as I wrote this he went from this (photo below), to getting annoyed with me for not giving him more treats, to lying down on the couch, to licking his feet.