The year started out pretty uneventfully. We had a little bit of snow the last weekend in January. Schools here were delayed, but inland they were closed. Several small towns in the lower Cascades had snow emergencies. One town, Detroit, which is about 40 miles from Salem, got over 10 feet of snow in the month of January. The normal snowfall is about 8 inches. They asked the governor to help and send in National Guardsmen to help shovel roofs and remove snow from streets as they had no place to put it. I am certainly happy to leave all that behind.
Buddy and Max have concentrated on staying warm and out of each other's way. They have their own methods of hiding and camouflage.
Things started to pickup in February with our 4th Annual Super Bowl-White Elephant Party. Pretty much the same cast of characters assembled, and as in previous years, we exchanged white elephant gifts during halftime. We had a pregame party this year - anyone who wanted to take a crack at our Wii game came early. We had five folks take us up on that and they had a fun time bowling and golfing. In fact we missed the kick off because we were finishing up our final hole of golf.
The duck from the original party made a reappearance and was claimed by Leo. Another duck made an appearance and was claimed by Jerry who got the first duck the first time. He liked this one better though, so we may not see it again but I'll bet the other duck will be back next year.
The 4th of February took us to Coquille where we completed the paperwork to make us official Domestic Partners in the State of Oregon. This affords us many of the protections married couples enjoy including rights of inheritance, making health care decisions for each other and completing a joint state tax return among others. We were the second couple in the county to register. We hope there will be lots more as time goes on.
The 9th was the annual crab feed. We met our friend Louise there plus we always see several people we know. It's pretty much the same every year so we'll forego pictures of us stuffing our faces. Later that day we pulled our first stint as concessionaires at the Egyptian Theatre where we got to make popcorn and sell candy and soft drinks. We signed up over a year ago to help out, but this was the first time they called us. Unfortunately, the movie only drew 2 customers so they canceled the show and we went home early. We hope they will call us again.
For Valentine's Day we took a trip to Eugene. We went to a dinner theater show that was a benefit for the organization Basic Rights Oregon. The dinner was nice and the show was an improvisational group called WYMPROV. They were very good, taking suggestions from the audience and going off on really funny bits. We had a good time. The following week we went to a local production of Damn Yankees. That is an oldy but goody.
We went to Eugene the first week in March to see Menopause, the Musical. That was the best show - what a hoot! They took about 25 well known songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's and rewrote the lyrics to sing about all the fun things one goes through with menopause - hot flashes, memory loss, sleepless nights and so on. A cast of 4 kept us hooting and hollering for almost 2 hours. At the end of the show they get a bunch from the audience up on stage dancing in a line to the tune "YMCA". Janet, I and our friend Tully all got up there. What a blast.
The Saturday before my birthday Janet managed to pull off a surprise party for me. And surprise - I was an hour late getting to it because I really had no idea! I had a computer call with one of our friends and little did I know, that had been scheduled to get me out of the house. Our friend asked if I was going home from there and I said yes, but instead stopped at the store to pick up a few things. Little did I know that a house full of friends were there waiting for me. When I did get home, about an hour late, they shouted surprise and then told me it was a great party but they had to leave. They didn't though. Janet made arrangements to have some Perry's Ice Cream shipped from NY and it was being stored in our friends' freezer. She ordered 4 half gallons and the company was so impressed that she would go to all that trouble, they sent 8!!!! I'm in Death by Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cup heaven.... We all were so surprised by how it all turned out that no one thought to take a photo of anything so all we have to remember it by is our ice cream full tummies.
April rolled around and with it, Janet's birthday. As it turned out, several other friends also have April birthdays so there was quite a bit of celebrating going on. We decided to have an unsurprise birthday for Janet so that there would be no question that the guest of honor would be there on time. I made a spaghetti dinner with all the trimmings and had our housekeeper, Kathy, make the lemon meringue pies. Everyone had a good meal followed by the scumptious pie. Then Janet said she wanted to sing some folks songs so she whipped out her guitar and serenaded us all with a resounding edition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". That got a round of applause and then everyone joined in on a few old favorites.
Bear delivering the candlelit pie to Janet
Singing folks songs
Karen and Anita dancing to the oldies.
The excitement for May was going on an Alaska Cruise with our friends, Linda and Tully. We had such a wonderful time and saw so many beautiful places that we can't do it justice here so click on the photo to go to a separate Alaska page.
In June we went to a Fire Circle at our friend Karen's house. She has a lovely place out on Coos Sumner highway. There is a creek that runs right along her property and it is a lovely setting for a camp fire and cameraderie.
Father's Day Weekend was the 10th Annual Chainsaw Carving Competition in Reedsport. We went to the first or second one years ago and this year, we decided to go again. It is spread out over 4 days. Each day, in addition to working on the big carving, the carvers do a quick sculpture in 75 minutes. Each day those carvings are put up for auction. We saw part of the quick carve on the last day and attended part of the auction. Some of the pieces were truly amazing. Some people got real bargains on pieces that would retail for much more. Others may have paid more than they needed to, but still feel they got a bargain. It was fun.
This was our favorite.
At the end of June we took a trip to Portland to see the musical "Avenue Q". The author of the book is a Coos Bay native, Jeff Whitty. He won a Tony Award for it in (I think) 2004. The puppets they use are similar to Sesame Street type puppets and they really made the show. It was a lot of fun.
We didn't do anything special for the 4th of July, but a few days later Janet's brother, Jim, and his current girlfriend, Sherry, drove down for a brief visit from Portland. They had been there visiting friends for the 4th. On the way, they picked up Sherry's daughter, Zina, and we had a nice time getting acquainted with them. We also did our yearly trip to the Bandon Animal Park while they were here.
Jim & Sherry at Bandon viewpoint
Zina, Janet and June petting black leopard cub
Not too much exciting happened in August though we did go to Eugene for a Melissa Etheridge concert. That was really good, but I don't have any photos - I was a good girl and didn't take my camera. Lots of people did though. Sorry I didn't but we really enjoyed the concert. She sang for 2 1/2 hours without an intermission. We couldn't believe that she had any kind of voice left by the time it was over.
We found a stained glass piece to put on the gable in the front of our house. There used to be an octagonal fake shutter there that the manufacturer put on the house. When we had it sided, they took that down and it has looked rather plain wtihout anything there. We found this stained glass piece quite by accident, but it was exactly what we needed for that spot.
Right after Labor Day we went on our yearly camping adventure. We always think we will go more frequently, but between one thing and another we don't. We do think we should go for more than 2 nights though. It's a lot of work to pack everything and set it up only to tear it down after 2 nights. We'll see if we manage to do that in the future. Don't hold your breath...
This year we went a bit farther north - to Honeyman State Park which is a little south of Florence. It's in the Oregon Dunes and it was a nice location. We discovered that being near the bathroom was a mixed blessing since on this particular loop it was also next to the children's playground. That wasn't a problem when we got there during the week, but when we left on Saturday the place was full of small children - we espcaped in the nick of time! Buddy enjoyed being out in the wild and also snoozing in the tent as he usually does. One morning I got up early to go to the bathroom and thought I had zipped the tent door up enough when I left, but when I was coming back to the tent I found Buddy outside - he had pushed his way through the little bit of opening that was left - very unusual for him to do that, but he does worry when he loses sight of me - such a mamma's boy.
We took along our raft, only to discover that the small leak had gotten bigger. Of course we didn't know that until we were out on the water and Janet seemed to be sinking lower and lower as she tried to take some photos. We turned around and made a beeline for shore. Lucky we turned around when we did - we both got wet trying to get back out of the raft. So, Janet took an exacto knife to it and we left it in the dumpster at the campground. If we decide to go boating again when camping, we'll try to rent a boat someplace!
Would you find this confusing? I did.
As it turned out - the final inflation...
Snoozing in the tent.
Where we launched the raft. Pretty spot isn't it?
Headed for shore before we sink!!!!
We played goofy golf after we got dry again.
In mid September we had visitors from England. Janet's British cousins, who we met in 2006, came for a 2 week visit. We took them to many locations in Oregon and northern California while they were here. John also ran in the Prefontaine. Click the photo to see more of their visit with us.
After we dropped the cousins off at the airport, we continued on a bit of a mini vacation of our own to Astoria and Seaside. I had never been to either community though Janet had. We drove along the Columbia River in Washington and then took a ferry back over to the Oregon side. I think it is much more scenic between Portland and the coast than farther to the west. We visited the Maritime Museum in Astoria and the Astoria Column. This high spot provides fantatic views of the ocean and rivers that all feed into the Columbia. It's almost possible to see 360 degrees from there. From the column we drove down to Cannon Beach where we were finally able to see the last of the Oregon Lighthouses - the Tillamook Lighthouse which is on an island about a mile off shore. We are very happy to be able to say we have seen them all now.
We stayed overnight in Seaside and the next morning tried to find the house our friend, Jeanine, is building in that area. We finally called her and found out it was north of Seaside. She wasn't able to be there, but a neighbor had a key and we got to take a peek. It is most impressive and we look forward to seeing it when it is finished. Then we drove back to Portland once more and stayed in that favorite Motel 6 in Lake Oswego. We were getting ready to pick up Laura, Janet's niece, for her week long visit!
We picked Laura up at 11:30 at night. The next morning we started for home, choosing once more to drive along the coast. We wanted to stop at the Aircraft Museum in McMinnville. It is where the Spruce Goose - the pine seaplane that Howard Huges built - is on exhibit. It was only ever flown one time by Hughes himself. We've driven past it every time we have headed for Portland via the coast. Let me tell you - that is one huge plane. Photos can't really do it justice. There were lots of other planes in the museum and they nestled easily under and around the Spruce Goose. I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if this is bigger than a 747.
Laura and Auntie Jan in front of the museum
Getting her feet wet at Sunset Bay
Buddy before a sneaker wave.
Buddy after a sneaker wave - oops
We went to a juggling act that was a benefit for the Egyptian Theatre. They included audience participation for several of their "tricks" and Laura was brave enough to volunteer for one. She had fun and so did we - from the audience.
We were happy to have her visit us - the time went by all too quickly. But we were also very glad that we bought her a one way ticket from North Bend to Portland so we didn't have to make that drive again. Besides, it gave us more time to be home and enjoy our time together.
Max was happy to share his room with Laura - especially when she loved him up like this.
In October we also said goodbye to our next door neighbor, Rhet. She sold her house and went to live with her daughter, Theresa, in Texas.
Her friends and family had a nice farewell for her and one of the attendees was kind enough to send me this photo of Rhet and Theresa. Max will really miss them as they were his one escape from Buddy and when Theresa was visiting, he could be pretty sure that he could go in over there and say hi. We actually offered to give Max to Theresa as he doesn't have a very good life with Buddy, but she already has a cat.
The second half of October brought several changes to our family. Our 3+ year old beta, Horatio, finally passed away. He had lost the ability to control his ballast some time ago, but he was a tough little guy and loved to hang out in the roots of the lily in his vase.
Right around the same time Konan came to live here, I saw a stray dog in the new development by the Alzheimer's Center. He was too afraid to come to me and ran off into the vacant lots. I saw him again a few days later and then again. He was getting skinnier and skinnier. I told Janet and we decided to see if we could catch him.
We drove down there with some kibble, water, chicken and a lamb chop bone donated by one of our bridge friends. Sure enough, he was there - following some kids but not allowing anyone to touch him. I sat on the curb and tossed him some chicken. He finally came and ate that. Then I put kibble and water in the bowls I had and backed away from those. He wolfed the kibble down and I refilled the bowl. He wolfed that down and then stood in front of me and barked - he wanted more. I gave him all I had and then started to coax him closer with more chicken. Janet went home to get more chicken. I was running out and finally gave him the lamb chop bone. That was a big hit - he hunkered down on a lawn and chewed that to bits. By then Janet had returned and we tried to coax him into the car with more chicken - nope. So I played the "Pied Piper" and coaxed him into following me home with bits of chicken. He'd take it from my hand, but I couldn't touch him.
I got him all the way home and into the back yard, but I had no way to get behind him to close the gate. The noise of someone on the gravel would have spooked him too. He got nervous in the fenced in area and bolted for freedom. We saw him in the driveway, but he wouldn't come back to us. We figured he might come back the next day, but we weren't sure.
The next morning (10/27) I was taking Buddy to the bay and who was in the driveway when I was pulling out but this little stray. I stopped the car, Buddy went nuts barking in the back seat, but the little dog followed me towards the front door. I got the kibble and started putting out handfulls to coax him in the house. First the driveway, then the porch, then the steps, then the doorway. Little by little I kept backing up until I finally had him in the house - but I had to get between him and the door to get it closed. Luckily our front entrance lends itself to that. I kept backing up until I had him in an open area, then turned and got between him and the door and shut it. We had him! Now, what were we going to do with him? He was frantic to get outside so we opened the door to the back, fenced in yard. He ran out there and we had him. We put food and water out there along with an old dog bed. He ate immediately, but wouldn't come near us. Janet finally got down on the dog bed, on his level and what do you know? He let her touch him. She came and got me and told me to try it and I could touch him too, but he wouldn't let me get a collar on him. I had to go to my volunteer job but before I left, Janet got the collar on him. Once that happened, it was like he said, "Ok, I'll be a friendly dog now."
First try - coaxing to the backyard.
Next day in the backyard - not letting us touch him yet.
Collar is on. He's resting on his bed.
By Monday night he's in the house with us. We're calling him Sandy.
Buddy's not too sure about this, but at least they aren't fighting.
A few days later - now this is Sandy's bed.
Buddy and I get to share it with him.
Sandy will have been here 2 weeks tomorrow (11/10). The transformation from wild dog to happy, domesticated terrier was instantaneous. He is about a year old - maybe a little less. He's housebroken (thank goodness) but is still a puppy in terms of what he wants to chew on. We think he is mostly border terrier and he definitely has a terrier personality. He sort of knows "sit", "wait" and maybe one or two other things, but he has a good case of selective listening. We took him to the vet and he wasn't chipped. We ran an ad in the local shopper and no one called so he has now had his shots and will be going to the vet to get "tutored" (think Far Side cartoon) on Tuesday. We hope that will help calm him down a little.
Poor Max is now confined to the guest room during the day. The two dogs would definitely hurt him if they could. We're still working that all out but the best thing for Max at this point is to be safe in the guest room. He has a cat door in the window and can come and go as he pleases. He can also still get in the garage where he likes to sleep on the top shelf. So we're now a two dog family and I am once again, the momma. If I leave Sandy whines and carries on but day by day he is improving. So we'll see where this new addition to our family leads us. One good thing - he's actually teaching Buddy to be a dog. You have to know Buddy to understand that, but those of you who do will.
He plays like a puppy and is destructive of certain things like a puppy too.
Buddy's being a good sport about it all - he still can't believe this interloper isn't going away.
Throughout the summer a friend of mine sent emails about the removal of the New Carissa. I built a web site with some of the thousands of photos he took of the project. You can see it by clicking here.
