On July 25th, 2008 we celebrated the sunny summer season with a campout on the property. We invited friends to bring their campers, fifth–wheels, tents, dogs, or just themselves to enjoy a day and night of food and fun. Everybody else was camping, we were living our ‘normal’ life!

Several campers lined up on the hill past the entrance gate to "Mistysacre Campground".

We cooked barbecued chicken outside, one brave soul (Robert) took a dip in the canal, and several folks played horseshoes.

Some campers just had fun 'horsing' around!

We had a sunny, warm July in Bend. The deer passed through the property regularly, through the gap we left in the privacy fence, and we watched Mr. Buck meander by.

This may be the buck we saw a few weeks later, bleeding profusely about the head, probably from damaging the velvet covering his antlers before they were fully formed.

Mavrik was getting to know the neighbor dogs and had regular play time with Seiko, the Australian shepherd puppy at the other end of the block.

It's amazing, the two playmates were the same size back then!

After several days of hiking, including a 10 miler, Mavrik was pretty worn out. He made this 7 mile hike with a little help from his friend!

The rough desert surface has been hard on the puppy's feet.

Way back in June on our trip back to Oregon from visiting family in the midwest, we stopped in Iowa and picked up our new companion. We immediately named him Mavrik, a name Robert picked out a year ago in case we ever got another pet. Mavrik is a smooth coat fox terrier, similar looking to a Jack Russell terrier, but not as hyper. He was five months old and took to travel immediately, good because his first several days with us we were on the road. He has since made friends with all the dogs on the block back in Bend, and still likes to travel as we begin our winter sojourn in the warmer parts of the country.

A curious puppy contemplating the steep camper steps!

The first big snowfall on December 18, 2008

Where did the time go? It’s been over 6 months since the last post, guess we got busy with life! The weather in Bend is frightful, so we headed south in between storms to find sunnier climes. We made it down to the Cargo Muchacho mountains in southeast California. While we relax here I’ll reminisce about the past summer in forthcoming posts.

Meanwhile back in Bend, life goes on!