Friday, September 14th, 2018…… This morning we had to get up
pretty early and get rolling. The Oregon Zoo opens at 9:30am but it takes a
while to get up there, given it’s a workday. We fed and walked Rylee and then
left the house about 7:30am. We stopped at McDonald’s and picked up breakfast
then went to pick up Penny. We ran into little traffic and made good time so we
chose to take Hwy 99 into downtown Portland and then we worked our way to the
west side of the Willamette River and up the hill to the zoo. We got there
about 9:45am. Not bad timing. We read that parking was $25.00 for the day but
we had free admission due to the Oregon Fun Pass we purchased in the spring.
Admission was $17.00 so we would still be ahead. Turns out that all day parking
– right up by the entrance! – was only $8.00 all day. Cool! We paid that and
showed our passes and made our way through the park. The Oregon Zoo is the
oldest zoo west of the Mississippi, opened in 1888. Of course, it is completely
remodeled and looks as good as any zoo we’ve been to. They have several specific
areas: Great Northwest, Elephant Lands, Pacific Shores, Predators of the Night,
Africa, Condors of the Columbia. They are rebuilding Polar Passage, Primate
Forest, Black Rhino, Chimp Viewing so they were not open. Something to go back
to at another time.
After we left there, we headed up the hill to the Pittock Mansion.
Georgiana also was
instrumental in establishing the International Rose Test Garden, farther down
the hill, in Washington Park. We stopped
there and Penny and I walked it a bit (Lydia’s feet were telling her she was
done for the day!). Even though it was past its peak blooming season, the
grounds were still very pretty, with hundreds of thousands of roses looking and
smelling wonderful.
We finally made our
way back home, fighting the usual I5 southbound traffic along the way. On the
way down, we called the jury hotline number and found that both the girls have
to report in. Penny goes in on Wednesday, Lydia on Thursday. We dropped sis off
and then went to get dinner at Stick a Pork In It, the food truck we love up
here. Penny called ahead and ordered and told them she was paying for us so
they wouldn’t take our money! We had porkadillas and street corn and brought it
home. Yummy! Rylee was sure glad to see
us. Kirk and Caleb came by and made sure she got fed and exercised mid-day, but
she was ready to have us come home! After dinner, we played with her and then
we were pretty much done for the day and hit the bed early after a long day!
Saturday, September 15th,
2018…... We
decided to stay home for the day. Turns out super mutt wouldn’t leave our side
anyway! She wasn’t going to let us go
unless we took her too! So, the only thing we had planned for today was to cut
back the grapevines a bit. They have taken over the apple tree and made their
way over those and on to the tops of the blueberry cage. I only had so much room in the trash container
so we had to cut each vine into small pieces so they would compact better. My
sister came by and she and I cut vines. Lydia came out later and harvested some
grapes (now that she could see them!) for Tim & Dana and for Penny and her
neighbors. Even with Kirk and Caleb taking what they wanted, we still have a
mess left out there. We filled up the trash container plus three extra cans for
next week and called it a day. Penny went home and we came in and cleaned up
and rested for the day.
Sunday, September 16th, 2018…... Today we rested and did absolutely nothing. We got
rain last night and the field grass got a good soak. We have on big-leaf maple
out in the back along the tree line that I was going to run a garden hose to,
but I think we’re past the heat now so we should be fine. I will do one more
mowing before the rains come and it gets too wet. I also will have the west 40
mowed one more time before it’s too late. It was nice and dry after noon so we
could get Rylee out for a while. She did find Ollie out and hightailed it over
there before I could tie her up. She knew she was in trouble but at least she
got some exercise! Like I said, we did nothing – watched tv and took
naps.
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