Waterfall Hike

Mt. Hood hasn't gotten much snow lately so to burn off some Christmas calories I decided to go hiking in the Gorge.  I am a little leary of this trail, the sign at the visitor center said there would be ice, but I haven't seen any yet.  I'll be careful.

This is supposed to be a steep hike.  I wonder if I can hitch a ride from my roommate?

Success!  There was room for me in the side pocket, looks like I am going to get a free ride up the hill. 

Lots of places for me to rest along the way. The water was running fast and loud  today. 

Trail junction, I have never been to Devil's Rest before, but I have been to Angel's Rest (it's nearby).  When I am really good my roommates take me to the Foxglove way trail, it's close to Angel's Rest.  Now that I think about it, I have only been to Foxglove way once, I wonder if I have only been good once?  Nah, nevermind there are more waterfalls to see. 

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My roommate says the waterfall on the left feeds into the waterfall on the right.  The waterfalls are moving fast today.  I saw lots of people on the trail but no ice or snow. Not bad for December.   Happy New Year. 

Happy Boxing Day!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy boxing day.  I am still trying to learn more about the holiday, in my house we usually go shopping but I am sure there is more to it than that.

Preparing for Christmas breakfast.

IIt's time for me to start making Christmas breakfast for my friends. Hmmm, I wonder if I bit off more than I can chew, cracking these eggs looks beary hard.

Luckily, I convinced my roommates to cook up some sausage and crack the eggs for my famous casserole. 

Next item, bread. I toasted it and cut it up. No electric knife this year, did it the old fashioned way.  I had my friend little bear (he resembles Jerry, Ben, Sandy, and Sebastian...I think little bear is a cousin) help out and do the coffee. 

Next step, secret ingredients. 

Look at all that cheese.  Beanie, you should come over!  

Hmmm, this is tough. I better enlist a friend for help. Maybe my friend, Drunk Fox could help out. He is sober now, actually we are cousins. He doesn't take as many trips as I do so his fur isn't as dirty as mine but he is a good worker. Actually, this is much better, Drunk Fox can help stir and I can supervise.  I like this supervision thing. 

Finally, it's all ready to eat. When are my guests coming?  I hope I get a scarf and maybe a proper name this year for Christmas, but if I don't get the scarf or name then I will just to enjoy the adventures I get to take next year. 

 Merry Christmas everyone!

Joyeux Noël to my French friends and/or French learning friends. 

selamat hari raya Krismas, Merry Christmas in Malay (for you Sebastian). 

Little Fox

City Hike

It's Sunday and my roommates decided to take me along for a nice hike today.  We started at the hospital, they have a garden with lots of birdhouses but no birds in them today.  I hope I didn't scare them away.  Mmm, maybe I should have brought some bird seed?

The garden also had a topiary of a big bunny.  I made my roommates stop and take my picture in front of it.  I wonder if Jerry can give me any gardening advice on how to make a fox topiary in my back yard.  I think the topiary I would want would need to be a little smaller, more my size.

Next stop was the criminal justice building (don't worry I am not in trouble).  They put some artistic metal around the building to make it look nicer, I am not sure it's my style but that's ok.  What do you think?

I decided to rest in the park while my roommates took some more pictures around town.  I think this is one of those parks in the Summer that puts on free plays.  I wonder if they are doing any holiday related plays today?  Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Fox in Sox?

 Nope, my roommate said no free plays were happening today.  Rats, I guess I will just sit and stare for a while, if you look you can see city hall in the background of the second picture.  Now, my biggest accomplishment today was figuring out how to get my blog header picture a more manageable size.  Yippee, I think I did it!

Big day for a little fox.

It's Tuesday.  I have finally convinced my roommate to teach me how to drive.  Actually, I am only allowed to steer but it's a great step in fox/human relations.  It's a big step in the right direction since most of the time I am stuck in the passenger seat. Oooh, ice on the road I better beary careful.

The road I drove on (yes, me driving!!!!) had a couple of waterfalls.  My roommate wanted to stop and take a few pictures.  I am always game for a short hike. 

Back to the car.  We followed the road along a river and eventually I was forced back into the passenger seat by my roommate.  He said that as we got closer to the river it was better to have a human steering than a fox.  I told him there were many more human auto accidents compared to foxes creating accidents.  He didn't buy it.

Either way we made it to our destination, I was very excited the cheese factory was up and running today.  I watched them divide 40 pounds of cheddar into smaller batches.  Beanie I thought of you.

An Icy Trail

Well, after our very cold weather last week it finally warmed up enough to get out for a hike.   I met up with my friend monkey for a waterfall hike.  Here we are at the start of our hike - Horsetail falls.  The ice should have tipped us off about what was ahead.....

What we hadn't considered, was that even though it has warmed up, the ice around the waterfalls and on some parts of the trail has gotten so thick, it hasn't melted yet.   We made it to the next waterfall, which was also icy and got to walk behind it. 

But just past that the trail was so icy we turned around, rather than chance sliding into the pool. 

We decided to try a different trailhead to reach our destination, but there was still too much ice in some places to get past.  There was ice hanging on the sides of the cliffs, and it was a bit foggy as well. 

 

We finally decided that we had had enough challenges for one day and it was time to head back - but we needed one more picture of us together, since we don't see each other often. 

Although I was looking forward to getting back to a warm, dry house, it was great to be able to get outside after it had been so cold last week.  And even though the ice cut our hike short, it was very pretty and interesting to see everywhere it had frozen. 

Holiday mail call

Snow day!  It is good to have the day off since it allows me to work on my holiday card list. Look at all these cards to choose from.

Too much to think about right now.  I better check the mail instead.   Oooohhh look, I recognize this drawing. 

Could it be a card from Jerry and Ben?  

It is! Yippee!

Thanks guys. I am going to celebrate with some hot chocolate and extra whipped cream. 

Snow on the beach

Friday we got some snow and a couple of inches of snow on the beach.  Strange, the next day there was sun at the beach as well.  I think it's time to take a road trip.  Before we started exploring we were lucky enough to check into the hotel.  

Next stop, the old lighthouse.  It was closed so we looked at the bridge and the bay for a while.  Strange that the lighthouse was closed, the sign said it was open.

The bridge looks cool.  I think
 it's time to head to the beach.

The beach was sooooo cold.  I think it was in the teens (I know Jerry and Ben.....not cold for you two, but cold for me :).  We only went walking for about 10 minutes before we had to go back to the car.  No places near the beach that sold hot chocolate either :(

We checked out a few bazaars.  Saw a scarf that would look good on me  I don't think my roommates got it but you never know.  I was distracted at the bazaar so maybe they got it while I wasn't looking.  They had lots of lights at the aquarium we visited, the snow was a nice touch at the light display.

I even saw a few carolers at the show. I wonder if they know  Disco Duck?  I asked them, they didn't.

Another nice day. I begged my roommates for this picture before we left.  I know they fish for shrimp here, I wonder if they go out for salmon as well. 

Holiday preparations

It's that time of year....time to decorate the tree and place my roommates gifts under the tree.  Good thing I got this stool from the garage to help give me a lift.

This is a beary old ornament, it is supposed to hold a candy cane in it, I wonder if my roommates ate the candy cane?  Maybe I should buy a couple candy canes tonight. 

Time to put another one up.  I think I have too many animal ornaments. It's hard to see but this one is a reindeer, I don't even want to MIT to how many bear ornaments I have. 

All done....

Next step, I will need to get the gifts. The boxes are awfully heavy, I wonder if my friend Big Bear can help me out. He really gets into the season.  In fact he always argues with my roommates on when he can put on the Santa hat, the rule is that Big Bear can wear the Santa hat on the day after Thanksgiving. Rules are rules after all (of course Big Bear disagrees when the rule are about him). 

Now that my roommates gifts are under the tree I can't help but notice that I should make a list to fill out the rest of the tree. I should do browsing of catalogs for my own gifts.

Ooh, Chicken, that's perfect for drunk fox and I. I better get some salmon jerky for Big Bear as a thank you for helping me move the gifts under the tree. 

Beer and Velveeta?

  My owners won't buy that for me, maybe they will buy some candy instead?  Hopefully some more catalogs come tomorrow so I can continue shopping. 

Beach, Ice Cream, and Cheese

Well that title basically sums up my after Thanksgiving hike today.  I was antsy yesterday after shopping so I convinced my roommates to take me to the beach today.  I was afraid I might get wet but it was worth a gamble.

Here is my first picture, I figured I would have my roommates take a picture of me before I started.  I think it might rain today, I hope I don't get wet.

We hiked a couple of miles and it was time to rest.  It's nice for them to give me a big stump to think about my day and rest my little fox feet.  "Hmmm, I wonder what I am going to have for dinner tonight?"

Finally, I made it to the beach.  My roommates are not thrilled with me hanging onto the fence.  The beach is so neat I just want to get closer (right now I am on a cliff that is about 500 feet above the beach).  I saw an old boat, lots of seagulls, and a ton of sand (no whales today).

  "Oooh look a friend, I think he is a chipmunk."   My roommate was lucky and caught a quick picture of him as he was running from a rock to the bench.  I hope he is not after my lunch.


Time to head back to the car so we can go to the cheese factory.






Don't worry, I am observing from a safe distance.  The cheese makers are packaging 20 pounds of cheddar.  I wonder if I can take a behind the scenes tour of the cheese factory?  Maybe I can just sneak into the factory, if I get a hairnet and a blue uniform I might just fit in.

 I was a good fox and never sneaked into the factory.  I decided to visit the gift shop instead. I got some cheese curds and saw someone buy some candied salmon (sorry Sandy, I didn't find the part of the store where they bought the candied salmon).  My roommates and I went for Ice Cream in the end, it was a tough choice between flavors: mudslide, huckleberry, or salmon flavored?