Payton came to play

I had the privilege of watching Payton these past few days. That dog is crazier than ever, even though he's eight years old!





I got this three-dog leash when all of us lived in Joe's house. Sheba is so smart to walk on the grass since the pavement hurts her toes.





They were all exhausted that first night. Two of three were snoring!





The next day Maverick moped all day in the bathroom. He's not used to sharing the attention with another male dog in "his" house.





But Payton felt differently. He idolizes Maverick.





In just a short time they couldn't get enough of each other. Notice the vacant bed in the corner. Sweet fur babies!
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Home improvements

Painting the mailbox post has been on my to do list for over a year. It really wasn't a big deal, but now it's off the list! Hopefully The plants will grow these cute little white flowers like the label says. Time will tell.


Installing this new outdoor light was quite a project! I tried to follow the directions in the box, but nothing worked right, so I had to call a friend's dad. It took a few hours, a few beers, and one trip to Home Depot, but now I have light dusk until dawn!


Fresh-cut flowers spruce up the coffee table. This was the easiest of the three weekend projects!

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Rogue River- Part III

Here's a little video that I made from the front of the boat.



Our first black bear sighting was near this jet boat. He was just hanging out, at the water's edge. As bears do. Before the trip I had said I'd like to see a bear catch a salmon, but when I actually saw the bear from the boat, I decided that was not necessary.



Speaking of bears, this electric fence was set up for food storage near our campsite.



The white water is aptly named. Gorgeous!



More pretty scenery from the hike.



This is the dry season, so everything was really brown, except the evergreens.



Wrigley took a dip in a waterfall. This is the life he leads!



As we were walking along the trail ducked in out of the sunshine, and all of a sudden we were in a jungle of lush ferns.



Dinner while camping is always the best! W found his bed on this rock where we put it down to keep him off until he was dry. Why not?



Our third bear sighting before bed!



The last sunset. What a great trip! 42 miles of wilderness. I'm sad to be taking the red eye home tomorrow.







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Rogue River- Part II

Another beautiful day on the river!




This was the first day that we saw other boats. It's surreal to be so far away from civilization.




Lots of rocks and Douglas firs.




And then we arrived at Paradise Lodge. It was brilliant! Day three = shower, bed, heat, toilet!




We went for a nice hike.




So the river from a new perspective.



We hung out overlooking Blossom
Bar for a while, waiting for other boats to go through. It's a Class IV rapid and pretty scary. Charley made me wear a helmet!





The lodge was a great retreat after a hard day on the river. All three of us enjoyed ourselves.




The family-style dinner (and breakfast) was fun. People there came by jet boat (60 miles from the coast) or hiked in (14 miles from parking). Electricity was only available by generator, from 5-10pm. It was cozy!

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Rogue River- Part I

We started our rafting trip on the Rogue River with loads of stuff. Tents, sleeping bags, cooler, snacks, Wrigley's food, beer, warm clothes, etc. and six days worth!





We paddled for a few hours before setting up camp.





We had to poop in a bucket. Fortunately, the bucket had a toilet seat. The rafting permit requires all feces to be collected the entire trip.





It's just so pristine. Breathtaking!





My job was to sit on the front of the boat. Wrigley had the same job. Charley did 100% of the paddling.





The air temperature was in the high 70s. The sunshine felt therapeutic.





But the water temperature was only 57°- it was so cold when we got splashed! Wrigley swam, but I did not. I would've had hypothermia!





Are cute little camp is on the left side of the river. It was so quaint.





The second night got really cold! A low of 42°. And no campfires due to wildfires in the area. Brrr!





So we relied on liquid sweaters. Quite a beer sampling for being in the middle of nowhere!

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