Saturday - September 1st, I can hardly believe it!

I can hardly believe its September already!  It seems like it was just spring, I don't know where the time goes.

We're sitting here watching the Oregon Ducks football game on TV.  This is a big football town and the Ducks reign supreme.  This campground is full of Duck's fans with banners, flags, tents, windsocks, t-shirts, parking spot indicators,  table cloths, dog bandanas, and anything else that is green and yellow.  We stick out like a sore thumb amongst these fans, nothing flapping from Beluga or our jeep, nothing on the ground in front of Beluga, the wrong t shirts on our backs, oh my.  It will all be over tomorrow and we won't be in the minority any more.  Go Ducks!  Jesse is at the game tonight, lucky guy.

Saturday is the big Farmer's Market in downtown Eugene and we were there before lunch.  Breakfast and lunch are as much a part of the market as produce is and we wanted to have the whole experience.  We missed Jesse and Jonathan by just a few minutes, arriving around 11 a.m.  They went over for breakfast before Jonathan took off for Seattle.   At Jesse's suggestion, I tried a bacon wrapped fig stuffed with hazelnut studded goat cheese....what a way to start the afternoon.  After walking around drooling at all the fruits and veggies I stopped for a wild mushroom pastie and Dave had a bbq brisket sandwich.  Thus fortified we made our purchases and strolled around the other vendors tents.  Lots of beads, jewelry, tie-dyed clothing, wood products, knitted things and anything else that someone thought might sell.  We bought cucumbers, chocolate tomatoes (a variety, not a dipped confection), green onions, three types of melons, the last of the Blondie Lady's blueberries, peaches and a few cool vibrant orange flowers.

Plastic bag man....interesting folks at the market today

This little guy could really play that piano!

After Jonathan left, Jesse loaded Ruby in the car and they came over to let Ruby have a good swim in the river.

Ruby reaching for rocks while swimming in the McKenzie River

The River is just ripping along right here.  Ruby is such a pro at these western rivers.  She knows just how far to swim out before she'll get swept away.  She's mostly interested in trying to get rocks off the bottom, or getting and chewing sticks, no matter how swiftly the current is moving.  When she does swim, she is powerful and efficient, heading right into the oncoming water.  You can see how hard she's working, but she doesn't make any forward progress.  Great exercise for an old gal.  The River is really all she wants, her little eyes keep watch on Jesse standing the shore, but I don't think she'd ever voluntarily come out unless he called her.  Even then, as we walked away from the water on our way back, she'd slip away back into the river if he didn't keep a vigilant eye on her.  What a girl.   By the time Jesse dried her off back at Beluga, however, she was almost asleep.  Her lids were very heavy and even Lewis' insistent licking and nudging didn't faze her.

After they left, Dave and I enjoyed a Dry Fly gin and tonic (thanks Erin) and cooked some steaks on the grill.  We added new potatoes, carrots and ciabatta bread  from the market and we were happy campers.