Walk on the Dike....part one

The weather has cooled down some, at least it isnt 93 degrees! It was 80 today, I decided to go take a walk with Dublin. Our walk started at the new tunnel. The official ribbon cutting ceremony isnt until Aug. 14th! The city is having its grand opening ceremony then. I was not in favor of this tunnel at first, because it was going under the highway. My first thought was floods??? But they kept it on the inside of the Dike. It did turn out well.

They started it in 2009, so I guess that is why the big plaque(on the right) says 2009, it was just finished in June of 2010?? Hmm

Inside the tunnel are these monoliths, with the recreation of local petroglyphs. Pretty cool!

Three of them in the center.

The top face is called Tsagaglagal "She who watches"

link to the local Native American legend. I would love to go see this in person some time.

The rock at the other end of the tunnel, commemorates the people who worked on this project. I know quite a few of them.

Up at the top of the Dike, looking south towards the river, is a viewing platform. So we walked down there.

This is behind us looking back down to the tunnel. Stairs on the left, and the handicapped ramp on the right.

Looking West, the Dike ends about a quarter mile in this direction.

Looking East, the path we will take.

Meanwhile, we walked down to the viewing platform. Looking East again, up river.

Looking West again, there is a fishing dock, the other end leads to a parking lot on this side of the Dike, you have to cross the highway to get to it that way. Here you can possibly catch, sturgeon, small mouth bass, squawfish(there is a bounty on these in the Columbia), starry flounder, salmon, steelhead, carp, and probably a few others, if you can entice them to your hook that is! LOL I have caught all of these just a little farther up river from here, off the bank, and when we had our boat we caught a lot of sturgeon.

Here are some fishermen, one coming down river and one anchored, may be still fishing for some late salmon?? Dont know what is running right now, will have to ask Hubby.

The water in the Columbia River isnt real clear, usually it is a green brown color, full of algae.

East off of the viewing platform are some old pilings. The water is still really high for this time of year.

And back up at the top again. There have been a few different names for the Park at the middle of the Dike. When I was a kid it was Cottonwood beach, but everyone called it BA beach, yes BA stands for what you think it does! LOL

Now they have renamed the area Captain William Clark Park, after the Lewis and Clark expedition that came through here.

Looking East again, at Mt Hood, beautiful and deadly she is. They still havnt found, four climbers that I know of from the last couple of years, that have gotten lost up there. She is about 40 miles away from us.

That concluded the first part of this post....back tomorrow!!

Northwest sunset....

Fresh off of the camera 2 min. ago! (@ 9pm pacific.)

Just so pretty I had to share! Have been seeing all those pretty New Mexico sunsets, we have some too! LOL LOL The West window was glowing orange and I knew I had to run out with the camera! Enjoy!

Camas Days....

Hubby and I went to the Camas Days festival, today. We walked through and seen the vendors and the Childrens Parade was going on. There were a lot of people! I loved this "Water Wagon" I thought it was pretty cool! There were barrels on both sides with water cups for free water.

It wasnt to hot today only around 83, Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be 93! I am glad we went on the first day. The big parade is on Sat., but Hubby has to work, and I wont have a car. We are dropping the truck off at Les Schwab in the morning to have some work done on it. Hubby wont be home until after 3pm.

The start of the Childrens Parade.

It was pretty busy, Dublin did wonderful, we received a free bottle of nice cold water from the lady at the Allstate booth. Downtown Camas is so pretty with all the trees and old buildings. It has character.

Dublin got his flower from the Lions club, to show support for our veterans, yes we donated!! The Lions do a lot of good work in our communities around here. Not to exciting of a day but we had fun, and Hubby got his Starbucks!!!

Sunday Stills....Summer

Hmm Summer, this is what really says that Summer is here to me. We used to go pick up hay in the field when I was a kid, just a little ways from our house. I first drove the truck pulling the hay for a friend, my first paid job LOL, when I was 13. Taking Meghan and her goofy friends, all young boys, to pick up hay out of the field when Meghan was about 13, never laughed so hard at the teenage antics LOL. The smell. The sight of the little bales laying in rows, the long days in 90 plus degree weather, making trip after trip to pick up the hay. Long sleeves and gloves. Stacking hay on the truck and trailer till you cant stack anymore.... ah the memories of summer.

For more Sunday stills take the link.

Vancouver, WA. Farmers Market....puppy outing

Dublin at the Farmers Market. Yes, he has a Halti on, he was being a little too distracted, with people and other dogs, so I asked our club leader for one. They are a wonderful training tool, and a gentle way to keep their attention.

This was why he was so distracted, it was very crowded and there were a lot of pet dogs there.

There wasnt any fast walking! For the most part people were good, but there are a few that have to pet every dog that goes by, the adults are worse than most of the kids! I always hear parents telling their kids they cant pet the dog, its a working dog. Thank you for educating your kids!!! Peoples dogs on those long retractable leashs are also a major obstacle, it amazes me that people dont realize what a pain that is, its almost as bad as a loose dog, sometimes worse.

There is a lot of neat stuff at the market, garden art, lots of food! Honey, jam, smoked meats, a Friend had a booth with all kinds of lamb, I got to taste some of the burger with garlic, blue cheese, cumin and salt and pepper, in it, YUM!!

This is Popcorn, she is changing raisers and going to our club leader, her currant raiser picks up a new puppy this afternoon and will give her to the club leader then. We had a bit of a training meeting with the pups, breakfast snacks were brought, then we walked through the market together. Another of our raisers, who at this time has a career changed pup, has a booth at the market, so we visited her. Her pup is going through training and evaluation for becoming a therapy dog for kids with cancer. Her business in called Woodin You check it out they have some really nice dog stuff!

A couple of cute long haired Daschunds. I really didnt take a lot of pictures, I was to occupied by getting Dublin through the crowds with minimal distress, for him and me LOL.

Dublin really wasnt happy to have a Halti on LOL, he was pouting, which translates to ears back and head down, he did good though and didnt try to rub it much. A Halti is really like a halter for dogs, like a halter you put on a horse. They are very humane and most dogs respond to them well. There is a safety strap that goes from the Halti to the collar, just in case they rub it off.

We had fun, I came home with Walla Walla onions, these are the best!!! Zucchini, cucumbers and some strawberry rhubarb jam. Cant wait to taste it! We most certainly are going back! I want some raw honey, and probably some more vegies too.

Time?

How do you know when its time to put a lame horse down. Statement not a question, or both.
I am watching Mickey slowly deteriorate, she is uncomfortable, constantly shifting her weight side to side on her front legs. I trimmed her feet the other day, and every time I go out I swear she has a new lump or bump from her knees and or hocks down. She is deteriorating from arthritis I believe. Its time to get the Vet out and do an evaluation. I dont want to put a lot of expensive drugs into her, she is my $300 wonder horse. Who has taught me a lot over the last 19 years. I dont want her to suffer. I walked out tonight and she was stretched out standing in pain, it makes me so sad. I was going to catch her this morning and bring her into her stall, but she wouldnt have anything to do with it, didnt want to be caught. I could have caught her if I had persisted, but I didnt. She is 21 years old this year, we brought her home on the 4th of July, 19 years ago. Just need to find the strength to make that call to the vet....

She has been a good little mare and I owe her that much.

This means Summer is finally in full swing!!!!

They finally cut the hay in the neighbors field, Ah the smell of fresh cut hay!

This was a pretty big tractor. Pulling the cutter, I dont remember the proper name LOL LOL

Here he is a couple days later with the baler, and a different tractor. He had a different tractor for each stage of the harvest, cutting, raking, and baling. Thats a lot of money!

And the bales coming off the the baler.

I was trying to take pics without hims seeing me LOL. They left some bales in the field? Which usually means that they were too wet. This years hay, unless it was sprayed for weeds doesnt look very good, full of weeds, daisys, thistle, etc. I wouldnt want to buy it for my horses, may be ok for cattle or goats.
Also I think the ground was still to wet out here to cut, the hay is awful green, I would be salting it to death if it was in my barn, can you say fire hazard!
I usually buy the eastern Oregon hay from the local Dairy that is one mile from us, I may pay more for it, but it is usually better hay. Some of our local hay is good, lower protein, which is good for horses, about 6-8%, great filler for easy keepers. Good for most with a little grain supplement in the Winter, and mineral supplement, especially selenium. I have fed and do feed local hay sometimes, but it has gotten so expensive with the fuel and all, around $4-6 a bale, and they are usually only 50-60lbs. I bought Eastern grass yesterday for $11 a bale, and they are 90-100lb bales, hmm the math isnt so far apart. Plus with the hay grown out of the area they get some other nutrients that they wouldnt get from local hay. Just some of my thoughts on hay.

Meghan had her wisdom teeth pulled on Tues. she has been miserable. Her and Dublin have been doing a lot of napping. He seems to really enjoy that. She had one get impacted and has had headaches for a month, now we know why! She only had two on the bottom, so she didnt have to have four pulled! I had all four pulled, when I was 20 or so. She is doing good now, eating soft foods, and complaining about being hungry LOL.

Off for a few days....

Alas I will be off for a few days, my computer cord died :0(
Went to Best Buy to get one and they wanted $109.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sheesh, went home and got on the internet and bought one off of Amazon, brand new for $21.91!!! plus 4.95 shipping, so for $30 I got a new cord!!! Just have to wait for it to get here, sometime between the 15th and 20th, its going to take forever!!! How am I going to keep up with my Blog, Facebook, my FB games, my E-mail.....LOL LOL
I have been commandeering Meghans computer when I can! LOL
So if I am scarce for a week that is why! I will try to read and keep up with Blogs though!

Dublins Birthday!!!

Wow! Dublin is one year old today!!! How time flys!

Here he is with his birthday hat, and his new birthday bone!

This is the day we picked him up at Guide Dogs in Boring, Or. He was so sweet then and he still is.

The three puppies that came that day, Josh, whos 1st Birthday was yesturday July 10th! Dublin and McCoy, who has gone to a club up near Seattle.

Dublin, then....


And now....LOL he still sleeps in weird possitions!

A Friday Funny! Dublin playing....

Dublin had so much fun with this innertube, he is such a nut! LOL LOL I will let the video explain!

He figured out if he could grab the stem he could pull it around LOL, then Meg tied the hose to it and that was even more fun!

He stopped when we told him to, needless to say he is going to sleep good tonight!

I love this dog, he has such a personality.

Ocean....

Our Fourth, and Dublin LOL....

Saturday at the Fireworks booth, Dublin got to be our Ambassador with Logger, he is a career changed pup. He was career changed because of skin allergies. I love this look Dublin has LOL, Logger wouldnt look at the camera.

They were good dogs all day, loving the attention from all the kids.

We were pretty busy at times, word is that we made as much as last year, so that is good.

On Sunday we had a bonfire and small fireworks at home. Meghans boyfriend and his Mom and Dad and two sisters came over. Ricks brother and his wife were here and my Mom and Dad too.

We had good food, we made and BBQed shish-ka-bobs, yum! and we had potato salad, fruit salad and a good pineapple upside down cake that my Dad made.

Dublin doing his Chihuahua impression LOL.

I got a few pics of the fireworks, but not many.

And later in the evening, fireworks going on all around, it was Dublins bedtime LOL, he threw a fit when I put him in his crate so I brought his bed out by the fire. What does he do? He sleeps through the rest of the night LOL LOL

Our little Dublin was not scared of the fireworks one bit, he would just watch and pretty soon he got bored LOL He is going to be a good dog, and hopefully Guide. He is a great dog.

Fireworks booth and puppy meeting....

We worked the fireworks booth again on Thursday, had a long day, worked 2-6pm then we had a puppy meeting at 7pm. We were rained out! Had to stay inside. We were there until 8:30pm.

Dublin is such a ham, LOL, I swear he poses for pictures!

Some of the other ladies from the club and one Lions club member.

One of the other pups that joined us an hour or so before the meeting.

We had to all crowd in the tent because Mother Nature has decided it must rain, again. It was pretty wet, we were supposed to meet outside where we could work the puppies a little. So we just talked for the whole meeting, got a lot of business done and some evals of the smallest puppies.

This little guy is Sweeney, he is one of the new puppies, they come up with some interesting names! I couldnt get a better pic of him, he wouldnt hold still LOL.

This is Nuella, she has the cutest face! and she knows how to work the cute puppy eyes! LOL LOL, she made me laugh, she looks up at you with her ears laid flat and has the most pathetic face expression LOL. Love those big brown eyes! She is one of the younger pups too.

And our handsome boy, he was so good, loved greeting people, and was really well behaved.

That evening we got to meet a black Newfoundland puppy, he was 15 weeks old and as big as Dublin!! I wish I had gotten a picture of him, his face is so cute! and he is a big fluff ball LOL.
One more day left for us to volunteer at the Fireworks booth, we have our Saturday shift left.
Then 4th of July will be here! Its going so fast. It sounds like we have company coming over, Megs Boyfriends parents, and sisters. We are going to BBQ Kabobs, with chicken and kielbasa and vegies! Yum!