In the Dog House

After worrying about Maya all day and looking at Nicki's sad face moping around the office, it was finally almost 3pm and I was able to head to the veterinarian's office to retrieve Maya. I was lead into a room in the back and they opened a cage where Maya was calmly laying - until the door opened. She bolted past the assistant and I thought "the poor thing, she just wants to come to me." As I reached down, she ran past, with her head and tail down, trying desperately to find a way out. The surgeon headed her off one direction so she ran another, only to find the assistant had that way blocked so she grudgingly came when I called her (at least I was preferrable to the two stangers who had caused her so much discomfort).

The veterinarian showed me her ear, which has an 'S' shaped incision on the underside, extending from the base to the tip. This was not stitched closed (to allow the ear to drain), and there were approximately 30 stitches placed randomly in the ear, in effect quilting it together.

I put her leash on and began to walk to the door, with Maya 'running in place' in her effort to exit the building as quickly as possible.

I took her home and gave her two benedryl, an antibiotic, and prednisone. She did well, leaving her ear alone and only shaking her head slightly. The ear is shaved, and it is kind of stiff, making it protrude more and appear larger.

A few times she laid by me, and allowed me to minister to her, so I may be working my way out of the dog house - at least until I have to take her back in two weeks to have the stitches removed.

Monday, Monday....

I have been nie on close to useless at work today.

One of our dogs, Maya has an aural hematoma (she ruptured a blood vessel in her ear) and is having surgery today to drain it and clean it out. Then they will put several sutures in her ear to hold it together.

I brought our other dog, Nicki to work with me and she has been a blue reminder that Maya is "missing". Nicki is normally very hyper and energetic, but she just lays on the floor. If I get up she looks at me, and I know her eyes are saying, "Where is my sister and when are we going to get her?"

Then Congress failed to pass the rescue plan, and I cannot help but worry about the economy, our savings, if there will be work over the winter.....it is just getting uglier and uglier out here. According to most respected wall street gurus, the government could end up making money on the deal, but it is still widely unpopular and each one of the representatives is up for re-election this year. I think they each thought it would pass without their vote and they would be able to go back to their constituents and tell them "I voted against it".

If the government is going to have to buy all of those homes, they should set up a program to sell them to veterans and first time homeowners - who qualify - with good terms that will remain steady for the life of the loan. Now many homes will be too much home for first time buyers, but those homes will sell eventually and that money will come back to the government aka the taxpayers.

OSU verses #1 ranked USC

Kylie came into town yesterday afternoon and we had an enjoyable time talking about her work, her internship, photography, etc. We made pasta and used a vodka sauce Gene had purchased at a vineyard in the Monterey area. Then we started watching the Oregon State - University of Southern California game.


As half time neared, with a score of OSU 14 USC 0 - our power went out! I am not sure how, but for some reason, I knew almost instantly that it would not be a short outage. This was confirmed when we called Pacific Power.

I found the oil lamps but could not locate the emergency radio. Not being able to find something is a major pet peeve of mine, and I was particularly irritated that I had went to the trouble of purchasing an emergency radio (with a flashlight), that has a dynamo (a handle to spin and charge a ni-cad battery) and I could not locate it in an "emergency". I finally located it in a bowl on top of the cupboard in the sunroom.

Because Gene had been discussing the game during the outage with our neighbors, he wanted to take the radio to the garage, so they could join us if desired. We listened to the game in the garage, with our neighbor Kim (who was rooting for USC). If fact, in retrospect, I find it ironic that Gene who is from California was rooting for OSU and Kim, who grew up in Oregon was rooting for USC. While I definitely prefer to watch a game rather than listen to one - it was a great time, made better by the fact that Oregon State has once again beat a highly ranked team!

Paulina 2009

I called today to book our cabin for the weekend after Labor Day next year - and it was already booked!!!! (so I got it the following weekend). It felt good to enter the dates on my calendar and send reminders to Sharna, Kylie, Eric and Jason.

I got the pictures from Gene's camera and wanted to put a few of them on this blog posting.

Summer Picnic aka Girl's Night Out

Because Sharna was going to be in town I suggested that we include our daughters in our Tuesday night picnic in the park after Weight Watchers.

Unfortuneately, Rosa's daughter Brandi was not able to attend, but Tom's girlfriend Laurie, Kat and Sharna were there, along with Tammy, Rosa and I. As we sat in a circle, drinking wine and having multiple conversations at the same time, I felt a special warmth for the friends I have and the enjoyment of getting together with other women. I am truly blessed by my friendships and my family.

Hanging Rock Lake

While attending WSRCA Board Meetings in Vail. Colorado, Gene and I decided to do some hiking. One of the hikes I had read about was to Hanging Rock Lake. It was even mentioned in our hotel list of things to do and the description made it sound too interesting to pass up. The night before we were to go, I was told it was about a 45 mile drive to get to the trailhead, but by that time I was already sold on it.

Gene has told me that he prefers to not have a long drive to go on a hike and that he stoves up on the long drive home after pushing so hard up a mountain. But off we headed, having invited a friend of ours, Kim Baley to join us. After about 10 miles, Gene asked how much further.

40 miles.

40 MILES! I am going to kick your ass!

As we drove on and he learned that we actually have to drive past the trailhead, exit the westbound freeway and then get back on going eastbound he informed me that these points were being tallied against me.

When we arrived at the trailhead, so did a thunderstorm. But having driven so far, we took off up the mountain anyway.

The hike was only a little more than a mile up, but it was a hard mile, mostly climbing up big rocks. Gene reached to top before Kim and I and then came back around the corner and informed me he was erasing all of my bad points and was adding a couple of points in the good column.
Bridal Veil Falls cascading into Hanging Rock Lake
Behind the waterfalls
Taken through the "veil" of the falls

Anyway, it was a beautiful and well worth the drive, the rain, and the hike!

The First Annual Keppler Family, Post Labor Day Weekend

Kylie and her shadow...
Paulina Peak - 4 mile round trip, 1500 ft elevation gain...
The view at the top.....
Sharna's Daddy, is taking her fishing..........

I tried earlier in the summer to rent a cabin at Lake Paulina, but nothing was available until after Labor Day, so I booked the Eagle Cabin for the weekend after and Sharna and Eric and Kylie and Jason joined us.

We sat around the first evening, drinking beer and wine, and the guys all smoked their cigars. After Gene and I hit the hay, Sharna and Eric went exploring, watching fish at the dock, the stars, etc.

The next morning Gene and Kylie went out on the lake in the boat. From the lake Kylie viewed Paulina Peak and she selected that for the days hike. It was a good hike and we were rewarded with a few great viewpoints.

We all had a great time, and have vowed to do a three day weekend, every year, the weekend AFTER Labor Day - The Keppler Family, Post Labor Day Weekend!

Cape Sebastian

Our final weekend at the coast this summer!

We hiked from the Myers Creek pullout to Cape Sebastian and back. Heading out it was incredibly windy and we were getting sandblasted! But once we got to the base of the cape we were shielded from the wind.

We hiked up onto the cape and then out onto large rocks which extended into the ocean. After checking that out, continued to the top of the cape and came back and picnicked on the rock outcropping.

The next day my knee was quite swollen (a bit of an overuse injury), but we visited our friends Kim and Debbie at a beach house they had rented and then picked up our old friends Jay and Kitty and cooked dinner for them at the fifth wheel.

I loved spending August weekends at the coast, but we are thinking more of the last two weeks of September and the first two weeks of October next year, since the weather is generally nicer at that time. We will see!

Redwood Nature Trail

Our second to the last weekend (of this summer) at the coast, we went to Loeb Park on the Chetco River and hiked the Redwood Nature Trail. It was incredibly beautiful, just like most of the redwoods and the Oregon Coast.

The tree I am standing in, was very large, and very much still alive, in spite of having the entire center burned out - such endurance!