The Follies

I think that pretty much sums up Indy's thoughts on life at the moment.

Now, I know I said in the past 2 dogs were more than enough, but we found little Maggie and fell in love. Now this shot shows some bad news we found out Saturday night. Indy looks miserable because he is. Not due to Maggie, but due to a slipped disc in his back that fully presented. He was grumpy and acting like he had a sick tummy, so Kimberly gave him some pepto and we let him sleep. By the time we went out for last potty, he was whining and very upset about being touched behind his ribcage. We then ran to the EVC at 11:30 pm and the vet said...well as he is a Doxie, it is no surprise that he is prone to back issues. The following shot is his life for the next 2 to 4 weeks, provided he does nothing to further his injury. He doesn't really jump, and stairs were kept to a minimum, so the vet had told us the he could have simply stepped wrong and the broken part finally let go. Even though they will never read this I would like to thank the Tualatin Emergency Vet Clinic and Sorrento Animal hospital for their amazing help. Dr. McBane at Sorrento is a daddy to several doxies and knows them and how to look after these problems. Kimberly is a GODDESS with patience and strength I could only dream of having in her care for my son. Her current job allows for a great deal of freedom to come and go, so she is spending this week working from the apartment to look after the "broken bunch" Lizzie and her slightly mental behavior (although she sleeps in her cage next to indy to look after him), Maggie with her puppy brain that just doesn't understand much more than food, play, potty, sleep, and my baby boy who crys in pain for several minutes after potty because he has just used muscles that tweak his back and he has to adjust to get comfy.
Merry Christmas everyone. I do realise this has been a very long post, and I normally don't say much, and let my pictures speak for me, but I did need to explain where things are at this moment. My ex-wife Sue and her husband Paul and our friends Stan and Cris have been great help as well.

The new fallen snow and the grey ash and pyroclastic flows.

Full zoom on the lava dome.

I used the digital zoom and my new tripod here to grab several shots of the still steaming lava dome.

Another wonderful clear day arrived, so we headed out to Mt. St. Helens. The first visitor centor offered some nice views, and was one of the two left opened. Coldwater closed for good on the 7th of this month and Johnston Ridge (home of the usgs volcanocam) closed for the season on the 5th.

It was clear enough to see St. Helens (which we are heading to Friday) and Mt Rainier on her left shoulder.

I was playing with the digital zoom on the camera, and grabbed this nifty shot of the moon.

Kimberly noted a park in Mt. Tabor and we shot over there from Washington Park. This park is a bit run-down, but still very nice, and offered this outstanding view of Hood.

We went to Hoyt Aboretum to check out Mt St. Helens, and saw Adams peeking out from behind some trees, and I needed to grab a shot, as I don't recall ever having posted one before.

We had some turkey at about noon, then realised we had a lot of free time, and since just about everyone is in having their bird, we would take advantage of a very clear day.

When we picked this place, we were told we had a GREAT view of Mt. Hood. Well......Not really, but we can see her from our balcony on a clear day now that the leaves are all gone from the trees. This was yesterday morning at about 7 am. Not to shabby.

I love horror and scifi/fantasy stuff, so since it was VERY dark out behind Pittock Mansion, I fooled with the camera settings, and took this shot. This is SO needing a guy in a mask or a monster or something...maybe even a ghost in one of the upstairs windows....

Now, I know this isn't the greatest shot, but this is the digital zoom fully on on this camera.

We were very excited to saee that the sky was clear on this side of the Coast Range, and even more excited when Mt. Hood came into view on the way home. What will follow are several shots from Washington Park that I took so that my good friend Steve in Michigan can see " That big f****ng rock" I moved here for.

This is the view INTO the light itself. The glass you see is a Fresnel lens, which in this case is the one that was placed in this lighthouse on August 20, 1873.

It had been a long time, so I told Kimberly Friday that I thought she would like to see Newport, and Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We loaded up the pups, and drove out to see one of the best places to go in Oregon.

We ran to Washington Park this afternoon since the sky cleared enough to see Mt Hood, and we stuck around until dark for some night shots. I then got the idea to see if the grounds at Pittock Mansion were opened, and WOHOO!! They were, so we ran out back of the mansion to get some shots.