04 July, 2020 - A Day of Exhaustion & A Night of Fireworks

Dear, Mom - 

Happy Fourth of July, Mom. We are just now maybe hearing the finale of our neighbors crazy firework show. It is 11:15 at night. Elsa the dog is settled next to me (a surprise and gift from God)! I am very surprised by how relaxed she is, but I think it is the serum I have given her throughout the evening. We also took a long drive and walked her over on Sauvie Island earlier in the day so she wouldn’t have to be in the thick of it all day. Then, around 9 pm, we took her out to the forest to the west of us hoping we could get her to go to the bathroom so she wouldn’t have to hold it all night. No success, but if she needs to go, we have shown her where the towels are in the house. I doubt very much she will go inside, but it is there if she needs it.  

Our trip out to the wildlife refuge was perfect until some (insert not nice word here) person drove by in a car and threw a fire cracker out the window. Luckily, it didn’t adversely affect Elsa for very long as there were many little mice for her to chase in the grass.

You can see that she is part fox! She loves to pounce like a fox. She focuses on something then springs onto that area with her front paws. You can kind of see this in the video. If she didn’t have to have her leash on, she would be bounding around like a baby deer. She really is such a sweet girl.

Sal and Elsa on Sauvie Island

A Caterpillar I just happened to spot in the grass

Needless to say, both Elsa and I were very tired from the previous night. I would say she had a harder night last night than tonight. I think after we went out for the last time tonight, she was almost getting used to it a bit. She is not okay with it, but perhaps that we are keeping her safe. Right now, all three of us (Holly, Elsa, and I) are barely able to keep our eyes open. I am going to finish this up regardless with a few more photos. Thank goodness the fireworks are starting to wind down. There will always be those people that stay out until the wee hours letting off cherry bombs, but there isn’t much you can do about it.

When we went out tonight, we went west of Highway 30 and up into the forested area. We definitely were not the only people to want to get away from the fireworks because there were at least a dozen cars alongside the road here and there. What we didn’t realize were two things: it was a huge, full moon AND when we turned back towards the city, it looked like a war zone. There were thousands of fireworks going off over the city. The people were sitting along side this winding road to get away from the worst of the noise, yet take in the sight of the fireworks:

It was hard for the camera on my phone to focus on the fireworks because nothing was static, but you can still make it out in the background as I turn my camera to the left. Look at that moon! It was so big and full coming up over the hills. Beautiful and made the trip worth it if nothing else.

That was our day for the most part. I was so tired I didn’t get the lawn mowed. There is always tomorrow afternoon for that. Plus, it’s not going anywhere!

Before I say good night or good day, here are a couple more pictures from our neighborhood walk today.

Pink Calla Lilies

Stinknet

Common Daylily

Garden Rose or Chinese Rose

Broadleaf Wild Leek

I love you, Mom. I hope to talk to you today. I miss you very much and hope that I can hug and give you a smooch so very soon. You mean the world to me! Thank you for being my Mom. I admire you so much!

Your Tired Girl, —-Sal