Adventures

The Pooch and I against a barren hillside, I think they're something beautiful about their bleakness  but Pete disagrees.

I have now had my pooch for one week and if there's anything I can say about owning a 10 month old Catahoula it's that you better take that mofo for some WALKS.  And we do.  All day.

A good friend of mine encouraged me for months and months to buy a gazetteer (a geographical index) and finally I got my little paws on one.  Now when I get off work in the early afternoon, I load up my dog in the car, find some little road off the beaten path and drive down it until we happen upon a nice logging road that goes up a hill and boom! we're hikin'.

The boys in the hills above Wiley Creek

Around this part of the world logging is the largest industry, so the hills surrounding the small towns of Sweet Home, Crawfordsville and Brownsville are planted with square miles and miles of Douglas Fir.  Unpaved roads migrate through these vast forests to enable log trucks to haul off all the fallen timber, but for the other 99% of the time they serve as fabulous dog-walking trails--so long as you don't encounter one of the resident cougars.  (Don't worry Dad, these attacks are ridiculously infrequent and I have read all the literature out there on what to do if I encounter one.  Plus I have a vicious 48 pound puppy.)

Roscoe and I have come to love these trails which often straddle the forest and the barren wilderness of felled tress that've been taken to the mill.  The result is breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape.  From the tops of these big barren hillsides I can look down on little Brownsville and the surrounding hills and meadows, with my dog beside me.

There's nothing like the basic freedom of a map, a dog, a gal and a car.  We can go anywhere, do anything, as long as we're home for supper.  Can you imagine how fun this will be in the summer?

Roscoe and my adventure along the Calapooia River