April Showers

So the rain came back, and with it my mood has been lackluster at best.  This morning Roscoe and I rose late.  He sleeps downstairs in a crate except for once a week when we crash at Auntie L and Uncle D's after the farmer's market when he gets to sleep in bed with me.

It's nice having a dog, even when he barks his head off at the neighbors.  It makes me feel safe knowing I have this crazy little animal to protect me, or at least alert me when a 7-year-old is riding his bike down the street.  The picture above is from our hike last Saturday to my newest favoritest spot called Horse Rock, just half an hour from my house.  The views are spectacular and in a few weeks it will be bursting with wildflowers.

Today we hiked on a logging road I'd never been on before.  I wonder how long it will be that I can say that.  How many little off-shoots can I take before I've used them all up?  There must be hundreds.  Like an optimist (or more precisely, an amateur) I left the house without a rain jacket or boots.  Of course, ten minutes into our walk it started to rain.  Glad to be outside (in all cotton) I told myself I would keep going until I was completely water-logged and that's what I did.  By the time we got back to the car an hour later, Roscoe and I were soaked through, a pathetic sight I'm sure.

Yesterday was Friday and I cleaned the barn.  The horses were all turned out on pasture, happily prancing around and sometimes even rolling on their backs in the grass.  I have become so fascinated with animals and their behavior.  Although I've been working with goats for a little while, I still feel as though I know next to nothing about them.  I even feel that way about dogs.  People assume that because they've spent their lives around dogs they understand the ways dogs act and communicate, but even interacting with dog owners at the farmers market after spending one afternoon with a dog trainer and doing some research into it--I realize how little people know about their own pets.  Myself included.

 Speaking of last week's farmer's market.  It was a great one.  I brought home a record-high amount of cash for that market, according to Jan and had a lovely time interacting with all the Portlanders, all very glad to see spring.  Although today it feels like it's crept back into winter.

I got back to the country mid-afternoon on Thursday and took Roscoe for a hike, then went to work at 4:00.  Steve and I made and packaged cheese.  Then I milked the goats.  Wasn't finished til 11ish when I drove my tired ass home.

There's my tired ass on Friday morning, drinking my newest favorite coffee drink, which I'm sure the people at Stumptown would be very upset by... coffee with honey and raw goat milk.  I know, how fucking Oregon can you be, right?  It's soooo good.  You can see the goat called Caroline behind me with her teats hooked up to the inflations, getting milked.  She's a new milker this year and one of my favorite goats.

This blogpost had absolutely no arc or take-away.  So let's try for a nice conclusion, shall we?  It sucks that it's raining again and it put me in a shitty mood the last couple days, but soon it will truly be springtime sunshine and until then my very cute dog and I will drink beer and cuddle and go on rainy walks.

`

Roscoe with Mt. Jefferson and two of the Sisters in the background and a dead tree growing out of his head (that's a hard trick to teach---believe me).