Showing posts with label Nova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nova. Show all posts

17 October 2014

Nova (like the Chevy)

My husband and his college roommate got a dog while they were still in their Junior year of college.  She was the runt of the likely accidental litter of pit bull puppies; the one they'd originally picked out was a bigger, stockier boy.  Even though they'd reserved the boy, he'd been taken by someone else by the time they arrived to take him home, and the little girl was the only one left.  When my husband and his college roommate graduated, the dog went with my husband.  And now she is mine, too.

Her name is Nova, like the Chevy (but "like the Chevy" is not part of her name).  She has grown to be quite athletic and lazy, loving and unsure, friendly and shy, obedient and difficult.  She is a lot of opposites.  Overall, she's a very good dog and gets loads of love and praise from people who know her.  One feature that catches the eyes of strangers is her brindle coat.  The stripes are fun.

On a Monday when I stayed home sick with a nasty cold at the end of summer, I took the opportunity to spend some time outside in one of the few remaining warm sunny days, hoping some rays and vitamin D might help me get over my cold.  At the very least, it lifted my mood.  Of course while I relaxed outside, Nova poked around the yard, doing whatever dogs do.  Here are a few photos from that day: leafy branches of our 200+ year old oak tree reaching toward the sky, a portrait of Nova, and Nova rolling in the grass.

Leaves not quite ready to fall.

In this photo, you can see her muzzle is starting to turn gray.  Only a year ago the gray was confined to her chin.

Something about that grass...

01 October 2014

Table Rock

One of my favorite outdoor hobbies is hiking.  Thankfully, Oregon is an incredible place to hike, with a vast network of trails, most (if not all) with breathtaking views.  In mid-September, my husband and I hiked Table Rock.  This is a fairly moderate hike with views of Mt. Hood, Jefferson and Three Sisters.  It was a gorgeous day to hike, with the end-of-summer weather that I love: sunny, breezy, warm but not hot, "jeans and t-shirt"-type weather.  Nova, our super-agressive, killer pit bull (kidding, she loves people as long as they pet her and give her treats; she'd make a terrible guard dog) was a trooper and completed the hike with us and was completely oblivious to most of the wildlife along the way.  Here are a few photos from the hike.

Pika - Ochotona princeps

Nova

Spider Web

Mt. Jefferson
After seeing pikas in the wild for the first time on this hike, I decided to look up some information about them.  I was surprised to learn that they are lagamorphs, not rodents, due to their second pair of upper incisors.  This grouping means they are related to rabbits and hares, which are also lagamorphs.  Who knew?  Pikas are such cute creatures and they emit this adorable little "eeee!" sound to alert each other of the presence of a potential threat (predator or territory trespasser).