Lupe – Page 226 – The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe

How to Choose the Perfect Puppy

The following techniques which I used to select and acquire Lupe, my perfect puppy, are admittedly unorthodox and may not be for everyone. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to argue with proven success. I wish only the best to anyone intent upon finding their own perfect puppy, and share my methods with the hope they may prove both enlightening and helpful. However, I leave it to you to judge the suitability of these methods in your own situation. – SPHP

Actually, it was remarkably easy for me to choose Lupe, my perfect puppy and best friend now for over 4 years. I used a simple 3-Step program:

(1) Get married.

(2) Subscribe to cable TV.

(3) Wait a very long time.* (*as in years)

All 3 steps were essential to my success. For, you see, I had no intention of ever getting a puppy. I had never had a dog in my whole life. I had always been a cat person. The thought of getting a dog never entered my mind.

Our family has always had cats. Cats are beautiful and generally undemanding creatures, if you regularly feed them the one and only food in the whole world they ultimately decide they are willing to accept. It’s soothing when they purr. Their fur is soft and fun to stroke, until they get tired of it and decide to slash you. Cats can be amusing and fun to play with, but seldom play for long, leaving you free to move on to other activities. Cats are not as needy as dogs. Their air of quiet superiority and independence is an admirable trait, if you want a companion who doesn’t demand too much of you. I still love cats.

My nephew Ryan cites a joke he once read demonstrating the differences between dogs and cats. It reads like maybe it’s from an old Far Side cartoon. The joke consists of samples from the diary of a dog and the diary of a cat:

Dog’s diary:

Day 1 – Today we went to the park. I barked at squirrels! My favorite thing!

Day 2 – Today we played ball. I ran away with the ball! My favorite thing!

Day 3 – Today we went for a ride in the car. I hung my head out the window in the wind! My favorite thing!

Day 4 – Today we went hunting. I chased pheasants! My favorite thing!

Cat’s diary:

Day 1437 of Captivity – Last night I hunted down a field mouse, ripped open its belly and ate its head. I left the bloody entrails in the hall to show them what I am capable of. Tomorrow I plan to weave between their legs at the top of the stairs…..

So anyway, after completing Steps 1 & 2 above, eventually (see Step 3) my spouse took to watching shows on cable TV that seldom interested me, but which we still sometimes watched together. On occasion these shows provided me with a certain degree of amusement, although of a form different from that intended by the producers. I found cable TV to be a source of insight into our constantly evolving culture. Cable TV was showing me how much the world is changing.

History used to be about the rise and fall of nations, wars and economics, great leaders and social movements, exploration and scientific discoveries. Or at least I thought it was. However, we had the History Channel, which made it clear that history now has virtually nothing to do with any of these things. Instead, history is about Ice Road Truckers – diehard rednecks who attempt to disprove global warming theories by driving heavily laden semi-trucks across (hopefully) still frozen remote rivers in the Yukon or Alaska, or better yet, some part of the Arctic Ocean.

On the History Channel, you could also learn about “Ancient Aliens” – highly advanced space travelers who have visited earth over thousands of years to help ancient peoples build all kinds of mysterious and once (perhaps still?) powerful structures, but nothing so practical as a McDonald’s hamburger stand. Presumably only a massive ongoing US government cover-up spanning decades has been able to conceal the astonishing truth about these visitors from space and the global extent of their activities.

Of course, the History Channel just scratched the surface of the possibilities for unusual and unique programming destined to dominate the cable waves. There were shows about “Bridezillas” (flee for your life young man!); shows where people weep and wail because they need to clean their house and might have to get rid of a fraction of the mountain of belongings they literally walked on every day because it was all “put away” in gigantic heaps strewn over all the furniture and floors throughout their entire home; still more shows featured night vision gear and all manner of scientific instruments you can use to detect ghosts which, as it turns out, are virtually everywhere. And so it goes, channel after channel, as though the National Enquirer has achieved full control of the entire cable TV industry.

One of the cable TV shows my spouse started watching was about dogs and “dog whisperers”. Typical of this channel were stories about rich neurotic women living in Manhattan skyscrapers, who had little to do in life other than spoil their cutesy little lap dogs. They did things like throw birthday parties in their luxury apartments for “Fifi” where they would invite 15 or 20 other women and their yapping little dogs over to wear costumes, eat cake and lap up champagne.

When the whole birthday party fiasco was over, the hostess would tearfully hire a highly paid “dog whisperer” to learn why Fifi snapped viciously at her doggie guests, went wee-wee on the cake, bit the high-powered attorney’s wife’s ankles causing her to curse and bleed profusely, and in general did not seem to enjoy herself as anticipated. Naturally the “dog whisperer” was always ready with all kinds of helpful advice on dog psychology, training and discipline certain to restore doggie control, happiness and tranquility until the next episode.

(I was always interested in seeing the sequel to these shows where the woman’s Wall Street investment banker husband arrived home from work only to be horrified to learn what had just happened. I wanted to see how he managed to get himself out of this fix regarding the high-powered attorney’s wife’s bloody ankles, but apparently the channel carrying the “Attorney Whisperer” is a premium channel I never subscribed to. It’s a pity, for you never know when, due to some sudden unexpected tragedy resulting in personal liability, you might really need an attorney whisperer.)

The upshot of all this was that one day in early January 2011, seemingly out of the blue (but not actually, as my 3-Step program had been long at work), my spouse asked me what I thought about getting a puppy.

My reaction was instant, and I quickly made the following extraordinarily valid objections:

We did not need, and I did not want a puppy.
A puppy would have to be house-broken, and would poop and pee on everything until it was.
A puppy would chew up everything not out of reach.
Our old cat would be scared to death. It would be cruel to subject a very old cat to such treatment.
We did not have a fenced yard to keep the puppy in where it could run and play.
Dogs are typically larger, eat a lot more than cats, and would cost more to sustain. There would be the usual vet bills. We didn’t need these unnecessary expenses.
Dogs are much more active and social animals than cats. They need attention and get bored easily. Someone would have to at least walk the dog every day. I certainly didn’t want to do it.
Once the cat was gone, which couldn’t be too far off in the future, we would have one less thing to worry about whenever we wanted to travel. We would be pet free.
The puppy would bark and annoy all our good neighbors.

After this fine, exceptionally persuasive speech, there was no more discussion. Not a peep. It was settled. No puppy for us. Until 6:30 AM on February 11, 2011 when heading out the door on the way to work, my spouse said, “I’m picking up the puppy tonight!”

Easy 3-Step plan complete!

This dingo tale continues with the post: My Perfect Puppy – The Arrival of Lupe

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Parker Ridge Trail & the Saskatchewan Glacier, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (7-29-14)

This is SPHP’s favorite short day hike in the Canadian Rockies! If you only have a couple of hours to spend while in the area (simply tragic!), this is the hike to take. The Parker Ridge trailhead is located 2.5 miles S of the Banff and Jasper National Parks boundary at Sunwapta Pass. The trailhead is at a small parking lot immediately adjacent to the southbound side of the Icefields Parkway Hwy 93.

Lupe set off from the trailhead at 9:43 AM on this clear, calm day. The temperature was already a very pleasant 63 degrees F. The 2.7 km trail to the top of Parker Ridge starts out just below tree line. It immediately starts to switchback up the ridge through a scattered forest of small conifers. The trail climbs steadily the entire way at a pretty easy pace, rising above tree line about halfway up. Total elevation gain is about 250 meters (820 feet).

Lupe on Parker Ridge, Banff NP, Canada, on 7-29-14. This photo looks E down the canyon and away from the Saskatchewan Glacier.

Once the trail reaches the crest of Parker Ridge, it continues a short distance to a series of viewpoints along the steep edge of the huge valley to the S. While the scenery is gorgeous in all directions, the main attraction is the spectacular view of the Saskatchewan Glacier flowing down into this valley from the Columbia Icefield. Continuing along the trail just a short distance heading E, away from the glacier, actually gets you to the best views of the glacier due to the curvature of the valley and topography of Parker Ridge.

Although the views are gorgeous in all directions, the main attraction on Parker Ridge is the view of the Saskatchewan Glacier. — Although the views are gorgeous in all directions, the main attraction on Parker Ridge is the fabulous view of the Saskatchewan Glacier.

Lupe, of course, was very cooperative in posing for a few photos with the Saskatchewan glacier. She stayed up on Parker Ridge quite a while enjoying the fabulous scenery and keeping a sharp eye out for marmots. Although there had been only a few vehicles at the trailhead when Lupe started out, before long people started arriving in droves. When Lupe got back to the trailhead just before noon, the parking lot along the Icefields Parkway Hwy 93 was nearly full.

P1050358 — Lupe on Parker Ridge, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada on 7-29-14

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Parker Ridge & the Saskatchewan Glacier, The Icefields Center & the Athabasca Glacier, Banff National Park, Canada (7-27-13)

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Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 121 – Custer Mountain, Kruger Peak, Daisy Peak & Northeast Cicero Peak (3-7-15)

After nearly two weeks of weather too cold for a pleasant outdoor experience, Lupe was really, really ready for another Black Hills Expedition. She had been thoroughly bored for days on end. Saturday, March 7th arrived with a forecast high in the low 50’s after a couple of pretty nice days which helped to melt some of the snow around. SPHP was ready to get back into action, too.

Lupe’s main peakbagging goal for the day was to climb Custer Mountain (6,089 ft.), located roughly 3 miles ESE of the town of Custer in the southern Black Hills. (The Black Hills also feature a Custer Peak, which is considerably higher and better known. Custer Peak is in the north central Black Hills.) At 9:01 AM, SPHP parked the G6 near the intersection of USFS Roads No. 342 & 341, just 0.75 mile N of Custer Mountain. Conditions were sunny, calm and 41 degrees F.

Lupe started out heading W on No. 341. She hadn’t gone too far before it was time to leave the road and start climbing the mountain to the S. The climb was moderately steep heading through a Ponderosa pine forest typical of the Black Hills. Due to the northern exposure there was a small amount of snow, not even half an inch, still on the ground.

SPHP could see through the forest that there were two high points above that might be the summit of Custer Mountain. Lupe climbed up to the W high point first, but once there, it didn’t take much exploration to establish that the true summit of Custer Mountain was to the E. After a brief break, Lupe headed past some nice rock outcroppings down into a little saddle that led to the final climb up the rather steep NW slope of Custer Mountain.

Pine bark beetles had killed large numbers of trees. Although there was still a standing forest of living trees, there was a lot of deadfall timber to contend with on the ground too. The climb up to the summit of Custer Mountain was consequently quite slow. The summit itself was a bit surprising. Having seen Custer Mountain from the S back on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 109 on 12-13-14, SPHP had expected a fairly large flat summit area, but instead there was a narrow rocky spine running N/S at the highest point.

Lupe on the highest rock on Custer Mountain.

The rocky spine was easily climbed and Lupe posed for a couple of photos up there. There weren’t any distant views from the actual summit due to the surrounding forest. After a brief time at the top, Lupe climbed down off the rocky spine and headed SE down into a small saddle which led to another close-by high spot. This second high spot was much more level and had some open ground affording some fairly decent views to the SE.

Lupe reaches a high spot SE of the summit of Custer Mountain.

Lupe had already accomplished her main peakbagging goal for the day, which was to climb Custer Mountain. It was still very early in the day, so SPHP paused to consider what the plan might be from here. Originally SPHP had supposed Lupe would next head over to Mt. Coolidge (6,023 ft.), about 2 miles to the ESE. However, the view to the S was more interesting. In that direction were three of the peaks Lupe had climbed back on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 109. Kruger and Daisy Peaks were 1.5 to 2 miles away. Northeast Cicero Peak was 4 miles away.

Between the trees are Kruger Peak (on left) and Daisy Peak (on right), as seen from Custer Mountain.

SPHP decided Lupe would skip Mt. Coolidge in favor of Kruger, Daisy and NE Cicero Peaks. It would be a considerably longer day, but a more challenging and interesting day too. The decision made, Lupe headed SW down off Custer Mountain. After losing nearly all the elevation gained climbing Custer Mountain, she emerged into a valley, where loggers had greatly thinned the forest. She followed a logging road down the valley to USFS Road No. 343.

A 0.25 mile hike along No. 343 brought Lupe to an intersection with USFS Road No. 337. Lupe turned S on USFS Road No. 337. Eventually Lupe left No. 337 to hike through the forest, and then through a field to the base of Kruger Peak (5,838 ft.). She climbed Kruger Peak from the NW. (The photo featured at the start of this post is of Lupe on the upper slopes of Kruger Peak with a view back to the NW towards Custer Mountain.)

There is a fairly flat area up on the top of Kruger Peak with a couple of rocky high points at the E and W ends. Lupe visited both high points since neither was noticeably higher than the other. SPHP and Lupe paused for a little while to enjoy the Kruger Peak views, and take a water and Taste of the Wild break.

After Kruger Peak, Lupe headed for Daisy Peak (5,948 ft.). She lost about 100 feet of elevation heading down the saddle at the SW end of Kruger Peak. From there she climbed up the N slope of Daisy Peak to arrive on top of the ridge extending NW from the summit. SPHP had Lupe go to the end of the ridge for a few photos back towards Custer Mountain. A five minute stroll SE along the narrow ridge then brought Lupe to the broader, grassy, rounded summit of Daisy Peak.

Custer Mountain (on left) and Harney Peak (center) from end of NW ridge on Daisy Peak.

At the summit of Daisy Peak there was a bit of a breeze out of the SW. The sky was also starting to cloud up a bit more, although it was still mostly clear. Lupe and SPHP spent some time enjoying the views, which were unobstructed in most directions except the NW. Lupe obliged SPHP by posing for an assortment of photos. Then it was time to move on towards NE Cicero Peak, still 2 miles to the S.

Lupe and the dead tree at the summit of Daisy Peak.

Kruger Peak is the nearby low ridge. From Daisy Peak it doesn't look too impressive. — Kruger Peak is the nearby lower ridge. From Daisy Peak it doesn’t look too impressive.

Northeast Cicero Peak is the highest point towards the left of this photo taken from Daisy Peak. — Northeast Cicero Peak is the highest point towards the left center of this photo taken from Daisy Peak.

Lupe headed S down off Daisy Peak following along or just W of the ridge line. At the saddle between Daisy Peak and a smaller hill to the S, Lupe turned SW and proceeded to work her way S around the smaller hill. She reached a faint road which she followed up to the SE. The road faded into just a single track trail which reached a broad level saddle area in the forest. The trail then linked up with USFS Road No. 337.1A (unmarked) just S of the smaller hill.

Lupe followed No. 337.1A heading E and gradually losing elevation as the saddle area was left behind. Before long Lupe reached the intersection with No. 337.1B (marked). No. 337.1B headed S up a long valley towards a high ridge about 0.5 mile N of NE Cicero Peak. SPHP was impressed with the scenery in this valley back on Black Hills Expedition No. 109 when Lupe had come down the valley from the S, and enjoyed the trip up the valley from the N as well.

Looking S up USFS Road No. 337.1B from near the intersection with 337.1A.

Part way up the valley, No. 337.1B is overgrown with young pine trees. It soon dissolves into a single track trail. Lupe and SPHP headed up the trail towards the closest prominent rocky point along the high ridge to the S. Lupe left the trail to turn a bit to the E and climbed up to the top of the high ridge just E of the prominent rocky point. At the rocky point, SPHP took another photo or two looking back towards Daisy and Kruger Peaks.

Lupe on the high rocky point N of NE Cicero Peak. Photo looks N towards Daisy Peak (bare hill on the right) and Custer Mountain (forested hill near center In front of distant Harney Peak). — Lupe on the high rocky point N of NE Cicero Peak. Photo looks N towards Daisy Peak (bare hill on the right) and Custer Mountain (forested hill near center in front of distant Harney Peak).

From the high ridge, Northeast Cicero Peak (6,240 ft.) was back in view again. This ridge sweeps around to the SE and then turns SW to head up to the summit of NE Cicero Peak. The whole ridge has only a few living trees on it, so the views are great. There are rock outcroppings scattered along the ridge, some deadfall timber, and plenty of rocks hidden in the grass. Lupe followed this ridge all the way around to gain the summit of Northeast Cicero Peak.

Looking SE along the high ridge from near the rocky point. NE Cicero Peak is on the right.

Northeast Cicero Peak. Lupe climbed it via the ridge sweeping up from the NE (at the left of this photo).

A look at the view to the SE at territory to the E of NE Cicero Peak. — A look towards the SE (still along the high ridge) at territory to the E of NE Cicero Peak.

The summit of Northeast Cicero Peak is broad, flat and grassy. There is a single big rock at the NE end which is the highest point and true summit. Perhaps 30 feet to the W is a low flat row of exposed rocks running N/S which is nearly as high. At this row of rocks, Lupe was ready for a rest. She had water and ate the rest of her Taste of the Wild. It was getting cloudier. A cool breeze out of the SW was getting stronger. Perhaps 1.5 hours or a bit more remained before sunset.

Lupe sitting on the highest rock on Northeast Cicero Peak. — Lupe sitting and squinting on the highest rock on Northeast Cicero Peak.

Lupe stands on the low row of rocks on NE Cicero Peak. The prairie E of the Black Hills is in sunlight.

Lupe posed for more photos on NE Cicero Peak. She then left the summit area heading SW. At the end of the ridge to the SW was an exposed grassy area with the best views to the S of Cicero Peak. SPHP took a couple more photos here, before heading NW down into the forest. The going was a bit slippery since there was still some snow in this part of the forest. Lupe headed down towards a ridge forming a saddle between NE Cicero Peak and the next hill to the W.

Cicero Peak (at right) from Northeast Cicero Peak. — **Cicero Peak (6,166 ft.)** (the highest point at center right) from Northeast Cicero Peak.

Lupe headed N down over the ridge and entered a big valley heading W. She lost lots of elevation as she went NW towards the valley floor. Eventually she picked up a jeep trail or USFS road which was much more level. The road headed N for a while and then turned NW starting to lose elevation again. It came to an open field where there was another road that ended in a big flat turn-around area at its E extremity.

Lupe left the road she was on to head N past the turn-around circle. A single track path disappeared into a forested valley. Lupe followed that path which continued gradually losing elevation. After 0.25 mile at most, the path reached a larger valley. USFS Road No. 337 was along the W side of this valley. Lupe followed No. 337 or paths paralleling it in the nearby fields and forests all the way back to USFS Road No. 343.

By the time Lupe reached USFS Road No.343, it was dark out. Lupe turned E on No. 343. She followed it and then USFS Road No. 342 the rest of the way back to the G6. The stars were blazing in the night sky by the time Lupe reached the G6 at 7:32 PM. It was now 35 degrees out.

After a mere 10.5 hours, Lupe still wasn’t ready to get in the G6. SPHP backed it out and turned the G6 around while Lupe sniffed the air for a few more minutes. As mysterious and exciting as the night air and sounds were, Lupe finally decided she was ready. She hopped into the G6 and curled up for a fitful snooze during the ride home.

Daisy Peak in the last weak rays of sunlight before sunset.

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