Kitty Diet...

...or not. 

Apparently when I am restricting carb loaded kitty food from a kitty who needs to loose weight as mentioned in THIS post, said kitty will make her own decisions on how to access food. And, of course, I had to take a picture before I stopped the gorging event.

Wildlife at Steigerwald

My friend, Cindy had been raving about Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge and has been promising to take me to "hike" there. She also promised to take me to hike at Champoeg State Park...maybe we divide them out to one a year?!

Anywho, we went to Steigerwalk today and it was the most beautiful early autumn day and the walk was great.

We saw a deer...

 And some frogs...and turtles...can you find them in the following pictures?...

 And we saw lots o'birds. Which is good since Cindy is a birder...though she didn't bring her binoculars or anything, but I always learn something about birds when I am with her. She also introduced me to Peregrine Falcons on PDX bridges a few years ago.  

Thanks for the new place to escape too, Cindy! I loved it!

"Do you like plums?"

As she pulls a bag of plums out from her purse at a pub last night...looking to pawn them off on me.

"Why, yes, yes I do. Let me take a picture to remember this hilarious moment. The plums won't last."

Lost Lake Take 2

My first hike of the season was at Lost Lake and it looks like my last will also be at Lost Lake. The temps were about the same at the start of each hike...the thing is: the first hike it got warmer, this hike...colder. It was down right chilly by the time we left. I blame the wind.

After the hike around the lake, we stopped for lunch and pictures. 

 Mary's dog, Leo came along for the ride and hike and did quite well, short legs and all!

 Leo LOVES Mary. Not like anyone can tell...

 One last picture before getting into a warmer car and heading home...not without a stop at my favorite East Wind Drive-In for ice cream/milkshakes in Cascade Locks, first. A must when you are driving through the Gorge.

Goal for next summer: hike more...2 at the same place in the whole summer is not acceptable.

Fun time with Friends

Mary, Holly and I whisked away to see the band "Five Guys Named Moe" at the Vancouver Sausage  Fest. We stopped for dinner and then headed over. We had a great night out! 

Mary, Holly, Me!

 The band!

Thanks, ladies! Next summer we will do more of this!

Music on the Mountain

In an effort to boost my end-of-summer concert attendance (and because Holly was unavailable for an earlier in the summer event) I headed to Holly's and from their we headed up to Mount Saint Helen's for the third concert in their first "Music on the Mountain" concert series at a newly constructed amphitheater. It was a hot day, and I left home in long pants and enough clothing to layer. I could only imagine how cold it might get on the side of Johnstone Ridge in the blast zone, with no shelter whatsoever. Holly changed when she saw my attire. We were both glad for our decisions later. Actually, we could have done with warmer or more layers. We had the air conditioning on during the drive north, we had the heat on coming back. Outside of the cold we had a glorious evening. We were talking about how we know how to do picnics...hummus and crackers, snap peas, grape tomatoes, laughing cow cheeses, salami and cheese and of course Holly set us up with chocolate bars for dessert. 

Here is the volcano upon arrival.

Smile, Holly!

I believe it is Mt Adams that you can see peeking over the ridge in the picture below.

What a great, albeit cold, setting for a concert.

As the sun was setting...

As the sun was setting we saw lots of people going up to the top of the amphitheater to see the sun set, I braved the cold and went up...so glad I did. It was a beautiful sun set.

We saw the "day old Blue Moon" rise also. I couldn't get a good picture, but we got this one with the moon between and behind us.

Thanks for the lovely afternoon/evening, Holly. I can always count on having fun with you!