October 2014

October 2014
Day Trip to Oakridge Oct 2014

Sunday, January 20, 2013

♫ ♪ Sunshine on my Shoulders Makes Me Happy…♫♪♪♫

What a glorious day on the Oregon coast yesterday.  We usually get some great days in February, but we lucked out and got a good one on Saturday.  We headed for Florence, a short 59 miles from Eugene.

First stop, our favorite county campground and day use park, Harbor Vista.  There is a $5 day use fee but we have an annual pass ($15 for seniors) so our day was free.  We had wonderful sunshine and temps in the high 50s…perfect walking around weather.  We were somewhat surprised to see quite a few campers in the campground.

harbor vista

Poppy was loving it…it was a smorgasbord of new smells.  Her little nose was twitching and she didn’t know what to smell next.  She can’t go a long way but she sure can walk far enough to find the next good smell.

happy Poppy

There is a terrific viewing deck at the park.  I looks out across the river and the jetty.  There were lots of cars parked on the jetty and quite a few fishing and shrimp boats in the water.

P1020614

beach at Harbor Vista

The weather report had predicted fog for Florence and sunny skies further north.  So we left Harbor Vista to see what else we could find.  Figured if it was good here it would be great further on.  As usual the weather man didn’t hit it right on the money!!

By the time we got to Yachats, 23 miles north of Florence, we were in thick, soupy fog.  I kinda liked the misty appearance of the town from across the river though.

Yachats

The fog didn’t stop us from enjoying the beautiful Oregon coast.

Russ at Yachats

The surf was rough here, and a thin line of sunlight was visible across the otherwise foggy horizon.

surf

The shore is rocky at Yachats and we enjoyed watching the waves come crashing across the rugged outcroppings.

crashing waves3

crashing waves2

The seagulls were out in force and I got several pictures of them in flight.  Unfortunately, most of them looked like this…
missed shot

Yup, that’s the socked in sky over Yachats.  I did manage to snap this guy as he flew almost right at me.

flying gull

Too cold to eat lunch here so we headed back down the coast to Harbor Vista.  A stop along the highway revealed a patchwork of sun and clouds.

fog bank

On the way home we stopped at Three Rivers Casino to give Poppy a little break.  Russ got the camera and grabbed a few shots in the parking lot.  I like these views better than the inside of casino!!

casino reflection
No that’s not upside down…look closely – it’s a reflection!

casino reflection2

Great place to stop, but this time we didn’t even go inside.  All in all a great day and we all enjoyed ourselves. 

Quick update on Poppy:  She did not do well again last night and is still very restless today.  She was up pretty much all night, sleeping in 5-10 minute increments.  We had to take her off Prozac as it made the anxiety worse.  Last night we gave her meds that had made her sleep before but last night had no effect.  Russ spent the night trying to calm her and get her to sleep, while I spent time on the computer researching information on canine cognitive disorder and also diabetes.  We have one good night’s sleep out of the last 7 or 8 nights.

I  did figure out a way to check her blood sugar – found it on You Tube of all places (why didn’t the vets tell me this???).  It’s easy to roll her upper lip back, poke it with the lancing device, and collect the small drop of blood.  It worked great and her sugar was not really very high.  I was hoping it might be extreme blood sugar highs that are causing her anxiety but I guess not.

We will continue to try and find a way to manage, but at some point we have to realize that we are no longer prolonging her life, we are prolonging her death.  When does that point come?  I wish I knew, and I’m sure you other pet owners understand what I’m saying.  I know Poppy is past her life expectancy already and she has given us an immeasurable amount of joy.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we wrestle with a decision that probably needs to be made sooner rather than later. 

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