Long day

Paul was the grounds keeper, timer technician and on the course builder team  today for the dog training club's agility trial. That meant he had to leave the house around 6AM (for the second day in a row.) I was planning to sleep in a bit after the early dog walk and join him there about 1:00 for a couple of duties myself. He left and we did the early dog walk but then things disintegrated. I decided to pull some garlic mustard up the hill with my 2 helpers. Buddy brought me a mostly dead baby rabbit; no telling how many he'd eaten before he got generous. After about 30 min I realized I was only hearing one bell. No Gambol. Since we are between magic collars, my arm only reaches to my fingers not out to a wayward dog. 5 hrs later, Gambol could hardly wag his tail up the driveway: feet dragging and head apologetically low. I hosed him down to cool him off; he was amazingly unstinky and unmuddy. As I toweled him off, he cringed from belly rubs-- within seconds he threw up a large, long-dead, hairy, black thing and gagged a couple more times. He stayed in the breezeway to contain the inevitable: 3 more puddles of stomach contents.
After his rice dinner we went to the meadow. Buddy ran as usual; Gambol didn't get more than 30 feet from me. It could have been that he was tired, but I heard him mumble, "What? What? Don't be mad at me; it was you who got lost this morning. I knew where I was, but you weren't where I left you and I searched for you for 5 hours." Yeah. Right! What else today? 2 large stringy piles of bear poop--one behind the house and the other at the Lower Jennifer Trail head. That's probably what riled Gambol last night. So, no agility trial helper for me today. Maybe tomorrow. Better be!
A dead tree on the lower path that we've been watching has finally fallen. It's leaning on a live cherry and a couple of maples and laying low over the trail. Also the branch over the Bear's Lair Trail that was split by the last wind storm and hanging on by a splinter has finally fallen. No damage to any trails there.
FOY: Eastern Towhee
The owl still calls nearby around 0400.  Still not enough hummingbirds to see territory fights at the feeder.