Snow, snow, snow, snow....snow!!!!!

It snowed!!! I woke up this morning to several inches of snow on the ground and flakes falling from the sky. It was awesome! The first snow of the winter, and it was a fabulous one! No wimpy little puny snow, this was a substantial snowfall. And Ika and I (and everybody else in Hood River) couldn't be happier!! Usually I take my time getting up and outside for the day, but today I jumped out of bed, put on all my cold weather winter gear, and headed outside with Ika and the camera. This was Ika's first snow (sure, she's seen snow in the mountians, but this was her first fresh powdery snow), and my first snow in many years (well, at least where I lived)! I had forgotten how exciting and fun snow is. Especailly the first snow of the year. All the kids run outside to go sledding or have snowball fights, the grown-ups run off to the ski slopes, and all the dogs frisk around in the fresh white powder. It's so beautiful and rejuvenating! I'm so happy today...like a kid in a candy store. Winter has officially arrived!

I'm Obsessed...

With the puppies!! Thanks a lot Tom! ;-) They are soooo freaking cute and I just can't stop watching them. All their little puppy noises and movements and puppy piles (the good kind where they pile on each other :-). They're just so silly and fun! I check on them several times a day and sometimes watch for a while. It's getting kinda ridiculous...but enjoyable!

And of course watching the puppies makes me think of Ika. When I look at the Shibas, I totally see Ika as a baby, but then I look over at her lying on the couch and it seems like a such a long time ago, even though it was only several months ago. They just grow so fast! Sometimes I want Ika to be that small again, and sometimes I'm very glad she's growing up. [Epiphany: maybe this is what it's like to have kids!] Ika still has that puppy energy (even if she is a lanky 60 pound dog now), and is still so super cute, but sometimes I miss being able to hold her in one hand. I also realize how much she missed out on by having all (but one) of her brothers and sisters taken away at 4 weeks. These puppies are having so much fun together!

Anyway, I'm wanting another puppy already! And I just might get one if our place wasn't so small. I just can't imagine two puppies bouncing around in our tiny apartment - mayhem! But when the time comes, a Shiba will for sure be on my list of puppies to consider.

Thank you for sharing your puppies, puppy parents!! This is the greatest internet fad in a long time!

Deeper Into Fall

Fall is progressing, and is as amazing and beautiful as ever. I can't believe I've forgotten how awesome fall is after not having it for seven years.

Most all of the leaves on the trees have changed. There are still a few green holdouts, but it adds to the colors, so it's kinda nice. A lot of the leaves are falling off the trees and color the ground with yellows and reds. They crunch when you walk through them.

I just had a quintessential Oregon Fall walk. The weather is cloudy and foggy. At times I almost feel that I am inside a cloud. It is wet outside because it has been raining, but no rain is actually falling. The temperature is prefect, probably in the 50s. The gray weather actually makes the fall colors more brilliant. It is a quiet Saturday evening with hardly any cars and very few people passing me on my walk. The sound of the leaves falling off the trees and landing on houses and yards and cars is almost like the sound of rain. The leaves don't crunch too much when Ika and I walk through them because they are wet, but they make a lovely sound nontheless. I can smell the smoke of wood burning fires coming through people's chimneys. When I walk by other houses I can smell the delicious sent of Saturday dinner.

It was so lovely and peaceful and put me in a beautiful calm state. I was loving it! To top it all off, Ika was being a very good girl - I think maybe she was soaking in the beauty and peacfulness of it too.

Seattle Rocks!

What an awesome weekend we just had! It started Friday night when we went to see our favorite band Sound Tribe Sector 9 at Edgefield in Troutdale, OR (which is about 45 minutes west of Hood River and 15 miles east of Portland). The venue was really nice. It was a small outdoor amphitheater with lots of nice green grass. It has been a while since we've seen a show in a venue like this and they are so much fun on nice summer nights, which is exactly what we had. The show was awesome! The band only played one set (usually they do two separate sets which we prefer) which kind of threw us off, and the show ended really early (I guess because of curfews) but the music was really good - very good song selections and we got to hear some awesome new songs. We danced our butts off and had a really fun time. We also got to hang out with our friends Ari and Allie, and ran into several of our friends from Hood River which was really fun. When we got home (since it was so early still - well, relatively) we took Ika out for a walk downtown to check out the bar scene in Hood River. There are actually a few bars that rock into the night. We didn't go into any of them, but had fun walking around.

The next day we brought Ika to Jim and Erin's house in Portland so they could watch her while we went to Seattle to see STS9 again. Jim and Erin have a brand new little puppy named Lilly! She is soooooo freaking cute! She's a tiny little fluff ball - super fluffy and furry and only about 7 weeks old or so. She wasn't too sure of Ika at first, but it only took a few minutes for them to become friends and start playing together. I'm so glad that Ika will have a dog buddy that is so close to her age now - it'll be really good for both of them!

Anyway, we stayed with Erin's sister Sarah and her boyfriend Alex in Seattle. They live in a really nice part of town, close to lots of cool stuff and have a really nice apartment. They had previous engagements, so couldn't hang out too much when we first got there or go to the show with us, but we had a really good time with them during the time we did spend together. When Abe and I ventured out onto the town, we walked from Sarah and Alex's apartment down the hill to the Seattle Center where the Space Needle is. There is also an amusement park there and a big fountain and all sorts of stuff. It was cool to see and all very nice. Then we kept walking downtown to meet up with Ari and Allie who had also come up from Portland to see the show. We had dinner with them and headed off to the show, which was in a really cool club downtown. Again, the show was excellent! We had lots of fun again and again danced our butts off. After the show we caught a cab back up to Sarah and Alex's house. Well, it actually wasn't really a cab - it was more of a car service car - an independent guy with a nice fancy car with white leather seats. When we got in, the driver (who was wearing a very nice suit and spoke pretty broken English) pulled down a television screen that played a live Who dvd. He also showed us that he had Eric Clapton if we would rather watch that. The sound system in the car was really nice and as we drove back up the hill I felt like I was definitely riding in style. Also as we rode home I really enjoyed looking out the window and observing Seattle at night. It's such a beautiful city. It's so clean and everything looks so new and nice, but not in a bad new boring way like in Florida, in a cool new futuristic sort of way. I really love this city and am so glad I got to experience it like I did! So, when we got back to Sarah and Alex's, Sara was in bed (it was pretty late) but we had great conversations with Alex for a while and Abe and I finally went to bed sometime before 4. :-)

In the morning Sarah and Alex made us a delicious brunch - their take on Jevos Rancheros - it was soooo good! Then we went to the Sculpture Garden which was really cool. But it started raining on us there so we said goodbye to Sarah and Alex and Abe and I headed to the famous Seattle Library. Wow! What an amazing building. It's like the Mecca of libraries. It's so beautiful and interesting and they have sooo many resources. It'd be a really cool place to work, I think. We also wanted to visit the Pike Street Market, but we really didn't have time - that'll be something for next time. :-) So we headed to the Laughing Buddha Tattoo shop to visit Aaron. He had an appointment, so we couldn't stay long, but it was really good to see him and catch up a little bit. Then we drove over to where Alex works (Rainbow Natural Remedies) to say Hi to her. It was great to see her - she is such a sweetie and so awesome. Again, we couldn't stay long, but it was really nice to say hi. The next time we come up to the city we'll definitely have to plan ahead and hang out with Aaron and Alex some more. And they have a dog that they think would love to play with Ika, so we'll have to do that too.

After that we finally hit the road and headed back to Portland to pick up our pup. We got really lucky cause the traffic on I-5 going Northbound was ridiculous - just a parking lot for at lest 60 miles and even more in random spots further south. So we were really glad we were heading South. We took Jim and Erin out for dinner and drinks in Portland to thank them for the Puppy watching and had a really nice time. And we finally made it home around 11pm! We had a long, big weekend, but it was sooooooo much fun! I had a fabulous time - best weekend I've had for a while! Can't wait to do it again!

Photos to be posted to Flickr very soon!

Long Time...Again!

Well, you may have thought I'd give up on this blog thing. But fear not, for I have not! I've just been a little busy lately, and then more and more things happen, and then I fear writing a super long blog post about all that's happened, and I just wait a little longer, and so on. But, I've decided to just get back into and [hopefully] quickly get you up to speed about what's been going on here and then [hopefully] keep up with my blogging again. We'll see how this goes. ;-)

So, first, about the job in my last post. I didn't get the part-time position I applied for, but they did offer me an on-call position (and said they hired a current page for the part-time gig). So far I've had one day of training, I'm going in tomorrow, and they just sent me a list of about 7 more days they want me to come in. So, at least I've got a toe in the door there.

I've also got a couple more job possibilities on the horizon - one in a library and one in a bookstore - neither one full time, but I'm ok with having several part-time jobs for a while, so it's fine with me. It's actually kinda nice not having to spend 40 hours a week in the same place. I like variety. :-) The brewery still isn't open, but we're all hoping it will happen soon. The 20th is a possibility, but something with the electrician...there's no guarantee. The Duck is still going strong. And I think I'm starting to exhibit a little more self control when it comes to spending all my paycheck there.

In other news, my mom came to visit for a week and we had a fabulous time! She was our first visitor out here and we had a great time showing her around and exploring new things together. We did at least 5 hikes, climbed a 200 foot rock scramble (way to go Mom!), saw some waterfalls, visited the coast, Timberline Lodge, Portland, some wineries (or one winery and one tasting room), ate out at some delicious restaurants, ate some delicious home cooked meals made by Abe, walked Ika lots, did a little shopping, and had an all around wonderful time together. I think her first experience in the Gorge was a good one! And our first guest in our new town was fun and a pleasure for us to have.

In Ika news, she had spay surgery on Monday. She was super out of it, moaning and crying and trying to get comfortable, the evening after her surgery. She wouldn't eat or drink and we just felt so sorry for her. But the next day she was eating and almost back to her frisky self. The problem is she's supposed to be calm and not run or jump or play too hard for 10 whole days - that's already proving tough to control after only 2 days! But, we're very - she pulled through and is doing great! She's still growing very fast - almost 35 pounds now - and still as sweet as ever!

Abe's hacking away at his new job (and I guess actually hacking cause he's on the computer :-). I don't know that he loves it, but he seems to be able to put up with it, so that's good. He just got his first paycheck, and that was very nice!

We just celebrated our 7th anniversary together on Sunday. We both had to work that day, but we went out to a nice dinner and had a wonderful time - yummy food and great company!

And, I think that's about it. I'm dealing with a nasty cause of poison oak, but other than that we're all doing great! Hopefully I'll have another update sooner than later. :-)

Back from my interview...

And I think it went pretty well! I got a call last night from the Hood River Library and we set up an interview for today. I interviewed with the director, a librarian, and a library assistant and it seemed to go good. I liked them and I think they liked me, so now we play the wait and see game. They are faster than most bureaucracies I've worked with, so hopefully I'll know in a couple weeks. It's only a part-time library assistant job, but the hours would work great with my other jobs, and I really just want to get back into a library! So wish me luck and keep you fingers crossed for me!

In Ika news, she is officially teething! She's lost several of her baby teeth and we can see several big girl teeth coming in. I went to the store and bought her several new teething toys yesterday, and she seems to like them! She hasn't really destroyed anything, but she did chew a hole in one of the blankets I made. She's being a super duper good girl! She had her last night at Puppy Kindergarten last night and came home with her diploma. She had lots of fun playing with all the puppies and I'm so glad we took her there. She's just so darn cute and sweet and we love her so much! Ok, sorry, enough mushy mushy over our pup. :-)

We didn't quite manage to make it to Abe's Plains...

But we did manage to have a terrific time! And my first backpacking trip was a success!

Abe picked me up from work on Friday evening and we headed to Portland. There was a nice surprise waiting for us - Justin and his friend Hannah happened to be traveling up the west coast and were going with us! The next morning me, Abe, Erin, Jim, Justin, and Hannah headed to the trial head on Mt. St. Helens where we were meeting Sara and Alex (who were coming from Seattle). When we got partway there, we discovered the road to the trail head that we wanted to take was closed due to storm damage. Bummer. We really wanted to see the Plains of Abraham - it's supposedly really cool - very moon like - plus it has a great name. But that wasn't going to happen, so we went to our hiking guides and tried to find something else. We found another trail that wasn't too far away and allowed camping and dogs, so we headed that way. Once again, we got up about 3 miles away from the trail head and discovered the road was closed the rest of the way. At this point we were getting a little discouraged. We thought we'd go back to a ranger station to talk to someone and find out what roads were open, when a park service van came down the closed road. We flagged them down and they gave us advice on where to go. So off we headed to Windy Ridge.

This area was at least an hour around the other side of the mountain. We started to get worried that the dogs would get sick (I wasn't feeling that great either) from the hairpin turns when we hit the closed area of this road. This time we had warning it was closed, but I thought it would be closed further up the road. Oh well, this was it - we were going hiking no matter where we were. So we put on our hiking boots, put on our backpacks, grabbed the dogs and were off. We didn't have any maps of the park (note to self - always have a map of the park you are hiking in), so we had to go by the map that was posted at the viewpoint we parked at. We were planning on taking trail 1, but as we were leaving the trail head a man told us that if we didn't have GPS we might get lost easily because there was a lot of snow covering the trail not far up. Bummer again.

So, we decided to walk the road for a little ways. There were more viewpoints and trial heads up further up the closed road, so we thought we'd walk up there and see what was up. We walked about 5 miles on the road, with some amazing views of Mt. St. Helens and the destruction it created when it blew in 1980 because we were on the Northeast side and apparently that is where it blew, before we came to another viewpoint. Here the trail we wanted to take origionaly met up with the road, so we decided to take it back toward where the car was parked. At this point it was around 4 or 5 pm and we were getting ready to find a place to camp. I was also getting pretty darn tired and looking forward to resting! But the terrain was pretty steep, so we had to find an open flat place to camp, so onward we went. At this point we were on the trail, but probably the most difficult part of the trail! And at the end of the day no less! We had to traverse a very steep hill with switchbacks, the ground was all ashy and felt like walking on sand, and there were many obstacles (like huge trees blocking the trail). I was pretty tired and my pack was getting really heavy and my legs were aching. When we finally got to a place where the trail leveled out a bit we spotted a nice flat grassy meadow - our camp spot!!! I was so happy to see it! And proud of myself for making that last little leg of the trail. I was definitely pushing my physical limits.

So we set up camp, Alex and Jim went to look for a water source, Abe and Justin hiked up a hill to check out the view, we made some dinner, enjoyed the full moon, enjoyed each other's company, and headed to bed. We actually had a really great time hanging out at camp. The next morning we got up, Jim, Erin, Sarah and Alex hiked up the hill, we made some breakfast, packed up and headed out on the trail back towards our car. I was happy to be hiking on a trail though the woods as opposed to the road - it was beautiful, partly shaded, and easier on my feet. We had a great hike (probably almost 6 miles) back to the car, passing a stream, a few waterfalls, and amazing views of the volcano. There was a section of tough up-hill hiking, but nothing near as bad as the day before. When we got back to the car I was physically exhausted! My legs were sore, my feet were sore, my back was sore, and I could barely move. It was good we got back when we did! But I also felt great - I felt great that I completed the trip - that I carried a heavy backpack up and down hills for over 11 miles - I've never done anything like that before and was pretty proud of myself that I survived! Besides a few blisters on my feet from breaking in my new hiking boots and some sore muscles, I survived!

We stopped at Burgerville on the way home and it was the most delicious burger I've ever eaten! I've been sore all today, but I can tell it's getting better. Ika did great! She was getting a little tired and whiny toward the end, but she was fabulous and I'm proud of her! She was also exhausted - slept from the time we got in the car yesterday, all evening and night long, and most of today! She didn't even want to go on a walk to day - I think that's a first!

Oh, in other Ika news, she's getting her big girl teeth! Her front two are coming in and she's already lost one of her puppy teeth and another one is hanging, waiting to fall out. Pretty cool!

Abe started his new job today. He had orientation this morning and did practice data sets to get exposed to the programs he'll be using in the afternoon. He said there is one other guy who started today that will be doing the same thing as him. And the good things are he has super flexible hours and can wear whatever he wants! :-)

100% Club!

That's what I'm in for taking the Oregon Drivers Test. Abe and I are official Oregon residents now - we got our licenses today! We had to take the written test, so we read the driver's manual and I got a 100%. Abe passed, but didn't do as well as me. :-) Anyway, I'm just glad that's done. One more thing to cross off the list of things to do. Now we just have to work on getting our cars registered.

Speaking of cars, we have good news in that department. Our Jeep is now as far west as Wyoming!! It sat in Florida for over a month, then sat in Georgia for several weeks. Abe thought we might not ever see our Jeep again, but now it looks like it's on it's way to us! We're super excited. Especially because...

Abe got a job!!! He's going to be working for the US Geological Survey in Washington State. http://wfrc.usgs.gov/labs/columbia.htm This is the location where he'll be working . Anyway, he'll be working on a fish tracking project. The bummer is that he'll have to sit in front of a computer instead of being out in the field, but at least it's a job with a biological focus. (His other option was a kitchen job.) And it's a temporary job, so hopefully he can stick it out for a few months. Then hopefully he can find a field job for next season, and find something to do in between the two. The good news is that we'll have some steady income coming in, which we're starting to need pretty bad. :-)

In Ika news, she's still growing so fast! She's getting really tall. And she's just the biggest sweetie puppy ever! She's such a lover and loves to give kisses and cuddle with us in bed. She loves going on walks and hikes, loves people and other dogs and has to say hello to everyone we pass. Luckily we live in a pretty dog-loving community, and since Ika is so cute most people want to say hi to her too.

More soon!

It's a hot one!

So, we finally got hit with some hot weather here in the Hood. And in this usually windy town (windsurfing capital of the world), a breeze is nowhere to be found. We don't have ac in our house so I'm just trying not to move much, which is not easy considering the clean up I need to do after our party last night.

That's right, we had our first party in our new place in our new town last night. Erin, Jim, Aaron, and Emily came in from Portland, and some of Doug's friends stopped by (including the old tenant of our apartment). We made some eggplant rotini things stuffed with a cheese mixture, and they turned out delicious - it was the first time we'd made them and I was happy. We chilled on our upper deck until it got dark and we ate, and then headed over to 6th Street to have a drink in honor of Christine's last night there - she's full time working on opening the brewery now.

Anyway, back to the hotness. Yesterday to beat the heat we went down to the "beach" of the Columbia River with Aaron and Emily. The water was chilly, but it felt great! And Ika swam on her own accord for the first time - I was so proud of her! And she had a great time digging in the sand. Today we went with Jim and Erin to Tucker park which has a trail that goes by the Hood River. So, we sat on rocks on the edge of the rushing river (I guess stuff is still melting up on the mountain so it was pretty active) and waded in every once in a while. Jim and Abe actually fully submerged, but they were the only brave ones, or should I say fools? The water was FREEZING. And I mean that literally - it probably was in the 30 degrees. My feet started hurting every time I put them in the water. But it was beautiful and a nice way to spend part of a very hot day. Ika thought the water was a bit too cold to swim, but Chunk enjoyed wading in it.

Hopefully our wind will come back soon and cool us off. :-)

Going to work today

That's right, I got a job!  It's just a part time retail job to earn some sort of income, but it's a job none the less!  I'm working at the Ruddy Duck.  It's right across the street from the library so it's a 10 minute walk to and from work, which is excellent.  I had my first day (2 hours actually) on Saturday and it went really well.  It's a clothing store for men and women and they some really cute stuff, and fortunately for me (or not since I might be tempted to spend my paycheck there) I get 40% off.  (They also own and are connected to an ice cream stand, which could also be dangerous!)  The owners and the people who work there seem really cool, laid back and flexible, so that's great.  I'll be working there about 20 hours a week so I'll still have plenty of time to stalk the Hood River County website waiting for that part time library job to be advertised and to have some fun outdoors.

Speaking of fun outdoors, Abe, Ika, and I went on our first real hike yesterday.  We hiked a mile and a half up a hill to McCall's lookout point (and then back down).  The wildflowers were everywhere and very beautiful and the view from the top of the hill was amazing!  We had a clear view of Mt. Adams, could look straight down the gorge for miles and miles and we would've been able to see Mt. Hood had a giant cloud not been in front of it for most of the time we were up there.  But it was amazing none the less!  Ika loved her first hike!  She was tearing up and down the trail having a great time and being a good girl (except when she was sitting in poison oak, but I guess you can't expect too much out of a 3 month old puppy ;-)  needless to say she got a bath when we got home).  

First Week

Life is going well here in Oregon. Our first week in Hood River was great! We're making our apartment our own - it's still a work in progress, but it's coming along. We picked up our belongings out of our pod in Portland on Tuesday with the awesome help of Aaron. We were a little disappointed that so much of our stuff got a little damaged in the move. We thought we packed a really tight box, but apparently we didn't pad enough. So, if you find yourself packing a truck or a pod anytime, just remember to pad pad pad your furniture. But we got it back to Hood River and unloaded with assistance from Doug on the heavy stuff (which I was very grateful for with that set of stairs to deal with!). We've been working on unpacking and putting stuff in storage (since our place is kinda small and we have too much stuff). Yesterday we made our very first trip to IKEA. What a place! It's a crazy maze that you can easily get lost in and probably spend a week in looking at everything. We got a futon and a cart for our small kitchen to maximize some counter space. But now we have something to sit on in our living room, which is very nice. Hopefully it won't be too much of a pain putting it together!

I made my first trip to the Hood River Library on Friday. It's a really nice small library with a great view of the Gorge. I got my library card (very easily - didn't even have to show any proof of anything! Small towns are great!) and got word from the library director that a part time library assistant position should be advertised very soon. It's not my dream job, but I'm definitely going to apply just to try and get my foot in the door. And the library is only a 10 minute walk from our house, so that would be an awesome change from my 45 minute drive to the Main Library in WPB. I noticed that they use SIRSI, so at least I'm familiar with their ILS.

Other than that we've been checking out the town, visiting some breweries, drinking some very tasty beers, meeting lots of very nice people, and trying to find our way through the grocery stores. We took Ika to Puppy Kindergarten on Wednesday which was super cute. It's a great opportunity to have her play with other puppies and I think she did pretty well for her first time. We can already see her getting braver and playing really nice with other dogs.

Next on our agenda is some serious job hunting and exploration of some beautiful natural areas close by us. Can't wait!

Farewell Festivities

Well, Abe and I had a very successful going away party yesterday. The party was great and there is no other way I would've wanted to exit Florida - party on the beach during the day and walk up to Jackie's as the sun was setting to do a little BBQing. We had lots of fun and most of our friends turned up to wish us well. Ika (our puppy) had her first beach experience and she loved it! She's a very good swimmer and she had fun eating the sand and playing with all the other dogs. We're going to miss Florida and certainly all our friends here, but it was nice to be together with all of them one last time before we leave. Thanks Jackie, for throwing a GREAT party for us (as Stewie would say)!

Photos to be added to flickr site soon!