Taste of Edmonds

This past weekend we went to the Taste of Edmonds with our friends Richard and Felicity - it's a large festival featuring a beer garden and wine garden both with their own stages of live music. They had so many food booths to choose from it was hard to decide what to eat. We took our plates of food over to the beer garden where we spent the rest of the afternoon listening to music, and of course drinking some good brews!

Boating...

Daryl and I took advantage of a nice day on 8/8 and took the boat out. We explored an area we hadn't been to yet, then shut 'er down and drifted while having lunch, listening to music and soaking up the sun.

More about CJ

Well, based on a recent vet visit we think CJ has Invertebral Disk Disease. The way I understand it, we've either got a situation where CJ's disks are inflammed and putting pressure on the spine or the disks are degenerating, causing pain in the spine.

CJ has an appointment with a neurologist in about 2 weeks, in the meantime his vet put him on an anti-inflammatory (Prednisone, steroid) and he did respond to that. Hopefully that means we'll be able to treat whatever is ailing him with rest and medication.

For now - no playing, no running, no jumping. If you know CJ, you can only imagine how tough it is to contain him. :-)

Please keep your fingers crossed for him.

Update on CJ

He's actually not any better. I don't know what we were seeing before, but he's now having a hard time getting up from lying down and when you look at him it's clear he is uncomfortable. He doesn't like it if we pet him anywhere from the middle of the back down.

It's possible he did have a stomach problem and that is resolved, but there is something else going on. He has an appointment with another vet tomorrow... keep your fingers and toes crossed please!!!!!CJ many years ago

Kayakin'

This is our 2nd trip to Spencer Island via kayak with our friend Tom and it was a great day! The tide was higher this time so it was easier to paddle around. Because the tide was higher we were able to get at the shipwreck on the slough - we can see it from the freeway everytime we drive by, but this is the first time we've gotten close. As I sat in my kayak while the guys took some pictures up a narrow channel, out of the blue a Bald Eagle comes flying right over me!! As he came swooping down I had to make sure there wasn't a mouse on my head! Perched back up in his tree
See this earlier post for a map of the area we kayaked. The reeds and grasses were much higher this time around so we had to whack our way through some areas early on but the rest of the trip was free and clear.

We saw a WHALE!

So, July 11th was a beautiful day and Daryl was off work. Friends (and neighbors) Crystal and Bill were also done with work early so we headed out for boating. Crystal and I were sitting in the back soaking up the sun chatting when we heard Daryl yelling something. I thought he saw some porpoise... the boat all of sudden comes to a stop and Daryl hollers 'WHALE'! We jump up to look, but it (we named it Frank) had already gone underwater. We stayed there for a bit to keep watch and sure enough we see the spray from the blow hole and then Frank. At one point he surfaced about 50-100 feet from our boat! It was AMAZING!!!! Best photo I could get with my point and shoot camera.
We watched for about 15 minutes before continuing on our way to Bill's preferred crabbing spot. After Bill dropped his crab pot we found a nice spot to anchor and have lunch. We listened to music, had some beers, soaked up some rays... after the pot had been soaking a few hours we pulled it up to find 3 crab, only one was a keeper. Sadly, all good days must come to an end..............