Showing posts with label cedar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cedar. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Trip!
As promised, here are some photos from our trip to Oregon this past weekend :) We decided to just take Cedar along to make things easier and less stressful. It turned out to be a great decision as we all had a fantastic, relaxing vacation.
We started out Thursday evening. I drove from Boise to Richland to meet Joe, and we set off at around 5 PM. We were headed to a campground about 30 minutes past Portland, L.L. Stub Stewart State Park. We'd never been there before, but had reserved a cabin for the night. We ended up getting there pretty late after a harrowing drive through downtown Portland. Having never been to this campground before, we didn't really know where we were going. The turn off lead us on a pitch-black dark and windy road up some mountains. My patience was wearing very thin as I'd been in the car about nine hours at this point. Thankfully, we eventually found the campground and were pleased to find a really nice, brand new cabin waiting for us. We had no idea what the land around us even looked like because it was so dark.
When we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by a beautiful view!
You can see a bit of the cabin behind Cedar here:
The air was crisp and it was a gorgeous, sunny day so we decided to go on a hike.
Cedar, as always, was rarin' to go.
It really is a gorgeous place; I'd love to go back and spend more time there. There are miles of trails and the campground is brand new and well set-up.
There are tons of wildflowers, too.
Part of the trail was dark and densely covered with vegetation. It was very cool!
We couldn't move fast enough for Cedar, and she got annoyed with us :)
A makeup-less photo of me and Cedar in the "jungle" :)
She was not impressed by all of the photo ops.
One of Joe and Cedar:
Another one of Cedar and I (don't mind my pale freaky alien legs and Cedar's awkward pose... it's a very true-to-life portrait of us.):
Around noon, we left the park and drove to Astoria, OR... with a stop in Seaside for lunch. We've always wanted to go to Astoria to see the Goonies house. So we did! I'll spare you the pictures of me by the house, as it looks like I'm not wearing any pants. Should have double checked the length ratio of shorts-to-hoodie before the photo op. Damn. But here's one of the house...
And here's one of Joe standing in front of it ;)
Astoria sure is a beautiful town!
After our pilgrimage to the Goonies house, we drove down the coast to Newport along the coastal highway.
I love Newport! It's my favorite town on the OR coast, and probably one of my favorite places in the world. I'd love to live there someday.
Of course, the first thing we did was go to the beach :)
...and yup, posed Cedar for another picture. Go figure.
Cedar was not too excited about the waves at first. Note her worried expression.
As soon as we brought out the Chuck-it, she forgot all about that, though. Cedar LOVES to play fetch on the beach :)
Man, I love the beach.
So does Joe.
And Cedar.
If you look closely in this picture, you can see a boat in the distance :)
Look, now Cedar's posed on a log!
...and then I got the brilliant idea to have her jump over it.
Maybe this posing thing ain't so bad... when there's fetching and sand involved.
After reluctantly leaving Newport on Sunday, we stopped at Multnomah Falls for dinner on the way back to Richland. A perfect ending to a perfect vacation! I can't wait to go back.
We started out Thursday evening. I drove from Boise to Richland to meet Joe, and we set off at around 5 PM. We were headed to a campground about 30 minutes past Portland, L.L. Stub Stewart State Park. We'd never been there before, but had reserved a cabin for the night. We ended up getting there pretty late after a harrowing drive through downtown Portland. Having never been to this campground before, we didn't really know where we were going. The turn off lead us on a pitch-black dark and windy road up some mountains. My patience was wearing very thin as I'd been in the car about nine hours at this point. Thankfully, we eventually found the campground and were pleased to find a really nice, brand new cabin waiting for us. We had no idea what the land around us even looked like because it was so dark.
When we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by a beautiful view!
You can see a bit of the cabin behind Cedar here:
The air was crisp and it was a gorgeous, sunny day so we decided to go on a hike.
Cedar, as always, was rarin' to go.
It really is a gorgeous place; I'd love to go back and spend more time there. There are miles of trails and the campground is brand new and well set-up.
There are tons of wildflowers, too.
Part of the trail was dark and densely covered with vegetation. It was very cool!
We couldn't move fast enough for Cedar, and she got annoyed with us :)
A makeup-less photo of me and Cedar in the "jungle" :)
She was not impressed by all of the photo ops.
One of Joe and Cedar:
Another one of Cedar and I (don't mind my pale freaky alien legs and Cedar's awkward pose... it's a very true-to-life portrait of us.):
Around noon, we left the park and drove to Astoria, OR... with a stop in Seaside for lunch. We've always wanted to go to Astoria to see the Goonies house. So we did! I'll spare you the pictures of me by the house, as it looks like I'm not wearing any pants. Should have double checked the length ratio of shorts-to-hoodie before the photo op. Damn. But here's one of the house...
And here's one of Joe standing in front of it ;)
Astoria sure is a beautiful town!
After our pilgrimage to the Goonies house, we drove down the coast to Newport along the coastal highway.
I love Newport! It's my favorite town on the OR coast, and probably one of my favorite places in the world. I'd love to live there someday.
Of course, the first thing we did was go to the beach :)
...and yup, posed Cedar for another picture. Go figure.
Cedar was not too excited about the waves at first. Note her worried expression.
As soon as we brought out the Chuck-it, she forgot all about that, though. Cedar LOVES to play fetch on the beach :)
Man, I love the beach.
So does Joe.
And Cedar.
If you look closely in this picture, you can see a boat in the distance :)
Look, now Cedar's posed on a log!
...and then I got the brilliant idea to have her jump over it.
Maybe this posing thing ain't so bad... when there's fetching and sand involved.
After reluctantly leaving Newport on Sunday, we stopped at Multnomah Falls for dinner on the way back to Richland. A perfect ending to a perfect vacation! I can't wait to go back.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Canine Mystique
Sometimes, I wonder how Cedar sees herself.
Does she think she's a person, like me? Does she think that I'm a dog, like her? Or can she make the distinction between species? If so, what makes Cedar and I such a good team? What is it about our relationship that just... clicks? How does she seem to know what I'm thinking or what I want almost instinctively? To quote those old Tootsie Pop commercials, the world may never know. :)
Personally, I think that anyone who doesn't believe that dogs feel emotions has never had a "heart" dog. The instant I met Cedar and looked into her eyes, I saw it. There is so much depth to her personality and to our connection to each other that I can't fathom her as an empty shell only motivated by base emotions and self interest. Does she think differently than a human? Sure! But she does think, and reason. I don't doubt that for a second.
What we have is really special.
Does she think she's a person, like me? Does she think that I'm a dog, like her? Or can she make the distinction between species? If so, what makes Cedar and I such a good team? What is it about our relationship that just... clicks? How does she seem to know what I'm thinking or what I want almost instinctively? To quote those old Tootsie Pop commercials, the world may never know. :)
Personally, I think that anyone who doesn't believe that dogs feel emotions has never had a "heart" dog. The instant I met Cedar and looked into her eyes, I saw it. There is so much depth to her personality and to our connection to each other that I can't fathom her as an empty shell only motivated by base emotions and self interest. Does she think differently than a human? Sure! But she does think, and reason. I don't doubt that for a second.
What we have is really special.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Yes, more agility :-P
I know it seems like I've only been blogging about agility lately, but, well, we've been doing a lot of it :)
We went out to my instructor, Mary Hunter's house last night for a private lesson, and worked on a whole bunch of stuff. We started out on the teeter and A-frame, because we haven't worked contact equipment *that* much, and she still wasn't fully confident... or so I thought! WOW! She did so well! We worked each contact obstacle at full height, and she showed no hesitation and fantastic contacts! I was particularly proud of her on the teeter. I think maybe she's really understanding now that she has control over the motion. Her 2 on/2 offs were great on every obstacle. What a good girl she is. She is so much fun in agility because she is so smart, enthusiastic, and naturally uses her body well.
Next, we worked on a jump grid. I think it was out of a Clean Run exercise book... but I'm not sure :) The first three obstacles were a jump, tunnel, and weave poles... in a straight line! It was a challenge figuring out where I needed to be in order to get her to make the weave entry. We did pretty well :) After the weaves, we had to make a sharp left turn to make a jump, then do a big serpentine for two more sets of jumps. It was an interesting challenge trying to negotiate a smooth rear cross in the middle :-P But we figured it out, and did quite well, I thought. Cedar, as always, thought it was AWESOME. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole time.
We worked on the dog walk a little bit at the end, and she did very well with it, too. Great contacts, and she attacked the obstacle with confidence that is really nice to see. I love this dog.
I didn't have a chance to get any photos of video last night.... so here's a photo of Cedar and Scully on the Oregon coast last summer :-P
Oh, and congratulations to Mary and her Belgian Tervuren, "Dani" on earning their MACH last weekend! Click on Mary's name above to visit her website and learn more about Dani.
We went out to my instructor, Mary Hunter's house last night for a private lesson, and worked on a whole bunch of stuff. We started out on the teeter and A-frame, because we haven't worked contact equipment *that* much, and she still wasn't fully confident... or so I thought! WOW! She did so well! We worked each contact obstacle at full height, and she showed no hesitation and fantastic contacts! I was particularly proud of her on the teeter. I think maybe she's really understanding now that she has control over the motion. Her 2 on/2 offs were great on every obstacle. What a good girl she is. She is so much fun in agility because she is so smart, enthusiastic, and naturally uses her body well.
Next, we worked on a jump grid. I think it was out of a Clean Run exercise book... but I'm not sure :) The first three obstacles were a jump, tunnel, and weave poles... in a straight line! It was a challenge figuring out where I needed to be in order to get her to make the weave entry. We did pretty well :) After the weaves, we had to make a sharp left turn to make a jump, then do a big serpentine for two more sets of jumps. It was an interesting challenge trying to negotiate a smooth rear cross in the middle :-P But we figured it out, and did quite well, I thought. Cedar, as always, thought it was AWESOME. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole time.
We worked on the dog walk a little bit at the end, and she did very well with it, too. Great contacts, and she attacked the obstacle with confidence that is really nice to see. I love this dog.
I didn't have a chance to get any photos of video last night.... so here's a photo of Cedar and Scully on the Oregon coast last summer :-P
Oh, and congratulations to Mary and her Belgian Tervuren, "Dani" on earning their MACH last weekend! Click on Mary's name above to visit her website and learn more about Dani.
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