Step 1: Find a crab shell.

Step 2: Slam your shoulder onto to the shell.

Step 3: Swivel your hips like crazy.

Step 4: Check for danger.

Step 5: Admire the results.

On Memorial Day Weekend, we brought Andie to the beach.

As usual, she had a great time searching the beaches for pieces of kelp to destroy.

When Andie’s human aunt Greta arrived, she brought her new cat Porter.

The two shared a couch for the first time. As usual, Andie kept her attention focused on the humans, while the cat kept his eyes on the dog. 

When Porter moved on to another room, Andie finally found time to relax.

For many of the past few weeks, Andie has been at the beach with Max and Sarah.

At times, the Pacific City weather has been chilly.

During most hours, however, Andie has been cozy on the beach house couch.

She changes position when necessary.

And keeps an eye out for treats or pets from her people.

Here are some photos from a walk on Port Orford’s beach,  one of many enjoyed by Andie during our recent vacation.

More logs to find!

Andie has been spending more and more time outside of her new house while Sarah and Max are home.

On sunny mornings, she loves a post-breakfast nap on the east deck.

She explores the new gardens in the back yard.

We have new duck and turkey neighbors across the backyard fence, but Andie gets jealous of the attention we give them.

She prefers to play in the front yard where she gets all the attention to herself.

When raining, which is often lately, she returns to her favorite indoor location: her couch.

When the sun comes out, our gravel driveway is Andie’s favorite place to be.

As soon as she finds a good spot, she rolls on her back,

rubs her shoulders on the ground,

stretches her legs,

has a big yawn,

looks around for people to woof at,

then resumes her stretching.

Now that we have our own yard, we can leave the door open for the dog to come in and out at her discretion.

On Easter Sunday/Sarah’s birthday, Max, Sarah, and Greta brought Andie to the Columbia Gorge for a waterfall hike.
Greta used her iPhone to take many pictures of dog. 

Though it rained much of the weekend, we had dry weather when we were out of the car.

We enjoyed the lush vegetation on the basaltic cliffs.

Andie enjoyed the hike, especially when the trail was clear of small children.

We left Andie in the car and said hello to Herman the Sturgeon.


And Greta posed with a rainbow trout.

2010 has already been an eventful year for the dog.

At the end of January, Max and Sarah packed everything in the Apartment while Andie napped on the deck. While waiting for completion of the new  home purchase, we stayed with Sarah’s parents. Andie made many trips to their kitchen in hopes of sampling Smokey the Cat’s food.

In his younger years, Smokey would have put up quite a fight, but has tolerated the dog at home and at the beach.

Eventually, it was time to move into the new house.

Andie was nervous during early visits, when their was no furniture, only slippery floors.

Once the couch returned to the living room, however, she was quite at home.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Sarah and I celebrated our second annual Dog Day, the anniversary of the day we adopted Andie.

For gifts, Andie received a new collar and a delicious beef rib. I’m sure the rib was her favorite of the two items.

Last weekend, Sarah and Max left Andie alone in the apartment while they went out to dinner. As an experiment, they let Andie stay out of her crate to see if she could behave herself.
She mostly did. Some Halloween candy had been left on the floor and the dog helped herself to a pink lemonde lollipop.

She unwrapped the sucker and consumed it, leaving the stick.

A few days later, we brought Andie along on a trip to Forest Park with our friends and their daughter Jillian.

Jillian really wanted to walk Andie, so we let her take the leash and jog down the trail. Andie kept up as best she could.

After the walk, Jillian and Andy said goodbye. They will probably meet again when Jillian is at least a foot taller.