BrownStone Year End Post

Another year is almost over. What a year it has been. I want to thank the special people in my life who have listened without judgement, helped without conditions, understood with empathy and loved me no matter what. I also need to thank my Chinooks. They stood watch over Dave as he laid dying. They smother me with love throughout the night. They know when I am grieving and make sure they are always within ear-scritch length away. They bring me such joy and laughter.

Unlike the dogs, my camera has not always been by my side. Along with the usual "loose weight and get in shape" New Years resolutions, I resolve to learn more about photography and make more frequent posts in 2019.

Tomorrow and the future will be much brighter. I feel as if I am climbing the last steps up a mountain. On the way down I will be able to look back and at the same time move on. 2019 will bring new challenges, new victories and new adventures. I will coddiwomple.

BrownStone Pupdate

The last Pupdate of the year contains bits and pieces of pictures and events that are new since or were missed in the last Pupdate.
Team Nookies
I knew I was going to be gone most of the day so just before I took off for Christmas with Dave's family, I let the dogs out to run. When I called them in, they came up from the barn, covered in blood. I suspect they had had the resident fox cornered.

I really had to get on the road to make it to in time for Christmas lunch, so I quickly assessed their wounds; cleaned them up and; hit the freeway to Portland.

I left immediately after the gift exchange so I could get home to do a more through exam on the dogs to see if I needed to go to the e-vet. Unfortunately, on the way home, my van suddenly stopped. It was raining and blowing so hard that I could only see the vehicle tail lights in front of me. The freeway was packed with holiday travelers. Somehow I coasted to the side of the road without getting hit. I didn't have a clue where I was on the freeway. I guessed I was in Salem but had to wait until the storm lessened before I could see some land marks. I am now the biggest fan of AAA - EVER! It was late by the time I got home but between my auto mechanic, who left a party to open his shop; let me drop off the van and; provided me with a loaner and the wonderful AAA two truck driver, I made it comfortably and feeling well cared for.
The next day I found out that my fuel pump had puked. Trask took full advantage of being injured.

Trask with new scars and soaking up sympathy.

BrownStone Cascade Mt.Koma, CGC, CG (Liaka)

December 14

Kay Lee -

 I took a couple of photos of Laika and me at the American Express "Interactive" conference today.  We were working at the "Puppies and Ice Cream" station.  Needless to say, Laika got a lot of attention from the convention goers.

 Merry Christmas to you and your family!

 Warm regards,

Jim

BrownStone CNK Century Wind (Ullr) in search of the perfect Christmas tree and...

 assisting with decorations.

BrownStone CNK Century Treadwell (Cedar) came for a visit last week.

 Cedar is a really handsome boy and is quite a bit bigger than Ullr.

Unfortunately Trask and Ullr became territorial. Instead of a play date, they were banned to the kennel with mom Koyuk and grandmother Cedar.

Ullr, Trask, Cedar, Koyuk

The day is now almost over. Since starting this post, I had a wonderful visit from long time, close friends, Larry and Sandy. We shared an afternoon filled with laughs and memories.
The dogs and cat are letting me know that diner time is coming up quickly. Jake is bating at the courser on the monitor and the dogs are assisting with keyboard strokes.

Christmas Eve

We have a special guest this Holiday season.
The Holidays have been hard. The dogs grieve with me. Often curling up in bed is our day's activity. A visit from BrownStone Chinook Centennial Wind aka Ullr has brought joy and frivolity to the withdrawn household. He immediately raided the toy box. Before his family was out the drive, Ullr was initiating games of keep-away and tug. Toys littering the house have resulted in startling squeaks as I stumble about in the dark of night. The yard is once again mud from vigorous games of Chinook Tag.

The obligatory Christmas Eve photo shoot was a bit of a challenge but worth it.

Tonight I will await Santa snuggled in bed with four Chinooks and Jake the cat. This human creature will not be stirring - I will barely fit and won't even be able to roll over. As I dose off to the sound of pitter-pattering of rain on metal, my visions will be of fuzzy toys and running Nooks - or trying to breathe as I am being suffocated by each dog attempting to get as much bodily contact as possible and Jake purring on my head. I will continue to miss and dream of Dave. We both loved Christmas. He would roll his eyes at the tree overloaded with hundreds of lights and come up with excuses for the outside Christmas lights to go up early and stay into spring if possible. We would open our presents on Christmas Eve. At 0530 Christmas Day we would leave for the ski area. For 37 years we cooked an annual feast for the Ski Patrol. We only missed when the area did not open for lack of snow. Tomorrow the area will not be open. Dinner will be a special feast for the fur kids.

Tonight I will be surrounded by memories, hope, warmth and love.

Solstice

After the longest night of the year, the sun rose in a blaze of glory

The Three Sisters above the fog-blanketed Willamette Valley.

When I got up, I saw the orange-pink sky through the trees. I grabbed my camera and headed for the clear-cut next door.

My traversing icy brambles in PJs and boots was rewarded with a rare view of morning alpine glow on the Middle Sister.

 Along with the Three Sisters, I could see Mt Washington...

Three fingered Jack and even Mt. Jefferson way to the north.

Start of a new bright year.

And the other surprise brought by Ma Nature: a dusting of snow blanketing the grass...

 on this first day of winter.

"Solstice reminds us that we are intertwined through a long history of seasons and cycles in our shared landscapes. The word solstice comes from the Latin words for “sun” and “to stand still.” Even though it represents the onset of deep winter, Solstice brings an end to the darkest days of winter, and welcomes in the growing light that helps us keep heart.Though winter cold can sometimes disconnect us from nature, ancient holiday traditions remind us to bring fragrant evergreens indoors, and take comfort in the light of candles and the warming ritual of fire to keep connection alive. Light to illuminate the things we hold sacred, and good cheer to help us celebrate the gifts each season brings.Our agricultural roots remind us that even the earth must rest in winter, and that a new year offers us a chance for introspection, connection and renewal."~John Forti
Best wishes for the turning of the season and happy Solstice!

BrownStone Pupdate

I am the luckiest breeder of all. All of the BrownStone pups have gone to wonderful, caring forever families.

BrownStone CNK Century Wind (Ullr)

From Kerstin, Ullr's forever mom.
I got such a sweet and thoughtful gift yesterday from a fellow Patroller - in honor of our snow dog Ullr (Norse god of snow, skiing and archery); these metal pendants were carried along skiers in the Alps (this on is from Tirol) to keep the skier safe. I love it so much and will definitely do the same!

Ullr beat me to the mountains by at least 2 weeks. His family went up for pre-season skiing at the ski area where Kerstin is a ski patroller.

BrownStone CNK Century Kate MT (Tika) with Desert Sol Kima
"what you got for us mom?"

 "I'm not really excited about this are you?"

BrownStone CNK Century Mt. Wash (Remy)

Good morning Kay Lee,

I wanted to send you an update into the recent adventures of young Cedar and some updated photos (yes somehow the crab toy did survive puppy-hood and is still played with today!).

He definitely is no longer "little Cedar" as he has been pretty comfortably at 85 lbs now and we have figured out a system for making sure he says interested enough to eat breakfast in the mornings (in essence if its the same thing for more than 3 days in a row he says its too boring to bother eating haha). And he is getting some speed and agility now to go with his size! We were up at my family's small farm for Thanksgiving and Cedar was just loving ripping around their fields with my parents Australian Shepard right on his heels trying to heard him. There were a few time Cedar just ended up bowling their dog over in his full run excitement but it was just a hoot watching them in the mornings.

These days Cedar is well on his way to becoming the favorite office dog and has been working on his fashion sense by donning a hi-viz orange vest both on the job sites and for recreational hikes. He definitely is becoming more vocal, as when I am having an office day typically around 2pm he comes up to me and gives me a "Are we really just in the office ALL day?!?" vocalization. I'm always just amazed at how intelligent he is, whether its his very appropriate vocals that are very fluent, or now figuring out how to open drawers, or even what wearing specific pairs of shoes means. And he's figured out how to tell where we are driving to, to around 20 different places now both around and outside of town! He is just amazing!

 He has also been eagerly awaiting the return of snow season, with this most recent round of hard frost getting him all excited. We may end up with a first snow trip of the winter here this weekend actually which I'm sure both of our dogs will love. Still very much not a liquid water dog though. haha.

Both Jordan and I have been following your recent blogs and wanted to extend our warmest thoughts to you this holiday season with the loss of Dave this year. It seems the holidays are a time that can simultaneously magnify and distract from the void of loosing loved ones, but it sounds like you have an excellent group of furry and non-furry friends and family to support you. 

 Send hellos to Trask, Koyuk, and "grandma Cedar" from us and "young Cedar" sends an especially large Chinook kiss to you this winter as well. :)

-Anna Vesper 

I am amazed at how much Cedar looks and acts like Trask. Trask is the biggest talker of all. His opinions are always spot on for the occasion. I am glad to see this trait is passed on to a family who can appreciate his vocalizations and are giving him an amazing Chinook life.

Just in:
Here is Bashaba Bo... "Clark" from the from the Wrigleyville Litter (MountainThunder Calamity Jane X Brownstone Cascade MT. Trask). Born April 29, 2017, he enjoys his life with his family in MI.

Tree Hunting

This morning I have three totally crashed Chinooks sharing my office.
Yesterday we went in search of a Christmas tree - totally futile when the youngest tree on the place is over 20 years old but a great excuse for a fun adventure.
On our way up to the top of the ridge and into the fog.

These trees were once part of huge Holiday parties we used to hold. What started out as three boys baking cookies after bringing down their tree turned into a party with over 100 people getting trees; making wreaths and; baking hundreds of cookies - a little frosting for the cookies, a lot of frosting for the kids - a little sprinkles for the cookies, a lot of sprinkles for the kids while the adults washed down the sweet treats with drinks of festive joy. We had a full bakery, long counters, three ovens and a commercial mixer for the cookie dough - lots of cookie dough.

The last party held here included children and grandchildren of the original three boys along with friends and the now grown boys themselves.
The trees are now much too big for the living room.

 Cedar and Koyuk resting and waiting for Trask on the sunny side of the ridge.

 A dash to the back pond.

 Koyuk after her cooling swim.

Um, "Trask where is your visibility vest?" I suspect snagging the vest was the reason for Trask's delay in making it over the ridge.

 Exploring around the oak Savannah.

Without his vest, Trask is no where to be seen. I did see a pile of bear poop the size of a small load of bread. I guess mine don't hibernate.

Koyuk

Twelve year old Cedar still running on the way back up the ridge road. I tried to get her to ride with me but she insisted on running with the other dogs.

 Trask in the lead.

We searched the woods for Trask's vest but were as unsuccessful with that as we were with finding a living-room size tree.

 Heading back down the north side of the ridge.

 Trask has once again disappeared.

Trask was quite proud of himself when he came from the same area with a stinky deer leg.

There was no way I was going to get anything more than a picture of him with his prize.

 "Nope, it is ALL MINE"

All of the dogs were filthy. Normally I toss them into the pond to cool off and get clean after a run. But, the pond was still frozen solid even after 48 hours of heavy rain and above freezing temperatures.
The ripples are ice, not wind.

After everyone was through supervising Trask eating the entire leg, they agreed to come in for a bath and nap. Twice this week I have spotted a cougar from my window in the same area Trask found the deer leg. A cougar defending a carcass is not the confrontation I want to think about. Just in case, new batteries were put in the invisible fence collars. Our next adventure to find the visibility vest will be delayed. The tree will have to be store bought this year.