A puppy runs through it

Pecos channeled his inner boyscout on our short hike through the green hills of central Germany today, as he bravely piloted us around the highest mountain in the area. Even in midday, the suns rays dull in these mountains, always seeming to get lost somewhere behind the thick green pines.

Today's hike was a dirty one. The rain was off and on, but the little that fell managed to turn dirt into mud and turn Pecos's coat into a superpowered soil magnet. Only inches off the ground, Pecos's pink underbelly wasn't safe either, seemingly mopping up whatever small twig or spek got in it's way.

In keeping with the mantra of the outdoors, I took only pictures and Pecos left only footprints - and a chewed up plastic bottle of nes-cafe he found behind a tree. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the hike. Kate even naively attempted to have a relaxing picnic on top of the mountain, but was thwarted by Mother Nature's unending fued against hikers: the inopportune cloudbursts, the blight of the biting bugs, the inexplicable smell of rotting something or other.

But Pecos didn't seem to mind. Heck, he practically thanked god for the bounty of of things to put in his mouth: sticks, pine cones, foreign mammal poop. He'd forge through a mile of studded thorn bushes and miniscule prickers just to chew on a muddy twig.

But he's clean now. And tired. Probably dreaming about that mucky nes-cafe bottle....