Tag Archives: puppy

Sep9

A day with Lyra

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Saturday, 25-April-2026

Lyra is a dog that lives in our building. She’s a Cocker Spaniel, she has long ears, and she loves seeing people. She loves seeing people so much that she runs around in circles while peeing. Frankly, I am not convinced that this is “happy to see you” pee, vs. “I am scared and can’t even” pee, but her owners are adamant that it’s happy pee.

Also, Andrea loves Cocker Spaniels. Like, so much.

A few days back, Andrea had a bad day. So I pulled some strings, got the phone number for Lyra’s owners, and arranged a playdate for the two of them. That quick opportunity to pet a fluffy puppy led to today – a day when Lyra’s parents were busy, and we got to watch her for the day.


What did we do with this pup, you may ask?

WELL!

We stayed home and did some work, first off. Then, we went for a WALK! It was fun, it was lovely, and it was a beautifully warm and sunny day. One of the earlier ones of the year, if I’m remembering right, and a perfect day to take a nice long walk around the park.

Jan2

A weekend of relaxed adventures… or: Winter is upon us, so trips become smaller

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Saturday, 07-November-15
Saturday: hike Starvation Creek with Dave and Anthony, get pizza afterward, Ollie does well
So Winter in the Columbia River Gorge is a lot different than the Winter that I’m used to from New England.  As of November, it had basically just been a series of gross, rainy, cloudy, and unpleasantly cool / wet days.  We hadn’t had any snow, and it hadn’t gotten cold enough to have that really *crisp* feel of New England early winter.
So, a group of us got together and did some hiking.
Ollie, the dog that Sarah had just adopted earlier in the week, was coming along with us – this was set up to be her introduction to mountain hiking, and we were curious how she’d fare.  Ollie is basically a black lab, with a generous portion of border collie mixed in for good measure… so we weren’t particularly worried about her keeping up.  The worry was how long she’d be able to do so – she was still a puppy, after all.
So we all met up at the trailhead for Starvation Creek – Myself, Sarah, Ollie, our friend Dave, and my coworker Anthony.
The trail itself was, in a word, steep.  By steep, I mean “ohh my lord how am I still walking upward?  How many more up can I hike?”.  But we pressed through, and got some amazing views for our effort.  After a few hours Sarah and Dave headed back with Ollie, since she was starting to lag behind a bit, and Anthony and I continued on for the summit.
Which we totally reached.  We definitely didn’t turn around maybe a mile or two after splitting ways with Dave and Sarah.  I don’t know what you’re talking about.
To celebrate our totally actual and legitimate summit, we all ate some pizza.  It was delicious.