Louie's Birthday

Today is Louie's (arbitrarily chosen) birthday. Well, close enough for us. We had a fun day - first we went to Petsmart and picked up a new toy (as shown above)...he loves it as there are squeakers in each of the little ends. We also picked up some doggie cookies for treats.



Then we went swimming at Spicewood Springs - one of his favorite swim-holes. This is a past picture of him swimming there. He swam for a good 1/2 hour before we saw a snake in the water and decided to high-tail it outta there. I don't think it was one, but water mocassins are really prevalent in the area and pack a wicked venomous bite!

PS: It's also Jack's brother's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!

Camping at Enchanted Rock

This weekend we went "primitive" camping at Enchanted Rock, about 1 1/2 hours west of Austin. This is a picture of one of the "lesser" rocks - Buzzard Rock near where we camped.






Here is Jack with his humongo backback on. We were not lacking for back aches this weekend. We basically had to haul everything, tent and all, in on our backs. It was a good hour walk in through rough terrain. We foolishly brought our cooler as well.....sorry that picture is so blurry, but it gives you an idea of what kind of lifting and hauling Jack had to do to get it to the site. We tried rolling it as often as possible, but I think he ended up carrying it more.




The white 'powder' on these cacti is actually insects. Here I have squished them between my fingers and you can see their blood in the picture.







Jack and me on Enchanted Rock - beautiful view of the countryside behind us. Louie loved the hike! Another great view behind him.

After camping we swung in to Coopers in Llano for a well-deserved lunch of the best brisket around. Coopers was featured in an earlier post....it deserved another shout out :)

Howling Louie

The sad howl of the Lou is now heard throughout the Lone Star state. This post is for "all y'all" who miss this sound.

We were invited to a couple Halloween parties this year. This one is by a vet I worked with. He is the guy in the middle. If you look carefully you'll see that his face is really just below his "chin"

Happy Halloween!

Mid October we went to Pedernales State Park for an afternoon. It's a beautiful portion of the river that goes through these great rock formations. We had a great time climbing the rocks and hiking over them. Lots of exercise on a hot day.

Bonnie's Visit

Bonnie came for a visit in early October. We had dinner the first night at The Oasis.

This is the georgeous view from the restaurant patio.

Then we went canoeing in the Colorado River SE of Austin.

We also visited Enchanted Rock State Park near Llano. Llano is where Cooper's BBQ is.

Here is a slab of the famous Coopers BBQ, dipped in sauce and served on a cafeteria tray. Yum!

First Impressions of Austin

First Task! Find a place to cool off! We found an area of the Greenbelt called "Bull Creek" - a dog park and swim hole. Louie is loving it! There are lots of places like this in Austin. Thank goodness, because it was in the upper 90's through October. A huge change from our native lands.

As you can see, Louie is enjoying Austin. As are we. Here we are at Barton Springs...a public area where people can hang out in the water, drink soda (or adult beverages) and often the smell of something more sweet hangs in the air...dogs swim with humans. What is this world coming to?

Here are some shots of the kitties enjoying their new home. Bunny is especially relaxed here. They also like going out on the porch. Jack is worried Bunny is going to lose her balance and slip through the bars. I reassure him that her big belly will stop her from falling. Because we can only have 2 animals, I can only allow one kitty out at a time - yes, my ONE cat is a chameleon, changing from a little white cat to a big fat brown cat when it wants to.