Gandalf being Gandalf

Gandalf still loves his perch. It is not unusual for him for hang his head over the side but this time he hung his head through the hole.



Here's his head through the hole.



He is also a big fan of Lavi's bed.

Agility Demo at Hazeldale Park

We had our second agility demo in two weeks. This one was at Hazeldale Park in Aloha. Besides agility, they had flyball demos, disc dog demos as well as dog dancing. In a spur of the moment, I decided to have Lavi take the Canine Good Citizen Test. She did great. I figured she would but since you can't use treats during the test, I was a little concerned. She was rewarded heavily afterwards.



Here are the dogs from our club that passed their Canine Good Citizen test.


(L-R Finn, Leo, Lavi and Jewel)

Natalia was there again taking photos. Although these photos look like Lavi is an agility superstar...they are a bit misleading. Yes, she does have her moments but since she does go kind of slow the pictures look good. I do love how her ears fly all over the place.

Mount Hood birding

Yesterday we took a trip to do some mountain birding around Mount Hood. Shockingly, we have been here 2.5 years and this was the first time we got up there. It was beautiful. We found several good birds (3 lifers for me - Clark's Nutcracker, Pine Siskin and Hermit Warbler). Lavi enjoyed the scenery.

Videos from agility demo

Agility demo at Schnauzer Walk

Here are some photos from yesterday's agility demo. Lavi had a ton of fun!!











It is good to be home for a little while.

Elko and Silver State Stampede

There are a few things in Elko that are worth writing home about. The best is probably the taco truck. It is actually a great food truck and that says a lot coming from a Portland resident where food carts are everywhere these days. Here is Julie, Jean and Katie enjoying our lunch at the truck.



I had the opportunity to attend the Silver State Stampede, aka the rodeo. It was exactly what I expected. My favorite parts were the cowgirls racing their horses in the clover pattern. One of the ladies is even an aesthetician. My other favorite part was the "Ring of Fear". They had 6 guys standing in their own circles in a small ring. The goal is stay in your ring when they turn the bull loose. The last man standing wins $500. I heard a woman won the night before, but she also works at a ranch and was more like a "bull whisperer". There was no whispering tonight, these guys got their asses handed to them except the last one. The bull didn't even make it over to his part of the ring and didn't have to do anything. Here is the bull about to charge one of the other poor dudes.



It was a very interesting night...another good time in Elko, Nevada.

Nevada - Take 2

I am back in Nevada after three weeks at home. This time I have a new partner and a whole new area to explore close to the Nevada-Utah border. Right now we are on mountains surrounded by juniper trees.



This cactus was on top of the summit of one of the mountains.



The easterly view from the summit over the mountains and the salt flats in Utah.



One of the many lizards we have observed.



So far this rotation has been a lot hotter and dryer than last time. It is a good thing we start so early in the morning and can be done by the time it gets super hot. Plus the birds are more active then as well. Some new species so far include Pinyon Jay, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Juniper Titmouse and Blue-grey Gnatcatcher. Hopefully we will see more hummingbirds this week.