First real injury

Daphne had a little accident. She was at the bottom of a slide, and Luke went down. She was hit between the knee and ankle. She cried for over 30 minutes, and would not walk on it for nearly 3 hours. I was concerned. However, the next day she seemed fine, except for a limp. She had no swelling or even a bruise! She played on the swings and slide, ran around the yard, and even rode around on her trike. She was just grumpy that evening. I figured she strained a muscle.

The next 2 days went about the same, except she seemed real grumpy. The limp did not go away.

4 days after the accident, I took her in to get checked out. The doctor gave her a physical test in the office. She went on her tip-toes, walked, jumped, and it all did not seem to bother her. He thought she looked fine, but said he'd take an Xray. What do you know, she had a fracture. A torus fracture to be specific. He explained toddlers do not fracture or break bones the same way adults do.

Thankfully she does not need a real cast. I am happy I can bathe her! Her splint is also the same size as Luke's foot. So she can play outside, without getting mucky! Larger socks over the cast protect it from dirt. They are also a good disguise. She will sport this for the next 2-4 weeks, hopefully just that long!

Can't keep a little ball of energy down for long. She now runs through the house. She sounds like a pirate!

The doctor laughed as he told me to keep her from running, jumping and going down the slide. Daphne was spinning in circles in the office, as he told me this. What a tough little one!

Udderly scared!

We visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We went to the part that overlooks the factory and read about the history of the Factory. I noticed that Daphne was holding onto my shoulders tightly. She kept asking to go to the truck. When I turned around, she started screaming! It was because there was a life-sized, plastic cow and calf. I handed her to Ryan and caught a picture of her disapproval.

We found a cow she would pet.

This is Luke with the plastic calf.

Nehalem Bay

We traveled to Nehalem Bay to go camping. It was our first trip in our new camping trailer. It was so much fun. The weather was in the high 50's low 60's with plenty of sunshine.

Spotting a deer.

Stealing a kiss...Ok it was not really "Stolen".

Poor thing. Brother thought it would be fun to throw a sandball at his sister. It hit the sunscreen on her face and stuck!

Fell in the ocean

Smokey puppy

Even though her head looks big, she was as long as the spoon.

Smokey and Bandit, about 4 weeks after we brought her home.

Smokey's element

Our Smokey dog came to us about 8 years ago. When we brought her home she was 6 inches long! In her younger years she dug up rhodies, brought in bunches of grapes into the house (from the grapevine outside), and once brought in a dead bird and "Buried" it under our loveseat.

On her first vet check, we were told she was the product of a bad breeder. She has too long a spine, too short of legs, and demadectic mange (non contagious to all our doggy friends out there). The vet said we'd be lucky if she lives to be 10.

She has nearly died, or was almost put down SO many times. She had a severe allergic reactions to vaccines 3 times and had to have benedryl and steroid injections in doggy emergency. She ate an entire bowl of chocolate. She injured her spine (could not use her hind legs for over a month). She has eaten several poisonous things. She has also stopped eating for greater than 3 days on several occasions. Let's just say that the money we saved on her upfront was not worth the money we've had to put into her over the years! And she has food allergies.

Smokey now spends most of her time curled up resting in a towel by the vents in our house. She slowed down several years ago, after the spinal injury. She was also sad to lose her friend Bandit (our dog that had to go live with other friends because he started attacking baby Luke).

BUT...when she goes to the beach it is non-stop puppy energy all over again. Here are shots of her running back and forth. She also enjoys the laying in the hot sand and sunshine after a good run. Second to this is camping in the woods. She loves to track animals. But, she does not like how cold it can get.

Blackberries

The blackberries at our house are something else! Ryan wanted to burn the burn pile safely. So he spent about 3 full days cutting down small mountains of berry bushes. There is now a nice view of Mt. Hood! I am blessed to have a man who enjoys good, old fashioned hard work. He really was happy doing this!

Here are some pictures. The ground that looks like dirt (or pick-up-sticks)was covered in vines 7-10' high. Some of the canes were 3" thick! First picture is depth, second is width (I was unable to pan out far enough!), third is a close up of how dense the brush was.