Italy

I went to southern Italy for the INORE symposium at the end of May. It was held at a hotel in the mountains just above Vico Equense with a pretty nice view of Mount Vesuvius best known for its burial of the Roman city of Pompeii in AD 79.

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The symposium was great.  Learned a lot and had fun too.  Fortunately, I got to take a few extra days to travel around the region after the symposium.  First stop was Sorrento.

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Then I took the bus down the Amalfi Coast passing through Positano.

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And on to Amalfi

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Then I took the ferry back to Sorrento.

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And continued on to the island of Capri.

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Sunset timelapse from symposium hotel

Obligatory Oval pic…

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T&R come to visit

Tracy and Ramona came to visit and we had an awesome weekend of soccer, biking, hiking, yard games, and a little indulgence.

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We went for a hike in the Macdonald forest on Saturday and rode out there with oval in her bike trailer.

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We went for a hike at Cape Perpetua on Sunday.

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Before they got here we had been busy brewing beer, and doing some major backyard cleanup.

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Good times were had by all and it was sad to see them go.

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Oval just keeps getting bigger!

My life more or less revolves around puppy these days, so I thought I would share some pictures!

Oval was a rescue pup from a shelter in San Antonia, TX.  She and her litter of 8 were dropped at a shelter at 4 weeks and spent about 6 weeks in a lovely foster home.  These are pics from her fosters days.

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We picked her up from a rescue transport in Eugene on January 31st.  I was really nervous that something would go wrong, but as soon as she came out of the van, I was smitten!  These are pics from the way home.

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The next day was Superbowl Sunday and Oval was clearly a good luck charm for the Patriots.  Apparently, she slept a lot.

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We tried introducing her to the chickens early on.  She was scared of them at first and they stood their ground, but she quickly gained some confidence, so we don’t let them mix anymore.

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hanging around the house.

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We took her camping on the coast a couple weeks after we got her.  She loved taking us for walks on the beach!

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We go for lots of walks in the parks and forests around Corvallis.  She is pretty well behaved (especially if I bring treats) and she LOVES other dogs.

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She went for her first ride in the dog bike trailer.  We rode to the growler filling station and got some beer, then went for a walk at the park.

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She just keeps getting cuter!

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In addition to chasing after the puppy, we have also adventured into the world of brewing our own beer.

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It is really nice to be home!