Creek Running North

Maybe the “expression engine” could create a multiple choice (answer all that apply) aggregator?? That way, you could more definitively view your readership (lurkers included).  If i had been given that option, rather than choosing “i don’t sort by categories” i would have clicked on (only in order as you scrolled top to bottom):
BARD
blogging
books
coyote
desert
hiking
music
poetry
politics
satire
wildlife
writing

yes - multiple choice would be much better, because I originally came to CRN - oh criminy - I don’t remember why - and got caught up with your hiking, then Zeke, then Zeke and hiking, then just the wonder dog.  yeah, so. let’s go with multiple choice.
hugs from PA
connie

I come for whatever’s being served.

First time commenting.  I’ve been visiting for several months now.  I first came by because some other blog I read linked here when Zeke was sick.  I most love reading you write about plants-- desert plants, garden plants, taxonomic puzzles, the politics of plants.  But I also love memories of Zeke, political talk, metablogging, hiking, wildlife, and whatever else crosses your mind.  I’d read you blog about what you had for breakfast, really (oh, wait… a few weeks ago, I guess you did just that.)

Yours is the most anti-taxonomical blog I have ever encountered.  Which is one of the reasons I enjoy visiting.
I mean, come on, the CRN “experience” is:
“I couldn’t get a decent breakfast in my little town so I went to the dentist and while waiting I was contemplating mammalian phylogeny and was suddenly struck by a new viewpoint on the ancient ancestry of dogs and humans.  Like Zeke!  But the damn dentist’s landlord lets the Scotch Broom and Oaxalis take over the margins of the parking lot [doesn’t he realize how these non-native invasive species disrupt the ecosystem?] so my allergies kept me from blogging about that worthless sexist dipstick over at Daily Kos.”

Your blog writing can’t be easily classified, categorized, or explained. And despite your title, the creek isn’t a big topic either.  We just enjoy it.

OK, the next Friday poll:

Following Omegapet’s lead, write a “typical CRN sentence.”

I’ll pick the best, unless there are fewer than ten, and we’ll vote for the winner.

Hiking, desert, nature, birds, blooms, gardening, wildlife—all of that. I don’t hike or garden, but can do so vicariously.

Biography—Your personal tales of years gone by. Often moving, heartbreaking, grab readers by the soul (atheistically speaking) and compel them to read on.

Writing—Well, yes. Particularly in the above two categories.

Politics and satire—Especially together.

I read all posts, and enjoy following the links that you occasionally make back to older posts.  I followed one in the past day or so, and that somehow led me to some posts I must have missed while wandering around in s. OR and n. CA last autumn.  Probably kept me busy reading for a good hour or so.

I couldn’t answer the question the way I wanted to, which was to say that I I read all your posts and, as I mentioned previously, particularly like the wide-ranging subjects of CRN, which omegapet captured so keenly.

But if I’m going to go to a category, it is (has been) primarily about Zeke.

So I’m probably really more in the majority of readers who don’t sort by categories; I just happen to have one category to which I’m particularly attached.

Which reminds me that I saw a picture of a Siberian Husky in my ASPCA book of dog breeds and the picture reminded me so much of Zeke standing in the snow among the trees with his nose up, alert and excited.

Another aside… We didn’t get to explore Black Diamond Mine or any other of the Clayton “sights” - Chris, who turned 13 this month, had a fit of coughing the weekend before and spent a few hours at the ER vet. Mostly likely another decline in his heart function and a brief bout with congestive heart failure. I took him with me, but we stayed hotel-bound and he thought the trip sucked. He’s managing and the cough has subsided but even “old dog hikes” might be a bit much for him these days. I hate that.

All of them, that’s what I read. I just visit every day, and whatever’s up, I read. And I thank you for writing.

I read it all. But I voted for Zeke.

A shepherd husky mix actually… which is what I guess to be Zeke’s pedigree.

That was our default guess too, though greyhound snuck into the mix in our minds a lot. He was so slim and so graceful, and had the right snoot, and he could rarely sit for very long unless it was on a soft surface: all greyhound traits.

Sorry to hear about Chris feeling poorly. Kiss him for me.

I visit for the encounter. The creek running.

It’s going to be really hard to pick something
next week.

Mmmm… greyhound… interesting thought. Zeke was very slim and lean. This picture I saw certainly was not Zeke in that respect.

We have a black lab / greyhound mix in our neighborhood, who looks like a labrador, especially the black glossy fur, but who is very slim and graceful and has incredibly long legs, plus a deeper tuck in the waist. If Henry was human, he’d be built like a supermodel.

Our Chris has been duly kissed. I’m afraid we are entering the place you and Becky were a year ago or so ago. This time last year, people were shocked to hear that Chris was 12 years old because he didn’t look or act it. Those days are gone and he looks every bit of his 13 years now. His failing heart is almost certainly what will take him from us and I will be thrilled, but surprised, if he is here next spring. I am trying hard not to mourn him before it’s time but lately that has been difficult. In my head I know that it is something of a miracle that a dog with a weak heart his entire life and three years into diabetes is still here at all. But my heart thinks it’s terribly unfair in the face of this decline.

I feel compelled to tell you that Chris, probably because I know you understand too well where we are…

What mroberts said, followed up in greater detail by omegapet.  I love reading about your hikes, and the insight you add from your knowledge of the natural world is invaluable.

Since this is a meta-thread, I’ll ask a question that’s been on my mind lately.  What staging area and route do you take up Mt. Diablo to the summit?  For some reason, I think it’s Mitchell, but I’m not sure why I think that. 

Your posts about hiking Mt. Diablo were the catalyst for my girlfriend and I to start hiking around there about once a month, leaving our normal stomping grounds in the hills just above Berkeley and Oakland.

i come here for a bit of my daily bread..