New Year 2018

For the new year we headed over to the coast to Rockaway Beach for the weekend.  When we got there on Friday it was very stormy and windy on the beach.

The rest of the weekend, however, was beautiful weather and the dogs went crazy on the beach!

  

We did a real nice hike on Cape Falcon

We had an amazing New Years eve dinner (thanks Ed!).  People could not stop raving about the Yorkshire pudding.

On the way home we had a real nice lunch stop at Pacific City!

Happy New Year everyone!

The Bus has arrived!

Oval has a little brother, Rhombus!

 

This is the three week picture of his litter.  Totally ridiculous!

Rhombus is the grouchy one third from the right.

My friend, German, was kind enough to drive to BC with me to pick up this little critter.  We had to leave Oval at home.  She was real sad she couldn’t come.

I liked his breeder, Judi, a lot.  In addition to raising a beautiful litter, she told me that when her friends asked what a Rhombus is, she explained it is kind of like a drunk square.  It was a bit of a tough time for Rhombus, though.  He had to leave his litter of 10, plus his mom and a couple aunties and drive for two days to his new home.   This was the only way he would sleep.

We were lucky enough to have an overnight pit stop in Olympia to visit Lauren and Ed and show Rhombus off a bit.  We had a beer at the Oly Taphouse to celebrate Rhombus and Lauren’s new job!!!  Rhombus had many admirers.

We made it home yesterday and Rhombus finally got to meet his new Dad and big Sister.  Oval was a little overwhelming for him at first, but she gave him lots of space and only interacted with him when he initiated it, so he quickly grew to trust her.

He likes to play and sleep.

and might look just a hair like a miniature Wayno

We are happy  to have the newest member of the Bosco Family on board!

San Juan Islands

At the end of June we got to take an amazing trip to the San Juan islands.  We went to Lopez, Orcas, Stuart, San Juan, and Sucia islands and had a blast.  Below is a collection of pictures I took on the trip in no particular order.  It was a very relaxing trip also filled with many adventures.  Lots of great wildlife, food, company and sunsets.  A typical day included a leisurely morning on the boat and transit to the next island followed with exploring of some sort followed by a fantastic dinner.  Highlights include a tour of the mansion at Rosario, farm to table dinner at West Sound, Turn Point Lighthouse, and hiking and exploring by dinghy. Thank you Lyn and Peggy for such a wonderful trip.

 

The Steens and the Bend Beer Chase

Bret and I spent some time on the east side of the Cascades the last two weekends.

The Steens

Memorial Day weekend, we took advantage of Bret’s extra day off and drove out to the Steens Mountains.  It was a lot of time in the car, but we were rewarded with a pretty nice camping spot and a real pretty hike.

We were also rewarded with several snake sightings, a lot of ticks and mosquitoes, and a tired puppy dog.

Bend Beer Chase

This past weekend, we participated in the Bend Beer Chase for the second year.  It is a 52-mile relay race.  This year, we pulled it off with just four runners (last year we had six).  The Cascadia Drinking Alliance consisted of me, Bret, Lauren, and Cindy and our amazing volunteers, Ed and Jason.

Here is a before picture of Cindy, Lauren, and I.  All smiles.

The race start

The only hand-offs I managed to catch were of Cindy handing the baton (a slap bracelet) off to Lauren.  It is starting to get warm in the first shot and officially hot by the second.

I think these really capture how much Lauren loves running.

A post-race, beer leg photo from Atlas Cider in Bend.

The race was super fun, especially in retrospect.  It was definitely more difficult with a team of four, but we had a great team and everyone stayed positive despite the heat and the extra miles.  I am pretty sure the beer tastings available at every exchange probably helped with the smiles and good attitudes.

Thanks so much to our designated driver, Jason, and our super volunteer, Ed.  Ed got accolades for being a great volunteer from the race staff and I can attest to the superiority of his flag waiving skills compared to other team’s volunteers.