Wooohooowoooooo Efurrybuddy! Today is my re-birthday! To find out why it’s re-birthday, check out my post from last year’s re-birthday where I talks about my birthday hike and the story of my rescue from a puppy mill and healing journey.
This year I gots to go on a date with my Mama (no furblings!) to Whole Foods fur a bacon and egg special birthday breakfast! Yumwumwumwumwum! Thank youwooowooooooo Mama!
Wooohooowoooooo Efurrybuddy! Long time no wooooooos, but we has been furry busy! We has been having adventures, and we has moved to a furry pawesome new home! Hopefully this means Mamaclickyfingerssecretary can helps me post our adventures and haiku on my bloggy more often. But, I has news fur you! Mama had sisfur Nalle take a DNA test from Wisdom Panel because peoples always asks if she is a wolf, and we says no, she is Alaskan Malamute! And nows we has proof! My sisfur is 100% pure Alaskan Malamute, aka 100% pure stubborn! WOL! WOL! Here is her certificate of stubbornness:
Wooohoooowoooooo Efurrybuddy! Five years ago today my Mama took me to my furry furst furry own home! I wuvwuvwuv my Mama, and my Mama wuvwuvwuvs Me! She has helped me to overcome a lot of anxiety because of my puppyhood in a puppy mill. Click here to see my Before & After transformation! Now time fur my extra Gotcha Day tummy rubs! Woooooowooooooooo!
Woooohooooowoooooo Efurrybuddy! We has been having furry lots more fun, of course! WOL! As you may know, I wuvwuvwuvs both the beach and the mountains, and we lives in the most pawesome place fur both. Here is piccies from both, and a surprise we found on a hike with our best buddy Bowser:
Nalle surveying the beach and rocky tide pools.
There was furry bright green moss efurrywhere.
And furry pawesome-looking rocks.
Me and best buddy Bowser on our hike. Bowser is the scout and I is the pack leader. We works furry well together as pawfessional hikers. WOL!
Nalle admiring the scenery.
Furry beauwoowoooootiful scenery on our hike.
The view of Santa Barbara from the top.
And to our surprise, we discovered a secret labyrinth at the top of our hike! Mama was furry excited about that.
Best buddy Bowser decided to do some meditation and contemplation fur a moment.
When we gots home, we was ‘xausted!!!
Mama made me add this piccie too – Me and big sisfur Zoe. She wuvwuvwuvs me. WOO!
Wooooohoooowoooooooo Efurrybuddy! I has been having furry lots of fun at the doggie park lately doing lots and lots of diggin’! I found this big mound at the park to dig into. Mama said something strange about it being there fur filling in holes (like my attempts to dig to China, WOL!), but I decided to digs into it and build Me a throne so I could be King of the Hill! WOL!
Here are more piccies of Me and my pawesome throne, of Me digging, and of an adventure we went on to a Danish town called Solvang! Woooooooowooooooooooooo:
As King of the Hill, it was my duty to watch over the playground.
It was a furry pawesome spot to hang out!
When I was doing renovations.
This is my digging to China hole. Not there yet…
It’s a work in progress.
This is the Danish-in-America town called Solvang.
Mama says her Grand-Paw came from this place.
We stopped here so Mama could get a danish treat.
And we saw this pawesome windmill.
There was lots of coowooowoool and pretty architecture there…
Nalle enjoyed being a tourist attraction. WOL!
Mama says this is something that existed long ago before piccie-taking phones existed.
We went fur a hike in the Hans Christian Andersen Park.
The park was named fur this guy, and Me and Nalle thanked him fur the pawesome fairy tales that inspire Mama’s writing.
We found Mama’s friend and escorted them around the shops. Here we are in a metaphysical shop where Mama might do readings soon. Stay tuned!
Then we took them out fur lunch. I did some interputerwebberneetters research and found a restaurant that was pawfect…
It had a DOGGIE MENU!!!! Nalle is modeling it here.
After a furry long day, we was ‘xausted!
Mama said I had to put this piccie in of my sisfurs. WOO!
I found this most pawesome sign tucked into a tree – a furry wise tree!
Hike, wrestle, and play
Smell flowers, ocean air, and
Always do some good!
Woooohooooowooooooo Efurrybuddy! We has been busy having fun, fun, fun! Spring is springing lots here toowoowooowoooo, and there are lots of furry beauwoowoootiful flowers all over where we lives. Here are lots of piccies fur your enjoyment:
I met this tall young pup at the doggie park one day. He was asking me to teach him how to wrestle, wrestle.
Ok, young one, furst you check out your wrestling buddy…
Then try to grab my scruff…
Careful or a master wrestler like Me will come in underneath and throw you off balance! WOL!
One morning we took Mama on a furry foggy walk on the beach.
Then Me and Nalle took Mama out fur breakfast.
Mama stop taking piccies and eat your breakfast!
As you know I wuvs to digs! Someone at the doggie park keeps filling my holes though, foiling my goal to reach China someday – wherever that is.
So I got sister Nalle to help me digs. Maybe we will get to China twice as fast now!
Nalle’s digging technique is not as pawesome as mine, so we switched holes: Like this Nalle!
We has lots of furry beauwoowoootiful and yummy smelling wisteria outside our windows.
And lots of wildflowers and cactus on our road.
One day after a hike, Nalle wanted to sleep on my bed: Um, whatcha doing there Nalle?
Nalle: pawlease Ku can I cuddle with you?
Mama said I had to share the bed: Mama do I has to? There are FOUR other doggie beds!
I guess this isn’t so bad.
I hope you enjoyed the piccies! Time fur a most pawesome nap!
Woooohoooowoooooo Efurrybuddy! It has been a while since I last bloggied so I has lots of piccies fur you! Furst of all Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Me and sisfur Nalle and sisfur the most beautiful and wise and great Swami Zoeare not Irish, but Mama is, so we had to celebrate today. We took Mama to a furry beauwooowoootiful park full of clovers and shamrocks. Then we took Mama to the beach. We all wuvwuvwuv the beach! And then we took Mama out fur somegreen food! It was a green acai berry and granola bowl:
Mama said it was yumwumwumwum!
In the park we took Mama to this morning there are duckies and turtles!
I also discovered that they had a water bowl named just fur me!!! (Kuruk means Bear.)
And here are piccies of some of our other pawesome adventures:
We drove up a furry, furry, furry narrow rode up, up, up to find this cave.
Inside was furry old Native American Chumash painted cave art.
Near where we live, we often walk to this spot where this giant head rock watches us! Can you see the face?
One day we went to a place called The Presidio, another place built when this was part of Spain.
The chapel inside the Presidio was furry pretty!
We discovered a new pawesome hike in a forest where many trees were watching over us.
Some ancient giants must have broken this massive rock!
Here are some furry beauwoowooootiful blossoms from the fruit orchard next to our home. There are already lemons, limes, oranges, and soon plums, apricots, and pomegranates.
One foggy morning we found the Hidden Valley Forest, and in it was this multi-trunked tree.
Some days we goes to a park by the beach where sometimes dolphins swim by. We saw some one day, but Mama furgot to take a piccie.
Occasionally we help Mama run errands. This day we were at Jiffy Lube waiting fur them to vacuums up all our furs from our car. WOL! It was not so jiffy! WOL!
Nalle says hi from the sunbeam filled doggie park.
Wooohooooowoooooooooo Efurrybuddy! Me and Nalle continue to goes on lots of adventures. We’s go to the beach, visits the butterflies, hikes lots of trails, check out cool stuff around town, and goes to all the doggie parks! Here are more piccies fur youwoooowoooo!
Me and Nalle playing at the doggie park.
Me and our new furriend Husky baby Sky.
Nalle showing her moves.
Nalle has been teaching baby Sky doggie park manners.
But sometimes a pup’s just gotta play.
There’s good digging at the doggie park. I keep trying to digs all the way to China. WOL!
Nalle was watching me furry carefully.
Then baby Sky butted in and took my hole! WOO! So much fur manners.
But I let Sky digs so I could teach her good digging technique.
Then Nalle took a turn.
We discovered the Husky Club here! We is Mals but they welcomed us, their bigger cousins, with open paws!
Getting to know efurrybuddy.
Zoom, zoom, zoom!
Sometimes Me and Nalle take Mama out fur breakfast.
We even took Mama to the mall once (or twice). WOL!
In one park, we discovered this furry old Jail House from back when this was part of Spain!
It wasn’t too bad inside! I could dig some furry cozy holes to sleep in in here.
As you know, Me and Nalle’s names mean “Bear,” and we do our daily YogiBear Upward and downward doggie efurry morning. I decided to do some yogibear yoga on Mama’s yoga mat one day.
That’s all fur now. Nalle is ready fur the Super Bowl! WOL!
Wooohoooowooooooooo Efurrybuddy! Me and sisfur Nalle and Mamaclickyfingerssecretary were too busy on a hiking adventure to bloggy about this sooner, but two days ago on 1-11 I had my Re-Birthday and Rescueversary! Wooooooooowoooooooooooo! Fur those who do not know my past:
One cold Alaska day five years ago, some strange humans came to see me and my pack of nearly 170 Alaskan Malamutes at a puppy mill in Alaska. They were shocked by what they found – no food, no water, all the snow eaten that we could reach from our four-foot chains, and sadly some deceased members of my pack. The next day on 1-11-11, they came back, removed us from our chains, and took us to a shelter to help us get medical care, food, water, and hopefully real homes! They were true angels that came on that angelic number day!
The dogters in Alaska thought I was about 2 years old based on my teeth and only weighed 35 lbs! Today I weigh about 85 lbs. My furs are no longer brittle and dry, but super duper fluff, fluff, fluff. I have come a furry long way in the past five years, especially when it comes to being social with strange humans. Nobuddy would know now that I was “like a feral wolf” as my Mama says. It is Mama’s magical healing wuvwuvwuv that helped to heal so much!
Me in 2011 after my rescue when I was in foster care.
I have moved from Alaska to Washington to Northern California, and now I live in Southern California in a place where I can go to the beach or hike in the mountains efurryday! Wooooowooooooooo! Here are some piccie from our our new home and latest adventures, but scroll through my bloggy to see more or follow Mama’s Instagram here (where she sometimes often posts piccies of Me and Nalle)!
I can see beauwoowooooootiful sunrises efurry morning from my bedroom window! That bright star is Venus, the morning star!
I can take Mama and sisfur Nalle to some trails right from our front door, and we’ve discovered a couple of fairy light bridges like this one!
Some mornings we go to the beach. I wuvwuvwuvs the sandy beaches!
It’s pawfect fur digging fur buried treasure!
There are lost of cooowoowoool rocks here!
I’m sure I saw a gnome scurry inside this little cave!
Some days we go to the doggie park, and I’ve been making some new furriends!
A furry pretty tree at the doggie park.
Fur my Re-Birthday I took Mama and sisfur Nalle on a new hike. I am a most pawesome trail guide, so I always lead the pack!
Luckily we got some good rains here in California, so some of the hike was lush and green!
As we climbed up and up and up, it got more like a desert. Don’t worries, Mama brings water fur us!
Someone left me this secret message.
We saw this beauwooowooootiful black bark tree!
That’s all fur now. Me and Nalle gotta plan our next hiking adventure!
In the meantime you can watch this video about my rescue. It has pawesome music toowooowoooo!
Woooohooowoooooo Efurrybuddy! It’s been a furry pawesome start fur the newooowoooo year! Mamaclickyfingerssecretary tookst Me and sisfur Nalle to the doggie park early this morning, and we ran, ran, ran fur a whole hour! We runned so much Mama couldn’t get any piccies. And then Mama presented Me with a new year surprise! A bookie by my sweet kitty furriend Buffy Cat over at Two Cats and a Cattle Dog, who was inspired by furry own Me to write her Haiku and publish her furry own bookie! Me and Buffy made a Haiku Jam a furry long time ago, which you can read here!
Woooohoooowooooooo Efurrybuddy! Fur those of you who follow Mama’s bloggy here or her Instagram here (where she sometimes posts piccies of Me and Nalle!) or one of my Facebookies, Kuruk Babybear here or Haiku By Ku here, you may have noticed that we have moved! Mama put Me and sisfur Nalle and kitty sisfur the great and most beautiful Swami Zoe in the car and all our stuff (well, mostly Mama’s stuff) in a truckie and we moved down the coast to Santa Barbara. We visited here a few times before, and we had given Mama our wooooowooooooo of pawproval to live here. And here we are!
It has only been a couple of weeks, but we are getting settled and exploring all the pawesome places and lots of trails here. This afternoon Mama took Me and Nalle to the Goleta Butterfly Grove. We had to hike through a eucalyptus forest fur a while to find the spot where the Monarch Butterflies vacation fur the winter. This is just one of their vacation spots, but they have a big big big one in Mexico too! (See video documentary below.)
Here are lots of piccies of our adventure today. The butterflies were furry high up in the eucalyptus trees and fluttering about furry high in the bluewoowoooo sky, but Mama did her best to get some piccies. They will be gathering fur vacation here until February, so we will be back fur more piccies too!
The trail to the Butterfly Grove was marked with these butterfly posts. As you know from my hiking bloggy posts, I am an expert trail guide, so I led the way.
The Eucalyptus Forest
I followed the signs…
And followed…
And saw these two trees in a loving embrace!
There were some homes next to part of the trail. This signs says: Butterfly Crossing
The entrance to the Monarch Butterfly Grove
We were greeted immediately! And there were many more…
I hope you enjoyed the beauwooowooootiful butterflies! Happy Holidays Efurrybuddy!
Nalle and Me playing in the cold, wet sand. It’s almost like snow!
We have tons of fun
Playing at Fort Funs-a-ton
Wrestle, chase, and run
Woohooowooooooo Efurrybuddy! Sometimes on the weekends we goes to Fort Funston (we call it Fort Funs-a-ton WOL!) with our BFF Maggie next door in her big truckie to go run and play on the sand dunes above the beach. Fort Funs-a-ton is a magical place too! Mamaclickyfingerssecretary furinally took some good piccies of us playing in the cold, wet, almost snow-like sand.
Run, Nalle, Run!
While I was looking fur gnomes (they are best found at sunrise), a fairy orb payed me a visit!
Mama calls us her fluffer-butters, but we do not know why.
Me, Maggie, and Nalle playing hide and seek!
Me and Nalle darting around the dunes and ice plant. p.s. There is sadly NO ice in ice plant! WOO!
BFF’s Maggie and Nalle being gossiping girls.
Nalle in the golden sunlight
Me and two of my Collie furriends. We’ve known the Irish Collie clan fur three years now!
Me wanting to follow Seamus to the beach but Mama said we were going the other way. WOO!
Nalle taking a breather from all her crazy zooomies!
A rare piccie of Mama with Nalle, Me, and Maggie in front.
I discovered this sun portal in the forest.
I was curious and entered the portal. I won’t tell you where I went, but it was furry furry snowy! I made sure to come back to the exact same time so Mama did not notice I was gone fur a while. Shhhhhhh!
Reflective Lake Merced and the city beyond. We lives behind that tower on the left.
From the trail at Fort Funs-a-ton looking towards Marin.
Nalle running up from the dunes above the ocean with the Marin Headlands in the fog.
Nalle and Me with Mama outside Grace Cathedral in front of the golden doors!
We are blessed pups
Blest by the priestess lady
And Saint Francis too!
Wooohooowooooooo Efurrybuddy! Remember how last year Mama took me and Nalle to Grace Cathedral for the Feast of Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals, and the Blessing of the Animals fur World Animal Day?!? Here is a link to last year’s piccies and story. This year we went again, and it was just as pawesome! Here are some piccies of the Cathedral, but there are much better ones, including the Chartes Cathedral inspired labyrinth here on our photography bloggy.
The main hall.
Nalle checking out the labyrinth.
Nalle paying her respects to our buddy Saint Francis.
The side chapel, which as big as a church itself, where we had the service.
Nalle and Me waiting patiently fur the service to start and watching all the people and pets arrive.
Me and Nalle being furry good and listening intently to the sermon. Nalle was so into the sermon about the wonderful Saint Francis that she called out a furry loud AMEN-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Nalle, aka Nurse Nalle, is a therapy pup, and she made sure to give her wuvwuvwuv and blessings to all the people sitting around us!
Bye-bye Beauwoowoootiful Grace!
Here is the furry beauwoowooootiful Pawrayer of Saint Francis and Susan Boyle singing it:
Make me a channel of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me bring you love, Where there is injury, your pardon Lord, And where there’s doubt, true faith in you. Make me a channel of your peace, Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope, Where there is darkness, only light, And where there’s sadness, ever joy. Oh Master grant that I may never seek, So much to be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love with all my soul. Make me a channel of your peace, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, In giving to all men that we receive, And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
Hey Efurrybuddy! Me and Nalle are still on vacation, and today Mama took us to a doggie park here in Santa Barbara to check out the scene. And to our surprise we met snow pups there! They told us all about living here and how cool it is to goes to the beach all the time and hike the trails in the forest that are just minutes away! We wuvwuvwuv it! While Mama talked to some humans about the neighborhoods and all the best doggie places, we played, played, played with our new furriends:
Here are some more piccies from our vacation adventures:
One evening we walked along the harbor.
There were boats as far as the eye could sea. Get it? WOL!
Fruits grow all over on the streets here:
Avocados – Mama eats these efurry day! Well, not these ones, they are not yet ripe
Lots of plantains or bananas! Mama likes to eat these toowoowoooooo!
There’s a lime tree outside our door, so Mama picked some efurry day to make limonada.
We met these natives on the beach:
Sea gulls
Sea gulls with flat-top hair cuts
We are not sure what kind of natives these are, maybe another type of gull or egret.
Wooohooowooooo Efurrybuddy! Me and Nalle have been on vacation all week. Mama is with us toowoowooooo, but she in on a “working vacation,” which means she is doing her Mama workystuff on the road. Here are lots and lots of piccies of our most pawesome vacation so far:
Furst we drove over 300 miles down the historic El Camino Real, the Royal Road. It’s known today as Highway 101.
After the long day of traveling, we took Mama out fur Indian food in downtown Santa Barbara at this furry pretty restaurant.
I checked out the new digs furry thoroughly. I approve!
The bed is comfy tooowowooooo! Now as some of you know I never get onto Mama’s bed, however this is technically not Mama’s bed, but a vacation bed. WOL!
Me checking out the surf.
Nalle smiling about our walks on the beach. We wuvwuvwuv the beach!
Me and Nalle hangin’ on the beach.
When Mama had to go out to do all that Mamastuff around the town, Me and Nalle did this:
Woohoowooooooo! My haiku poetry writing furriend Buffy sent me this pawesome postcard! Isn’t she furry sweet! She wrote me a haiku toowoowooooooo cuz I inspired her poetry! You can read it here! Thank youwoowooooooo Buffy! {{{KuBearHug}}}
Me ready to lead Mama and Nalle into the redwood forest!
Hiking the trails
Sleeping in the forest deep
Camping pups we are!
I suppose I should tell efurrybuddy that I am prepping Mama and Nalle to go on a backpacking trip. Youwoowooooo heard me right! I am an outdoorsy pup. I grew up in Alaska after all, and as you can tell from some of my bloggy posts about our adventures traveling and hiking, I wuvwuvwuvwuvwuv being on the trails. So furst I tested Mama and Nalle with the tent-den by sleeping in it in the backyard fur a night. They did furry good. Then I got Mama to do research fur a camping spot in the forest with some good trails so I could see how they would do sleeping all night in the wilds and so we could simulate backpacking with lots of hiking. They did furry, furry goods tooowoowoowooooooo! Next I needs to train Mama and Nalle to do longer and longer hikes so when we are backpacking, they can keep up with me!
Here are piccies from our furst camping trip in the Redwoods in Marin County:
The Redwoods are furry tall!
Furry beauwoowoootiful sunlight through the Redwoods!
Nalle and Me practicing hiking with our backpacks. We will carry all our supplies on the real backpacking trip, so I told Nalle we has to get used to them.
We came across this snaky on one trail.
The Redwoods through out tent-den rooftop window.
Me and Nalle made sure to keep an eye out fur polar bears and any monsters in the woods:
Me looking furry cute fur Mama.
Nalle looking a little worried abouts monsters in the woods.
But all went well and we slept soundly.
There was lots of pretty Thistle on our morning hike.
Thanks fur joining us! Mama and Nalle did furry good, huh?
And fur those who may have noticed, Facebookie discovered I had a profile. Now I am a published author, poet, blogger, calendar pin-up, and movie star, and I think it’s not fair that I can’t have a Facebookie profile. WOOO! However, I do has my Haiku By Ku page and now my Kuruk Babybear page has replaced my profile, so please stop on by and like me! Thank youwooooowoooooooo!
Me leading the way on our hike at Mount Lassen. I am furry, furry good at following trails. Mama says maybe I could get a job as a forest ranger trail guide!
Hiking Mount Lassen
Volcanic rocks and forest
Me a trail guide
Furstly, there are lots and lots of forest wildfires in almost all of the Northern California counties. We were not in danger, but you could see and smell the smoke in the air efurrywhere. It makes both the Moon and the Sun furry orange. Mama tried to get the super orange Sun early this morning, but the piccie does not do it justice:
Pawlease prays fur rain, rain, rain fur our burning and drought stricken state! Now fur our hike. Furst we hiked a part of the Pacific Crest Trail. It was an area that had a big fire in 2009 but is slowly coming back:
Black and burnt pine trees
Mount Lassen peak behind the ashy, smoking air
Then we went to a less dry area to check out the volcanic rocks. Did you know we were hiking on a volcano!?!
Volcanic mud spatter cones, it turns out, look a lot like giant cow pies. WOL!
Pretty Mossy Tree
Volcanic rock
Giant cow pies, errr, I mean ancient mud spatter. WOL!
Me teaching Nalle how to follow a trail
Nalle inspecting one of the many caves made by the spatter
The caves are made by hot, hot, hot lava flow
Nalle resting and looking pretty
I’m sure this one must be a bear cave!
Nalle and Me resting after our hikes on the coowoowoooool cement at the trailhead. It was only mid-day when we finished, but it was going to be over 100° later! Glad Mama gets us up before the Sun!
Me passed out in the car on the way back. Three days of pawesome hiking, and I’m one tired pup! Thanks fur joining us!
Then we drove up, up, up over 5,000 feet to get to the Gray Butte Trailhead
Mount Shasta peak in the distance. It’s over 14,000 feet and gots glaciers! Mama said we were not going to the top, but I knew I could do it if we did.
We went through Panther Meadow, but no panthers in sight
I finally gots Nalle to dip her toes in one of the little creeks in Panther Meadow
Most of the trail was furry narrow, rocky, and along ridges. We had to go single file most of the way and I was the pack leader, Mama was the power in the middle, and Nalle took up the rear
I luvsed the view from the top of Gray Butte. I coulda stayed all day
We climbsd to over 8,000 feet! Wooooowoooooooo!
I did one of my protests cuz I didn’t want to leave the beauwoowoooootiful mountain. Mama says I can be as stubborn as a Malamute! WOL!
Me and Nalle tookst Mama out fur Mexican food fur her birthday after the hike! She says it was yumwumwum!
Nalle and Me sat in the shade and hydrated some more
The paperback is only $5.99 and the ebook is only .99!
I am on sabbatical from the bloggyworld to focus on getting my busier and busier Mamaclickyfingerssecretary to plan more fun adventures fur me and sisfur Nalle. I may poke around on my Facebookie occasionally though, and you can still message me there.
Woooohooowooooooo Efurrybuddy! Today and tomorrow are furry special days fur me. You see, it was four years ago today that a pack of strange humans came to see me and my pack of nearly 170 Alaskan Malamutes at a puppy mill in Alaska. They were shocked by what they found – no food, no water, all the snow eaten that we could reach from our four-foot chains, and sadly some deceased members of my pack. The next day on 1-11-11, they came back, removed us from our chains, and took us to a shelter to help us get medical care, food, water, and hopefully real homes!
The dogters in Alaska thought I was about 2 years old based on my teeth and only weighed 35 lbs! Today I weigh about 85 lbs. (depending on how often I gets BACON! and TURKEY! WOL!). My furs are no longer brittle and dry, but super duper fluff, fluff, fluff. I have come a furry long way in the past four years, especially when it comes to being social with strange humans. Nobuddy would know now that I was “like a feral wolf” as my Mama says. It is Mama’s magical healing wuvwuvwuv that helped to heal so much!
I tell the full story of my healing journey in my bookie: Kuruk: The Little Bear That Could, One Rescue Pup’s Journey of Healing. The purpose of my book about the story of my rescue is to raise awareness about puppy mills and animal abuse.