Our Berner Family Blog

It has been a little rainy here in Napa but that will not stop our Luce. He offered to carry the umbrella which fortunately we did not end up needing.

We brought Luce into Cosentino Winery at the request of a worker who saw him in the car and asked to meet him. That was a bit of a mistake due to the fact that she would not leave him alone when I brought him in. She got him way over excited and it took a while to get him calmed down. Here he is when we were leaving which he was probably glad to get out of there.

Luce must have seen something and took off across the field while we were on a walk.

Bouchaine Winery is way, way, way, off the beaten path in the southern part of the Carneros region of the Napa Valley. If you know this area, it is as far south as you can get without going into the marshes of the San Pablo Bay, which is the northern most part of the San Francisco Bay. We have brought our last 2 Berners, Coco and Ruby here several times. The Winery is extremely dog friendly but before we did some tasting, we took Luce for a little walk in the vineyards:

Here he is like, OK, are you guys comming?

This was as far as we went, so we started back from here.

At last, when the walk was done, we tried some very good wine and since we were pretty much the only people there, got some extra special care, and tastes.

Later, back and the hotel, Luce needed some rest and relaxation from his very busy day:

This week is our 24 wedding anniversary and my 50th birthday so we decided to take a little trip to the Napa Valley. Of course our “orso piccolo” had to share in the festivities. At first he was not quite sure what to make of the vineyards but he got into the swing of things pretty quickly. Here he is exploring the vineyard next to the hotel where we are staying:

Even though it is December, here in the upper valley, there are still leaves on the vines. Once we got him corralled on the patio outside our room, he stood still long enough to start thinking about dinner.

Like us, he is more into the food scene than the wine scene.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Luce is especially thankful for his human mom and we are thankful for him:

Luce’s brother Max and his brother (from-another-mother) Baron spent the afternoon guarding the bird:

I’m not sure Luce would have stood watch like this or helped himself to a drumstick.

On days in which we cannot go to the Gym and do the usual routine which is to play chase the stick / keep away, he gets to go on a mile or so walk/run in the neighborhood. Sometimes its more of a walk and other times more of a run. Luce knows what is coming once I start putting on running shoes, and of course, ask if he wants to go for a run-run. Here he is waiting somewhat patiently in the morning sun, close to the front door.

Once we get home, we need to give his feet a little rinse off. I know, he is a dog, but maybe you have seen all the white carpet around here. After getting his feet washed this time, he decided to stretch out on the driveway for a few minutes.

Here is a video of Luce when he is “grumbling” while Stacey talks to him. Then he decides to play with his new toy.

Luce likes to play “chase the stick” but does not like to bring it back, or actually let you have it once to get to him. After getting the stick he plays “keep away”. I have found that the bigger the stick, the better chance I have to get it back, throw it again, rinse and repeat. He is a little slower with this one but still hard to catch.

Before we headed home we made one last stop to fill up at the CHAR-PIT.

At first, Luce was excited since he might have remembered the last time he was here and got to hang with his brother Max and friend Baron:

But then we told him that Max was not here and he knew he would not get a burger, so he turned away in disgust: