Sunday, January 1, 2017

Artie Vandelay The Beagle Turns 13.5 Years Old Today


My beagle Artie Vandelay turns 13.5 years old today.  A year ago, had someone asked me if he would see his 13th birthday (July 1st), I would have said that it would be a miracle since he was struggling with Arthritis and occasional Pancreatitis flareups, that were incredibly painful.   

Around June of this past year, Artie started taking Pet Releaf CBD Hemp Oil in addition to his pain medications and low-fat prescription food from the vet.  After about 2-3 weeks on Pet Releaf, his energy levels noticeably improved as our morning and afternoon walks increased in distance.  Since I rarely put his leash on him, he would pick the route of our afternoon walk.  Some days, when he had a lot of energy, he'd lead me up the hill to the Dog Park on Skyliner's Summit.  Usually, the next day after he had taken the hilly route, he wanted to do a flatter course around the neighborhood, which would cover at least one mile.  

Back and forth we'd stagger the walks depending on how he was feeling.  It was always his call.   (And this was on top of his early morning 1-1.5 mile walk along the Deschutes River Trail).   

During November, our last month living off Mt. Washington Drive, Artie started jogging the final 2.5 blocks down the hill straight to our front door on the days we came back from Overturf Dog Park.  It was impressive considering just 3-4 months earlier, prior to taking the CBD hemp oil, he looked like he was in a lot of pain walking and would often stop and turn around just a few hundred yards into the walk.  I figured out that he was hungry and excited to get home for dinner, including Applegate Roasted Chicken Breast slices.  Thus, the need to jog down the hill and get back to the house as quickly as possible! 

Artie's final years have been a great gift to me.  He's helped me open my eyes to the care that older dogs need.  After he crosses over to the other side, I will be getting another older dog or two and will continue adopting special needs senior citizen dogs the rest of my life.  And I'll spoil them with good food, treats, CBD oil, medicine, doggie ice cream, or whatever they need to make their final years of life as easy as possible, just like I've tried to do with Artie Vandelay, who today celebrates his 13.5 birthday.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

More Snowy Pictures From Bend Oregon

I wanted to share some more pictures of the 12+ inches of snow that fell in town.  Shoveling snow is one heckuva workout!  I was sweating like crazy last night in 14 degree temperatures shoveling the snow off mine and my neighbor's driveway and sidewalk for nearly two hours last night.




Monday, December 12, 2016

This Past Weekend's Snow In Bend And On Mt. Bachelor

This weekend's snow in Bend was beautiful as you can see by the photos below as the town was covered in snow that came and went starting midweek, carrying over through Sunday.  

The snow at Mt. Bachelor was incredible!  Seriously incredible with two feet of soft, fluffy snow falling over 48 hours.  It was a great weekend for skiing, especially Red Chair, which is often a forgotten gem on Mt. Bachelor.  

Below are some pictures from the past few days of snow in Bend, from River Bend Park, The Old Mill, Wanoga Snow Park, and Mt. Bachelor.   






Thursday, October 6, 2016

Mt Bachelor Snow In October 2016!



This morning, I was driving back to the house after taking Artie on his walk along the river trail and noticed that the Three Sisters were covered in snow.   Then I checked the Mt. Bachelor website and saw the webcams, which showed the mountain covered in snow.  Hard to believe that on October 6th, we'd have a mountain covered in snow.  

I know that we'll go through some ebs and flows of this snow melting in the coming days and weeks.  But still, this is a good sign that we'll have a nice cold, snowy winter here in Bend.  



Monday, October 3, 2016

Snow Visible From Bend On Mt Bachelor


This morning from River Bend Park in Bend, we had the first sighting of snow up on Mt. Bachelor, which fell last night.  Normally, I'd be pretty happy about the first sign of winter, but it's only October 3rd and I'd still like to experience fall here in beautiful Central Oregon.  

Plus, it was very cold this morning with a slight wind that made it even chillier.  

Hopefully, we have a sunny and not so windy October here in Bend because I'd like to get some running and cycling in before the snow arrives. 



Friday, April 22, 2016

Pretty Cool Photos Of Palmer Chairlift At Timberline Lodge


Summer skiing is around the corner which means that Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood has opened Palmer snowfield for spring and eventually summer skiing.  

I've skied Palmer each of the past two summers and it's a magical experience.  There are people from all over the world skiing up on the glacier, from Olympic skiers to kids from Japan getting their two weeks of summer skiing in for the year.  Add to that the summer tourist season and it's an overall awesome time to be on the mountain.  

Take a look at some of the photos below:  


Until then, we have spring skiing at Mt. Bachelor through May 31st, so I'm going to try reaching my goal of 50 days of skiing in for the 2015-2016 season.




Monday, February 8, 2016

Bend Roundabout Road Rage



One of the great things about living in Bend is the traffic roundabouts all over town. They make it pretty easy to navigate to any place within 5-10 minutes.  But they also create moments of unintentional poor driving judgment by people entering the roundabout in front of another car with the right-of-way already inside the roundabout.

A couple of nights ago, I was running along Mt. Washington and from behind me heard the blaring horn that could only come from a roundabout infraction.   Instead of just a quick beep, the driver blaring their horn continued and sped up to within 15 feet of the small car that had probably cut in front of them inside the roundabout.  

It was ridiculous and the tailgating, blaring horn driver was being a total jerk.  Get over it.  It was probably a momentary lapse in judgment by the other driver.  We've all been there in our roundabout experience.  We've cut in too soon or been cut off by another driver who jumped in front of us, causing for a momentary dangerous driving moment.  It happens to all of us.  

But to blare the horn and tailgate another driver or something that might happen once every six months is completely stupid.  Just give a "Serenity Now!" and move on.