90!?

What happened? It was like, cold, a few days ago. And now it's 90 degrees? Spring, you need to make up your mind.

Conker wanted to hang out on the porch today.

He thinks 90 is too hot to do much other than relax right now.

In other news...

 I got a t-shirt in the mail today!

I also got something else that I'll post about later.

Thunderstorms are fun!

Conker has always loved storms. I don't know exactly why, but they seem to energize him. The more wild and violent the storm is, the crazier Conker gets. This is way different than the typical dog reaction of fear when they hear thunder.
So what do we do when a storm is on the horizon, threatening to dump it's fury down upon us? We go out and play in it, of course!

Tug is one of Conker's favorite games. When combined with fetch, it is his favorite. I try to find toys that we are able to both tug and play fetch with effectively. This particular toy, around 6 feet of soft rope (formerly a horse lead), is very fun to use.

Here Conker plays with my younger sister.

Spring is coming.

The weather has turned warm, the sun shines often (but not today), and plants are starting to sprout.

Conker has a definite preference for larger rope toys. I think he feels like he can shake and kill them better than the shorter ones. He also prefers they be softer and more flexible rather than stiff.

And since it was such a nice day...

Naturally, we go hiking.

Despite the warmer temperatures, it still gets kinda cold at night, and there is still snow on the mountains.

Conker ass-picture. I actually really like this one...

Obligatory bench.

Since spring is right around the corner, I figured I'd take some pictures of the plants that are popping up at Cathedral Hills.

This one is always there, actually, but still worthy of a picture.

Nights are getting chilly

It was a dastardly 46 degrees last night. Both outside and in the trailer. I closed all the windows and door (I usually have that open with the screen door closed at night) but that did not help warm the trailer much. While the trailer can have heat, it runs on propane, and I'd rather not do that (expensive). So I don't have any heat (yet) and had to figure something out to keep myself warm.
Already on the bed is a sheet, micro-fleece blanket, poly-fleece blanket, and pseudo-sleeping bag. I added an additional layer last night to combat the chilly air. Not the heavy-duty sleeping bag I reserve for the dead of winter. Not the wool blanket I jacked from the yard sale last year. No, I broke out...

The queen sized dual control heating blanket. And cranked it up to level 7 (out of 10).

It was cold enough that even Conker didn't want to stay on top of the covers and ended up squashed up against my face under the heating blanket. But alas, I was so annoyed with how cold it had suddenly gotten that I didn't actually fall asleep until about 7:30 AM.

The predicted temperature for tonight is from 54 to 48 degrees, depending on the site you use. This time if it gets cold enough, I will be prepared. I'll have that thing running before I even get into bed.  See, being the desert creature that I am, it's gotta be warm, even hot sometimes, in order for me to sleep good. If I am the least bit chilled, I won't sleep at all. Which is basically what happened last night.

Once he joined my face under the covers, Conker slept quite soundly. As usual.

Basking in the summer heat

Today was a mildly hot, very relaxing day. It got to about 103 degrees which is "hot" for Southern Oregon, perfect basking temperatures for me. I did plenty of that, along with a glass of icy Conner Fields Land Lover Ale and a couple library books. Very nice for a good warm day.

The crappy cellular phone pictures have returned...

The dogs did a lot of in-house loafing as I basked either out in the trailer (which got to, at the hottest, 101 degrees) or under the awning. It was truly a fabulous day with a few clouds here and there, a light summery breeze, and plenty of ambient warmth. Oh how I have missed this kind of weather.

Update on the Here and Now

Not much has been going on. I haven't gone for a "proper" walk in weeks, the temperatures spiked to almost 90 degrees over the weekend (something like a 30 degree instant shift there) which I thought was delightful. I spent a good chunk of time reading outside in the heat.

Conker taking a break on the trail

Speaking of weekends, Conker and I went on a hike at Cathedral Hills. We ran into a man with a horse (I caught Conker before he had a chance to try to commit suicide) and the horseman and I had a nice chat about the Shiba Inu breed. He was actually quite interested in their history and how they were used for hunting. My guess is that he hunts, possibly with dogs. He surely looked like the hunter type.
Anywho, we got a lot of rain somewhat recently and a buckton of wildflowers were popping up all over the place. I tried to get some pictures of them but the sun wasn't quite right for flower pictures. The flowers were DEEP red with a hint of purple, ivory white, bright lavender, yellow, and an amazing shade of purple-tinted dark blue. I will try to get a better picture if they are still there the next time I go.

One of Conker's "hobbies" is sniffing every flower he can. Seriously, he always does it

I got a computer up and running but it's full of quirks I am not used to. I do not have my own working computer mouse so I have to use the office comp's mouse (which means I basically, like before, can't use the comp unless nobody else is or wants to, since the mouse is not mine), and while I have installed photochop onto the comp, it's difficult to use because it's FINICKY.

Like usual, I have, again, reverted back to my "normal" nocturnal schedule. At least it's still light out until like, 8PM. And since nobody is around I can cook all the liver I want. Oh, didn't I tell you? I EAT LIVER AND LOVE IT! Liver is delish, especially when it comes from pastured, naturally raised, cruelty-free pigs.

I have gone to the farmer's market a couple times. Did you know that radishes are AWESOME? I haven't had a radish in YEARS. What the heck has stopped me from getting them before? I have no idea, but the radishes that I bought this past Saturday are heavenly. Perfectly crisp and juicy (I don't think it's real juice?) with just the right hint of hotness. Even the leaves are good! But I often give them to the rabbit instead.
Oh yeah, I got my kickass liver at the farmer's market. It was a tad more expensive than the stuff I buy for Conker but is hella better tasting so he probably won't be getting any.  Unfortunately the meat-dude was out of heart, and didn't have any kidney. But I got the last liver so that was nice.
I got some chevre as well, which is awesomely good goat cheese. Goes well with just about anything, but is fine on the business end of a spoon as well.

Tall-jar of whey

I have  made a couple small batches of store-milk cheese. It's rather plain (Conker loves it) but fun to make, and I use the whey (leftover milkish water stuff) for crepes or dump some into the Girl's bowls. I plan on getting some cheese cultures to make actual cheese sometime soon, and getting some milk from the farmer's market if I can find any. I want to try it with fresh milk, not, whatever the store milk is.
This is kinda funny, but I have never really liked milk and for years I haven't drank it regularly. I still don't like it. Er, well, I don't like 2%, which is all we ever have here. For my cheese I bought a small carton of whole milk. I got curious and tried some. It's a hellova lot better than 2%, and even better if you dump a bit of cream in there too. I love me some high-fat dairy, milk included, much to my surprise.


So, Conker finished all the Nature's Variety (writeup coming soon) and is now starting on Wellness CORE. A problem I have noticed with Conker is that he doesn't drink very much, but got plenty of moisture from his raw meats and oats. He still doesn't drink much, less maybe now that I think about it, on kibble. I find this a bit alarming since the temps shot up and he was rather hot in his thick winter coat but insisted on spending most of the day outside in the sun beside the fence. 
Before it got hot, I had included a couple cans into Conker's commercial food trial, and now that I've noticed his drinking deficiency, will keep them in and possibly add more to compensate for any moisture he may not be getting. It won't cover all of it, but should help a little. I just have to keep an eye on him when it's hot and make sure he drinks enough. If not, I'll give him some of that whey I mentioned earlier diluted in water since he loves it and will attack the Girls if I give them some but him none. (None of the dogs have had bad digestive reactions to it)

The storm's butt-end

We had a bit of an event today (yesterday) that involved clouds, wind, rain, and LIGHTNING! Supposedly, I learned the other day from some neighbors, that violent late summer storms are common in these mountains. Not in my experience, but then again, they have been here their entire lives and me for only like, a year and some months.
Juneau was freaked out, Sasha a bit freaked but not as bad as Juneau, and Conker didn't even notice. It might have made him a bit more spazzy than normal, actually. He was out in the front yard during the storm running around and being goofy. The biggest thunderclaps didn't even make him flinch and some of them were pretty dang loud. This might be a good thing, if I can somehow train Conker to retrieve or at least find game animals.


Oh, there is a strong probability that I (and Conker) will be moving to Vancouver Washington sometime soon. I've lived there before so it's not new to me. Nothing is set in stone, but I do think it's gonna happen. I'd be living with my grandmother but would be staying in our trailer as not to intrude upon her much, but still be there if she needed me for something. Since I'd be just a river's hop away from Portland, and the rest of Oregon, I can still easily go hunting (yay!) and due to Vancouver's larger size, a job would be much much easier to get. GP is greatly lacking in that department. The huge downside is that, Vancouver is bigger than GP, and right next to Portland, so that means many more people and urbania. Which, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I kindasortareally don't like.

Anyways, that's the update on the here and now.

Snow Day!

We haven't had one of these for... a whole year! Conker was psyched last night with the snow, and even more excited today on our morning hike. (Morning? Yes, I did get up before noon for the first time ever.)

And now, the evidence.

On the way to Cathedral Hills, JPR (lameass local public radio station) played Winter by Antonio Vivaldi (how cliche) but hey, it's not like we get snow much so I guess it was alright. I actually really like that piece, it's my favorite of the Four Seasons.

The first thing Conker did when we hit the trail was take off off-trail somewhere. I don't know if he was chasing something (looked like it) or was just OMFGSNOWGOTTARUNOMGOMGWTFRUN! I imagine many other Shiba owners would have had a miniature (or major) meltdown at the sight (or lack of) their Shiba running off into the snow-covered forest. I just walked around a bit then stepped off-trail and hollered at Conker to get his scrawny butt back here, and he did, so we began our snow hike.

I, like I usually do, overdressed a bit. Though snow was on the ground, it was a relatively "warm" 36 degrees or so. I had on long johns with waterproof (but not snowboarding, I almost but didn't wear those) pants, my nasty-ass shoes (smell like the pond I went into to fetch my Coots), two pairs of socks, a scarf, and my favorite jacket that I always wear. And a raccoon skin hat. With a tail.

Conker blew his coat early this year, thanks to the trip to AZ for Christmas. He didn't seem to notice though, and the lack of undercoat didn't slow him down one bit. Sped him up I might think, actually.

Obligatory Shiba-on-the-pick-nick-table picture.

There was some pretty spiffy scenery too.

Some parts of the trails had more snow than others. My guess is that something around 2 inches fell in Cathedral Hills which is only a little over 5 miles from my house. Funny how much of a difference about 100-300 feet in elevation makes when it comes to this. (Other places not-too-far-away got 6 inches or more.)

 We played Conker's second favorite snow game. (More pictures of this will be posted later.)

Overall it was a really nice hike. We did about 3.75 miles, not too bad, but I'd like to start making these hikes 5+ as the average instead of slightly over 3. We only ran into one other person, a man and his Basset Hound who got along with Conker nicely.


After driving back home, I took all three dogs to the dog park. That short hour between when I left and got back resulted in almost all the snow in town being melted. It's almost all completely gone now.

All dogs did a lot of running around and getting muddy.

I think Juneau had the most fun out of the three.  She got the most mud on her and her harness. The thing finally looks like it's been used now.

Haven't experienced this for a year!

I'd be running around like a dumbass too. Oh wait... I did.

What is that?

Look at that mountain. Look at the white stuff on it.

OMG SNOW!

Not in town though.

Went hiking again

We went back to Cathedral hills for the third time this week.  I really like that place, it's a lot of fun.  This time we went on the Backside Loop, W Trail and Wild Rose Loop.

It's cooling off really quickly right now.  It was about 86 earlier today then the temp dropped to 83, and in the past two hours it's gone down to 74 and there is a thick bank of clouds rolling in.  There is supposed to be rain in them clouds, and I don't doubt that it'll drop on us.  It's forecast to rain almost all night and day tomorrow, then stop for a bit then start up again.  After that it looks like the temperatures are going to stay in the mid to high 70's for a while.

Scary

You know something really scary is going on when Juneau ends up on my bed.

Juneau herself looks scary when her eyes reflect like that.

I have since discovered that Juneau will come to my room for refuge when things get scary.  Like thunderstorms.  Even though my outside door was open and the thunder was louder in my room she still came to me.  I have also discovered that Rescue Remedy works on Juneau.  That is good to know for future Juneau freak-outs.

Lack of fun

It's looked like this outside for... a long time.  I'm so sick of it.  Rain, constantly.  And not even cool rain like thunderstorms and wind and such.  Boring barely-more-than-a-drizzle rain.  I really don't like the northwest.

Because of this stupid weather I haven't done anything fun or even remotely interesting.  Conker is getting on my nerves since we don't go for walks when it constantly rains like this.