Sweet Nothings*

We stayed in Ashland last night at the LaQuinta Inn a motel chain that takes dogs. We've stayed at various ones over the years when traveling with Ozzie, seen lots of dogs, even big ones, being exercised on the big lawn, but never heard any of them once we were all in our rooms. Last night when we were getting out of our car after dinner, we encountered a couple with FOUR dogs--a black lab and three slightly smaller "bat dogs"--OilMan's term. We saw them again this morning getting on the elevator! We elected to take the stairs....

We drove up Interstate 5 to Corvallis this morning through gorgeous roadside autumn foliage--the yellow and red nicely backed by conifer forests, bright sunlight at the tops of the passes alternating with dense fog in the valleys. Along the way we saw houses being transported on two trucks, half on each, logging trucks laden with 40 foot long logs, and a septic tank pumper truck with the slogan the bumper--"...yesterday's meals on wheels"...

We are now happily ensconced with our old friends, Anne and Harold, and their two dogs. The weather is beautiful, the dogs wore themselves out chasing each other around the back yard and are now taking up most of the available floor space napping while we have a glass of wine. Lovely.

*Ozzie whispering sweet nothings into Rusty's ear. Daisy, the third dog is a yellow lab, and they make an attractive group if they would only pose nicely for me.