Is it Really Winter?

While most of the US east of the Rockies is still in the deep freeze, Portland chalked up the warmest February on record. Really! Snow packs less than 10% of normal and drought looming for the summer is what’s happening. So, how does this impact me?

– Mud puddles at 1000 acres are almost non-existent — a real problem in my book.

– My hair is falling out all over the place and I HATE being brushed. I think that’s a Mom problem though…

– Hikes have been on the schedule–you’ve seen several — that’s definitely a plus.

– There are still beaches at the rivers — another plus, especially at this time of the year.

And everything is in bloom.

Pee Ess: I know I was going to tell you about my adventures at the Popstar’s (some is on my FB page). I PROMISE that’ll be next, but Mom came home and got the sickies. And, I had to put my nurse cap on again.I don’t know if she’s better yet, but we’ll get by to see you all! Stay warm (and well)!!

Council Crest Hike

There are a lot of really great trails right within the Portland metropolitan area, so Mr. N and I decided to take advantage of a beautiful day and go for a hike up to Council Crest Park–about 6.4 miles round trip and 1100 feet elevation gain. At first, Mr. N thought he smelled something and didn’t want to go, but a little encouragement from some of my Papa Psuka treats (dried liver), he was ready to go! (We aren’t reviewing these treats–they’re just plain GOOD)

I’m not too sure about this, Mom

Up the trail we went. It’s always nice to be in the forest–there’s plenty of felled trees to stop and have a photo-op take a rest.

Wanna play?

Up and up we went, then down a ravine and back up again. Piece of cake–at least that’s what I thought. Mom was thinking about the return trip through that ravine….

We reached the top and WOW. The views were spectacular. If you look hard, that’s Mt. Hood in the background. It had gotten a bit warmer, so Mom put my trusty cooling coat on. She’d soaked it in water and carried it in her backpack just for me!
We could also see Mount St. Helens (that’s the one that blew its top in 1980) on the left and Mount Adams on the right. Just behind Mount St. Helens is Mt. Rainier–way up near Seattle and 104 miles from where we stood.After checking out all the sceniks, we found a statue of a pioneer woman and her baby. We thought it was pretty cool!

Pioneer woman

It was time to head back down the trail, with several stops for a bit of log walking.

and checking out some of the wonderful forest scenes. I was happy!

Mom here: This is the last hike for a while. While doing something stupid (trimming off some low hanging branches off a tree) I had to jump off the falling ladder and tore my ACL and another ligament in my knee. MRI Monday will tell us what the specific damage is. So, with the help of friends, Sage will continue to have adventures in the near future and we’ll be back on the trail as soon as possible. We’ll still be posting and visiting all of you though!

Water, Water, Water–Oh, That’s Right…It’s MUD!

We’ve had the 5th rainiest March EVER in Portland, so I told Mom that 1000 Acres would be tops in mud-puddling. I think she felt sorry for me because I had to go to the V-E-T yesterday, but, secretly, deep in my heart, I knew she thought I deserved a day in the mud. Really! And it was a glorious day! The sun was shining and it was in the mid-60s. Mom was even in her shirt sleeves! My BFF Kaly and I did some exploring. Things were starting to green up–munching grass is mighty fine right now. Tender and sweet….

See that? Blue sky!!

There were lots of dogs out there today. We love meeting new friends!

And, of course, there’s always the mud….

I’m sooooo glad Kaly likes water almost as much as I do.

But, that’s not all! This adventure is not over! We’ll be back with more…wet…fun photos of our water play, so be sure to check back! I’m off to see what all my friends are doing in blog-land. See you there!!

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

Sniffs & Stares

A couple of days ago, we had probably the only snow we will get this year in Portland this year.

What did you say, Mom?

Watch what I wish for?

What’s that suppose to mean?

Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, there was this stuff coming out of the sky that looked like big rain drops that were white. Not having seen snow before, I did a lot of sniffing. You have to be careful not to get one of those rain drop thingees in your nose. Not nice…..

And then, there’s the squirrel thing. I’ve tried to stare them out of those trees, but that doesn’t seem to work very well.

Those darn squirrels must be hibernating or something. Or is that what bears do? I just know that they LOVE to tease Toby and me. I wonder what would happen if one got in my mouth? Well, these squirrels would get unstuffed–that’s a fact. But a real squirrel? Not a chance. I think I just have to sniff and stare at them…….

So, I think it’s time for a Blog Hop.

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

Hiking in Forest Park

Last weekend, Toby and I went on a long hike in Forest Park. Mom’s been wanting to go there for a LONG time and the weather has been pretty nice lately. That means it isn’t raining all the time–Portland’s like that in the winter. It rains a lot, but we have some really pretty days too. It also means we have lots of green in the summer! And lots of water–just for ME (not that I like water or anything).

Forest Park is the “largest, forested natural area within city limits in the United States”, covering more than 5,000 acres.  Toby and I have to be on a leash all the time, but that’s OK; I let Mom Photoshop them out. (She’s been practicing). There are lots of trails and the main one (Wildwood) is 30-miles long. Mom said we weren’t going that far….

So, we started out on one of the that ran along a stream. Get it? WATER! Where else would I go?

This was a nice little stream that came down from the hills in Forest Park and eventually goes out to the Columbia. Did you know that  “in 1803, William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) paddled far enough up the Willamette River to see Forest Park’s present location. He described this forest as having Douglas fir as its predominant tree, with trunks ranging from five to eight feet in diameter”? It was forested over the years, so those old-growth trees aren’t there any more. The Park is still full of Douglas-fir, western hemlock and western red cedar but there are more hardwoods than evergreens now.

We walked along this stream for a while and Mom even found a place where I could go down and get in. Since my leash was still on, I couldn’t do it justice. Looks like I did though!!

We got to the juncture of the Wildwood trail and found the ruins of this Stone House. We thought maybe a settler had built this house overlooking the stream in the middle of these wonderful woods. But Mom found out that it really was “built in the mid-1930s by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as a public restroom. The infamous Columbus Day storm on October 12, 1962, took out the water line” so the building was gutted rather than repaired.

Mom says that wasn’t what she expected, but I thought it was a good vantage point!

We took the Wildwood trail fork and went uphill for a couple of miles. We could see the Columbia way off in the distance. It was very pretty, even in winter. This is a place along the trail.

On the way back down, we saw these moss-covered trees near the Stone House. I thought it looked like we were in a fairy land!

Maybe we were!!

A New Dog Park

It rains here in Portland. It rains a lot. And the dog park gets nasty and wet and muddy. Last spring we tried every one we could find and there was always lots of mud. Mom wouldn’t let me drink it–she said it was icky and would make me sick. But I did anyway! Then I would have to go home. Sometimes I still was rarin’ to go!

I have lots of energy–Mom is always saying she wished she could bottle it and sell it. We’d be RICH!! And let me tell you, just taking me for a walk is NOTHING. I have to run and wrestle–that’s because all that energy has to go somewhere. And my hyper-switch is still there!! Yep, it is.

So, Mom went on a quest and guess what she found?   FIDO’s!!   That’s a new indoor dog park–here in Portland. And it’s not far away! WOW, this is great! Toby and I love it. And all the humans are so nice! They even let me play in their water bowls. Well, what did they expect? They were just my size–I can get in and curl up!

They even have a big swimming pool! It’s HUGE. I haven’t been in it yet, but I will. You know how much I love water!! And you can stay there all night or you can stay there during the day without your Mom or Dad. I’ve never done that before–I wonder what it’s like? There are a bunch of dogs that do and they are always lounging around on the sofas and getting treats.

I love the grass area. I wanted to show you how big it is.

And I had it all to myself, but a bunch of dogs came later.

We got to run and wrestle! I LOVE Fido’s!!!