Halloween

My colleagues are so creative!

 

Nathan, the living slinky, and David, the... yeah I don't know exactly what that was!

My contribution: Bow on Pepper. 

And one of our students got creative too! Meet: The physics pumpkin:

Ouch!

In mid November Pepper stepped into a wasp! I had no idea at that time, of course. All I saw (and heard!) was a very loud yelp and Pepper standing on three legs and refusing to put any weight on the right front paw. He was off leash on some grass when it happened (I was about to throw the ball and he was excited to chase it). So I didn't really see what happened. I checked the paw, didn't see anything. But he was clearly in pain (and this is a dog that can usually take quite a bit of pain). 

I tried to get him back to my office, but at some point he refused to walk and just lay down on the ground. His paw was swollen to about twice its normal size. Poor doggie! 

After about an hour or so he was walking pretty much normal again, and after a good 5-6 hours the swelling was also gone.

Let's start with - Yum!

Gosh, I love the farmer's market!

 

Time flies....

... when the semester starts up again! I promise to upload a few more photos over the next few days. Stay tuned!

Poor Abby!

Our poor little girl is sick (swollen tonsils):

She got some antibiotics yesterday; hopefully that'll help and she'll be better soon!

Spontaneous dog park fun

We've been very lucky these last few weeks. We've run into at least one of Pepper's friends during our evening walks. Which is always great fun for dogs and humans alike. 

Here are Pepper and Pearl playing tug-of-war (no clear winner, nobody wanted to let go!), with Sidney playing ref (and sometimes helping Pearl). They had a great time!

Mini vacation in Neskowin, OR

Billie took Maggie on a spontaneous vacation to Neskowin last week, and she sent us such great pictures and videos that we decided to book a studio for two nights as well. They allow pets, so Pepper could come with us - a bit plus! We decided to board the kitties for the two nights. Would have been too much stress for them I think (and for us too!).

So - off we went on Wednesday after a morning meeting in Salem (I can't believe the semester starts next week!). Here's a brief video taken right after we arrived. Checking out the beach right outside of our apartment (funny enough, we don't have a single photo of just the apartment!).

Jan and Pepper chilling after our Wednesday afternoon walk:

While Jan took a nap Wednesday afternoon, Pepper and I explored the area. Turns out Neskowin is a really, really, REALLY tiny town. Essentially just a few houses/apartments, a post office, a cafe (that had gone out of business in July), a tiny store and a bar that was closed when we were there. That's it. Luckily Billie had warned us and we had packed enough food to get us through the two days. Plus, we didn't come for the nightlife, we came for the beach. And beach we found. Lots of it :)

 

Thursday morning we went on a long 2-hour beach walk. It was a little cloudy and started getting quite misty on the way back, and we were pretty much soaked when we arrived back at the apartment. But it was FUN nevertheless! Love the beach. 

 

 

We also saw this little fellow on the beach. (S)He was still alive, poor thing. 

 

And after returning to the apartment, more nappies for Pepper. A tired dog is a good dog :)

This is also most of the studio. Kitchen in the background, living room in the front, bay window and small balcony where I was sitting. 

Pepper moved over to the bay window after a while and was watching the other dogs and their people outside.

In the afternoon we decided to hike up to Hart Cove. Rick had recommended that hike, and a total of 5.5 miles sounded just perfect. Most of the hike is in the woods, but then it opens up to this beautiful meadow with a breathtaking view of the ocean.

 

 
Zoom into this photo, you can see the sea lions lounging on the shore. We had heard them while hiking in the woods (they are LOUD!). They were too far away to see with the naked eye, but that's what a good camera objective is for, right?

And here's the view of the water fall. The water looks almost tropic, doesn't it?!

 

We ended the day watching the sun set on our balcony.

 

 

Friday was our last day. After packing the car, we went on one last walk along the beach. This time the weather was beautiful!

(I also have some videos that I'll post later, need to edit them first.)

As promised here they are: