Today I discovered that River is allergic to fern spores.

Look what I found! Collie lamp!

I'm going to alter the face a bit to make the muzzle more accurate (it's too short and boxy, it needs a proper collie snoot) and fix the undershot lower jaw, and then repaint it to look like River.

It looks so bad (and it is), but even increasing sedation did not do much to curb her nasty attitude (and I value my life).

The rain wasn't bad, but walking through miles of near chest height ferns absolutely soaked me. It was nice when the forest opened up and we could walk on semi-dry ground for a little bit.

I tried getting GoPro footage but River's harness kept sliding around making everything crooked (I think due to everything being soaked), and all the good footage got messed up because I accidentally changed some settings (by the time I realized it we were out of the good, heavy stuff and onto open ground or clear trails, so I just deleted what I had).

I feel like a kid playing in the woods, building myself a fort (ground blind). Come hunting season I'll add some pine boughs to it for more cover, but the basic framework is there (even made myself a nice seat with a huge flat rock I found).

River was a good boy and patiently waited while I worked (he did steal a few sticks from me though). We ended up just hanging out there for a half hour or so listening to the sounds of the forest.

Went scouting/hiking early this morning with River. Found a good potential hunting location with lots of deer sign (very heavily traveled paths, old scrapes, and bedding sites). It's up in some steep hills/gorges, but I was easily able to memorize the location and all access points.