C-Myste

The deer seem more brazen than they have in past years. Or possibly it’s because we have less dogs outside these days. Tom looked up from his desk and was surprised to see two young does gliding through the front yard toward the apple tree. He managed to capture a few pictures on his phone.

In other news, Huxley is also entertaining girl visitors. We brought Clem home from the puppy party last weekend, but then she wasn’t actually in heat so we thought we had missed. It turns out that she was just a slow starter and she came in last night. And coincidentally Hannah’s sister Mirrhi arrived last night: objective romance.My boy is going to be so busy. And happy.

Just short of two years ago I placed a dog whom I truly loved when his hips didn’t make the grade.  It hurt me to give him up more than any other ever has.  I knew that he had a good home, but it wasn’t with me.  We’ve been to Albuquerque twice since then, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to visit him.  I had thought that next time we were there, that I would be ready to.  But it is not to be.

Losing old dogs is sad, losing young ones really hurts.  CH C-Myste Baledwr Didgeridoo was lost yesterday from perforations due to rock consumption.

He had acted sick on-and-off, but nothing was found when they took him to the vet.  All kinds of tests were done, but they never did the easiest: an x-ray.

Please, please, please: if your dog is throwing up and drinking what seems like excess water insist on an x-ray.  The fact that waste material is coming out the other end does not mean that s/he hasn’t ingested something which is not edible.  Cardigans seem to have a more-than-average propensity for this hobby.   Sadly we have learned that vets are not always the most savvy when it comes to some basic dog facts.  Or perhaps they picture themselves as an animal Dr House, looking for the strange and esoteric rather than the mundane and common-place.

On a related note: as you know Digger’s mother also shares the non-edible ingestion habit.  I have found that a tablespoon of olive oil in her food works wonders in bringing out the worst in her, as it were.

I made a few last pictures of the puppies this morning before we split them up to bring some of them back home. This is most likely the last time they will all be together.

 

Katie is now Gidget, to be registered as C-Myste Baledwr Starrynight (or whatever fits) Surfer Girl. Ah, I just realized that one of the boys has to be “Moondoggie”.  Louie?

 

 

 

In a couple of weeks Louie will be going to live with Jamie and Catherine and his grandma Phoebe.  My first suggestion for a registered name for him was “Wipeout”.

 

Mason is going to move to Chico, California and be a show puppy for new mom Lindsey Wallace.

 

This happy, happy, smiling Nate-puppy is going to be a show boy.  I think that I know where he’s going but she hasn’t told me “yes” for sure.  If not, he’ll go up to Mandy’s to grow up for a while.

 

Opie!   She’ll be going to live with Ruth Mary Harrop in Nevada City, CA.

 

Poppy is still looking for her new family.  She’s a cute and active little girl who should have an owner with dog experience.

 

Quinne is now “Summer” short for “Summertime Blues”.  Isn’t that perfect?

 

Rosie will be moving to San Francisco to be BFF to Amber Peterson.

 

Sliver is moving to Sonoma to join the family of Danny & Desiree Garon.

 

New puppy owners: empty plastic water bottles are great and inexpensive puppy toys.  They Crunch.

Yesterday we packed the trailer then loaded all nine puppies into two crates which we put in the back seat of the truck cab: 4 boys in one side, 5 girls in the other. We left about 11:30 a.m. What should have been a 4.5 hour trip turned into 5 hours due to a 1/2 hour delay from a wreck 2 miles south of Wolf Creek (about 45 minutes from home). By the time we were through that, the puppies had settled down and stopped screaming and were quiet the rest of the way.

This morning we started out with a professional portrait shoot of puppies. I think that there will be some pretty cute pictures out of that. Each puppy had individual shots as well as group photos.

After that, we had Megan puppy- and dog-sit while we took a little drive and wine tour.

I could live here.

Forgive the quality of some of the shots, shooting through the truck window. I don’t have photoshop on the netbook.

We had a late lunch at Farm to Fork in Dundee.  Highly recommended

I enjoyed:

Crispy Duck Confit Salad
Wine Poached Figs, Roasted Grapes, Baby Chicories, Hazelnuts Aillade, Rogue Blue Cheese

Tom chose:

Draper Farms Chicken Salad Sandwich on House Baked Brioche
Open Faced with Celery Root-Apple Remoulade, Grapes, Eggers Acres Hazelnuts, Bibb Lettuce

We are skipping dinner tonight.

We came away from Erath with many bottles, especially of their single-vineyard 2006 vintage Pinot Noirs: Prince Hill and Leland.  While the Prince Hill Vineyard is just out of Dundee, near the winery, Leland is a 4-acre winery between Canby and Oregon City.

We’ve done quite a bit of traveling around the country including Alaska and Hawaii, and I have to say that while there may be a few more spectacular vistas there are few areas that compare for over-all beauty and livability.