Catskill 3500: Picchu’s Peaks, 2009

Bob and I and the NYC Whippets packette have been tackling the 35 highest peaks in the Catskills. Our 2009 summits:

#9: Cornell Mountain, 3860 feet

Cornell Mtn: Biski, Bob, Picchu, June 12, 2009

Cornell Mtn: Biski, Bob, Picchu, October 11, 2009

#1: Slide Mountain, 4180 feet

Slide Mtn: Biski, Bob, Picchu, June 13, 2009

Slide Mtn, June 13

#11: Peekamoose Mountain, 3,843 feet

Peekamoose Mtn: Biski, Sesame, Picchu, Bob, August 7, 2009

#10: Table Mountain, 3,847 feet

Table Mtn: Picchu, Biski, Bob, August 7, 2009

#14: Wittenberg Mountain, 3,780 feet

Wittenberg Mtn: Bob & Picchu, October 11, 2009 (Picchu's Birthday!)

#6: Westkill Mountain, 3,880 feet

Westkill Mtn: Picchu & Bob, October 30, 2009

Picchu and Bob on Westkill: Even in the fog, we located the true summit!

Bob & Picchu on Westkill - a rare summit marker

#2: Hunter Mountain, 4,040 feet

Hunter Mtn: Bob and Biski, November 1, 2009

Hunter Mtn: Bob, Biski, Sesame, Picchu (front)

Shira and Sesame on Hunter

#27: Balsam Mountain, 3,600 feet

Balsam Mtn: Sesame, Biski, Bob, Picchu, November 20, 2009

Sesame on Balsam: "Peak, valley, it really makes no difference to me."

#29: Eagle Mountain, 3,600 feet

Eagle Mtn: Biski, Picchu, Bob, Sesame, November 21, 2009

Picchu and Bob on top of Eagle Mtn

Picchu: Pocket pup, hunting dog, hiking accessory or hand warmer?

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The Dogs’ December Expense Report

Not a whippet - but too cute to resist! (Photo: Montana Dogware)

The Real House Whippets’ December Expenses:

• Food/Treats:   $154
• Vet:                      $85
• Interceptor:      $89
• Supplies:             $ 6

Total:          $334

Food: I try to keep the dog food around $2 per pound – the 3 whippets together eat about a pound a day – while keeping the ingredients as organic and healthy as possible. The best source I’ve found is National Pet Pharmacy. The NYC House Whippets love Castor & Pollux Organix – they’ll pretty much guzzle as much as we give them. They seem to do really well on that and on Natural Planet Organics, which has made their fur super silky. They also don’t smell at all. Could be the good nutrition, or could be a whippet thing. As the Narrow Dog author said, his whippet, Jim, smells like “buttered toast.”

Picchu (front), Biski and Sesame tackle Avalanche Mtn in Boyne City, MI.

Vet: For Sesame’s annual checkup. Fortunately he didn’t need any vaccinations and Dr. Brown said he seems super healthy. She mentioned he’d make a good model for anatomy class at vet school. Part-time job opportunity?

Interceptor: A six-month supply for Picchu, Biski and Sesame. We order from Drs. Foster and Smith, which has a good price and free shipping. I read once that it’s rude to your vet to get prescriptions elsewhere because that’s part of their livelihood. But with three well-cared-for dogs at Manhattan prices (several times we’ve paid an $85 office visit for a 5-minute consultation), I consider our vet duly compensated and don’t feel guilty saving money on prescriptions.

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The Dogs’ November Expense Report

This is the month I have been dreaming about – minimal expenses for our three dogs!

Shira and the three NYC House Whippets in their ultimate milieu of Central Park.

And we’ll need it, because we’re practically scraping the bottom of the food bag just trying to get to tomorrow to reorder the big bags of dog food (that’s cheating a little on the budget accounting, I realize), and next month we also need to get more Interceptor and take Sesame for his annual vet visit. But, as my hero Scarlet says, I’ll think about that later.

Picchu sunning in Central Park: Priceless

The Real House Whippets’ November Expenses:

• Food: $28
• Toy: $8

Total:         $36

Food: Mostly for some canned food to liven up the dogs’ dinner dishes. We combine 2 kinds of dry food (our new favorite is Natural Planet Organics, made from organic, free-range chicken and other organic grains and produce and costs around $2 per pound at National Pet Pharmacy) and then add a couple tablespoons per dish of canned food (our whippets like Wellness Core, which is grain-free, or Newman’s Own Organics), all mixed with hot water to make a gravy. In the morning, they challenge themselves getting dry food out of Kong toys. I don’t mush it and freeze it like Patricia McConnell does, but they might graduate to that some day.

Picchu, Sesame and C-Biscuit chose mud treatments at the Country Dog Spa

Toy: I gave in to a cute, whippet-thin (no stuffing) bunny toy, partly to support a pet boutique we came across in a small, not so well-to-do town in upstate New York. Otherwise, the dogs’ favorite toy remains a firmly-taped cardboard box – especially announced with a doorbell ding from the UPS man – or a paper towel roll with treats trapped inside, or a cracker box they get to “steal” from the wood pile, etc.

Overall, a gloriously low-cost month!

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