Our Oregon Adventures

Santa Photos

2009-12-15T17:16:00.001-08:00

OK - seems there is a password that is locking up my photo files. Hmmmm! Will get it soon & post the photos.

Sorry folks. Thought I had it.

Joni

2009 Flyball at the Fair

2009-08-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

I finally got hold of some photos from our tournament at the Marion Co Fair. This was Mav's team "Slip-N-Slide": Tank & Jetta (JRs), Cocoa the Lab, Lucy the BC. Izzy the American Staffie, was on the other team but she has such a pretty box turn.

We also got a photo of the Judge!

Dog Days of Summer

2009-07-28T11:07:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to post a note in case anyone follows this blog (photos to follow). It's gotten hot!!! OMG! It was 102 in the shade yesterday, with a high of 105 predicted for today. I'm hot & the dogs are hot. Their 1 bright side of the day is that I've learned to make frozen yogurt for them. We used to get already made Frosty Paws from the grocery store. But, these frozen treats are so much easier to make. We take yogurt, banana, a dolip of honey & peanut butter....blend these all together & voila! Frozen, they make a frosty treat for the pups! And it isn't as much mess on the carpet as frozen peanut butter bones. Maybe I should try a blueberry flavor one for Trix? The mess factor goes up....but she is still stealing blueberries from the bushes.

We are getting ready for the installation of a vent window in our office over the garage. There is no cross ventilation (on those good days when we can open the windows). The installers have to take 3 pieces of vinyl siding off the house. This will make me nervous until it gets put back on. I am hoping not to have to replace the entire face of the garage with siding!

The other project is getting the carpets cleaned through out the house. Seems minor to some folks, but I pull everything out of all the rooms effected. Then neaten & toss out stuff as it goes back into the rooms. I need to paint one of the upstairs bedrooms & turn it into a 2nd guest room. I'll like it much better that way. I'll have to turn Newman's room more into a storage room, and hang the flyball ribbons in there.

Whew! I'm hot thinking of it.....gotta cool off!

Civil War Reinactment

2009-07-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

On July 4th I talked Mike into going to a Civil War Reinactment. Who ever heard of either the north or south fighting in Oregon!?! It was a VERY hot day & we were disappointed to learn that we missed the actual reinactment. Evidently, they were reinacting the battle of Gettysburg, complete with calvary. We watched the soldiers march out of the grounds. There was a demo of how the cannons were loaded & fired.

We wandered around camp a little. I was amazed that the camp was so well outfitted. There were tables, chairs, lamps, baskets, china cubboards, chairs & even beds in the tents. The ladies wore their period costumes.

As I said, it was very hot, so we didn't linger. Just looking at the hot horses, hot tents, hot ladies dresses made me feel even hotter. But, the weather did seem very much like the Pennsylvania 4th of July that I remembered.

Baking Cookies

2009-07-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

The week before our flyball tournament a friend of mine & I baked dog cookies, to use as prizes. She brought her 2 dogs over & all 4 dogs had a good time playing around. The whole day was too much for Mav, so her went into the bedroom & slept for much of the time. Puppies......!!!

The red, white & blue cookies turned out very well & looked pretty.

I caught photos of Reuben, smooth coat collie, and Trix wrestling in the living room. Riley was there & so happy to have strange stuffed toys to play with. Trix, as ever, was very hospitable. Zip was so happy to have company. She was torn between sneaking cookies off the cooling tray & playing with her friends.

Later, as I crashed on the couch, I was approached by a little cuddle puppy. It seemed that her way of crashing was to lay upside down on my chest, with legs in the air (unsolicited). She's crazy!

Did I mention how much Zip loves the sprinkler? She loves to play with it on a hot day. She comes away completely soaked. She seems to be always surprised when the spray goes in the opposite direction.

I also have a blueberry thief in my yard.....hmmmmm, wonder who it could be? I caught Trix later that evening ripping leaves off & gulping down berries (green & blue ones). The blueberries that are ripe are huge, some are as big as my thumb.

Yard Play

2009-06-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

Now that we have a nice "big" yard to play in, we are taking advantage of it.

Ball playing takes place several times a day, and the trees provide a cool, shady place to rest afterwards (yes, there are dogs under that tree.

We have a little elm tree that is shaped like an umbrella right in the middle of the runway.

Trix, Zip & Mav sit in the shade.

There are flowers along the long side of the fence. The nasturtiums are starting to bloom, so there is color now. The poppy is spent, but the delphinium is still blooming.

I have little tomatoes on the Roma & the Early Girl. Hopefully, Trix won't eat them! She likes to nibble on the flower leaves (heck, she rips them off!)

Newman likes hanging out around the porch too. He "treed" 2 snakes the other day. (gross!) I tried to put them in a bucket to relocate them, but they wiggled away.

The fuscia basket on the front porch, that I put together, is starting to bloom. I have stawberries & blueberries growing. The clematis has gotten really big & is starting to bloom. There are little balsams under the camilia, which is growing like a weed!

Iris Farm - Last Visit

2009-06-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! Can't believe another week has gone by. So much has happened this past week. First, I got a part-time job. That will be a big change for the pups.

Second, we are now watering the fairgrounds so that we will have a green spot to run on for the flyball tournament. Third, we came in 6th on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday, at our tournament in British Columbia. Since it was really hazy, none of the mountain photos turned out. Guess I'll have to wait until the fall for some good shots. The only mountain that I saw, of the seven, was Mt. Baker.

Fourth, we went for our last visit of the year to the Iris Farm. The fur kids & I have loved traveling to different places over the last 6 months. I'm going to miss going on long jaunts with them. We'll still have the weekends tho'. So we commemorated our last outing with watering the fairgrounds & going to the Iris farm. We had missed out on the peak blooming, but what we saw was still gorgeous. I particularly loved the iris with pink centers and purple outer petals.

Yard Projects

2009-06-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

Since we moved in last September, we have been working on several backyard projects to make the yard more dog friendly. Our side yard was a dog run (which we had removed) and overgrown with weeds & debris. Now we actually have grass (sorta). Yesterday the handy man fixed the railroad ties around the a/c handler so it would look nice. Now I'm hauling in dirt to raise up the area, so we won't have a "pool" come winter.

I have 1 small patch that I am going to plant gourds this year. We have an old ladder & I'm going to use it for a trellis. Will keep you posted on how that works. My flowers are starting to take off. I can tell the jasmine likes its location as there are new blooms & it is so fragrent there. I planted some balsam seeds (from PA) and they are now coming up. Time to thin them out. I love the new orange poppy I got at the Iris farm. It reminds me of the ones Mom grows. I also bought a couple of dwarf Alberta Spruces, so I can have some evergreen for the winter. Most of what I have planted are perennials, but I did plant a package of Nasturtiums, Moon Flowers, Blue Morning Glories, and Marigolds. One day my garden will actually look like it is landscaped....for now, at least I have a few flowers.

Detroit Lake

2009-05-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day Mike & I took a drive. We saw this covered bridge towards Airlie, and I found the winery. I'll go back there with the dogs for a picnic one day.

At first, we were just going no where, but then we turned east towards the Cascades. In the distance I could see 2 of the Three Sisters (mountains) and also Mt. Jefferson. It was a beautiful drive through great pine forests. There were places I would like to go back to explore, like there seem to be a couple spots where the wagon trains drove thru, the lava beds, a couple covered bridges, some waterfalls, and, of course, the mountains. We only got glimpses of the tallest mountains from the roadside, so I am looking forward to going to Sisters or Bend to really be able to "see" something.

There was still a lot of snow on the north/east sides of the mountains. Detroit Lake looks like the place to go on Memorial Day weekend. Lots of vacationers, trailers & boats! I'd like to go back to Clear Lake on a calmer day. It was very crowded!

Photos are: Mt. Jefferson (the whitest), Three Fingered Jack (kinda grey), Detroit Lake, Three Sisters (2 white peaks

seen thru the trees)

Silver Falls

2009-05-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

Lisa, a friend of mine from the Florida days, & her family popped into Oregon this week. We haven't seen each other in many years. We first met at the Leonberger get-together in Orlando (I think that was in 2000). Sophie, was just a youngster then and Bear was only 4 years old. Now Sophie is 10 & is a beautiful Leo. You know how I love to get my Leo hugs!

We decided to go to Silver Falls, a park East of Salem. We concentrated on hiking around the South Falls. It is a steep walk down (& back up), but you can walk right behind the falls and look at the volcanic rock & all the ferns/mosses up close. All the trees in the park are laden with mosses. There were also several varieties of wildflowers beginning to bloom. The amount of water that was coming over the falls was much greater than I imagined. Guess the snow is melting in the Cascades!

Caitlin, Lisa's daughter, and I enjoyed visiting & we kept the same pace for the entire walk. Her favorite dog is Trix! She says it is because she is so wiggly. We also hiked up the Rim Trail with the dogs for a bit.

After they left, for another engagement, the fur kids & I went up to the North Falls & discovered another waterfall, in addition to the one Mike & I saw last July. It was eerie to look down on it & I wished I had my posse for moral support. But I trucked on to see the Upper North Falls. Wished it had been sunnier. Will remember that for another day.

Introduction

2009-05-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

My husband and I, 3 dogs and the cat moved from PA to Oregon last September. It's been a long & lonely winter, but the sun is shining more and we will make the best of it.

Since most of my stories involve the dogs (my kids), here they are: Maverick, an 8-year old Belgian Tervuren, Zip a 6-year old Belgian Tervuren, and Trix, a 1-year old Border Collie.

The 4th member of my fur kids is Newman, the 18-year old barn kitty. Newman has been with me since I lived in Maryland. He moved to Florida with us, after 8 years he moved to Pennsylvania with us, and now he's traveled across the country to Oregon. Newman, named for Paul Newman, has more of a temperament of Seinfeld's Newman. Not sure why this is as he's been spoiled from day 1. But he loves his momma & we at least get along just fine. He's housebroken 6 dogs now & outlived three.