It's hard to find the words to start this post but it is with deep sadness I have to write that our sweet boy Merlin is not with us anymore.

Despite a short week in which he perked up some, we watched him decline rather rapidly the last few days after he stopped eating and drinking, and his hips were getting so bad that he was barely able to move around or get comfortable, even when sleeping.
We made the heartbreaking decision to end his suffering, and last night we had him put to sleep by the very nice vets at the Newberg Animal Hospital.
We loved him so much and it was so very, very hard to do, but it was time. It's a decision that was the right one, but hurts so very much nonetheless.

He was an amazing cat, sweet, funny and a little crazy and such a beloved family member for over 17 beautiful years.
Here's a little tribute to him with the help of some of the 200(!) photo's we made of him:

                                                                       

Due to his deafness he didn't make many friends. He couldn't hear their warning growls and they didn't 'get' his reaction. Our little kitten Elmo was the exception though, they loved each other from the get-go!

And of course there was his human buddy, James. Although he wasn't really a 'lap-cat', but if he felt like it, James was his favorite ..

And when he was there as a referee, he could even get around to 'sleeping with the enemy', which in this case was our grumpy cat Felix ..

As any cat, he did a lot of sleeping, but he had a weird preference for unusual and often downright uncomfortable and hard places.
Inside the house:

Not a glass was hurt in this picture!



As well as outside:

Also in very odd positions:

Upside down was his favorite:

Being a white cat has interesting challenges .. you're almost invisible and hard to find in snow ...

     

Or in between a pile of grocery bags .. 'can you see me know?' ..

             
 
And when you get dirty, you quickly look very dirty (like when using a fire-pit for a litter box) ...

                                        

He loved the Holidays and especially Christmas trees were a lot of fun!

                                         

I swear I didn't do it .. 'twas Santa!

                                                         

But of course it was mostly about the food! He went nuts for turkey!

                 

When we got him from the shelter he would literally eat anything, I had to put him in an other room if I started cooking, or he would jump on my cutting board and snatch anything I was preparing. Lettuce, tomatoes and of course any meat, and he really loved corn .. on the cob, please, thank you very much!

His love for food, and especially turkey, stayed with him through the end. As soon as we would set up the BBQ he would be there to claim his rightful share ..

            

Or he would take a spot on the dinner table where he got his own place-mat and little plate, although he also liked to warm up our plates:

    

He was a very 'helpful' cat:

And he enjoyed puzzling and playing games ..

 

Of course he was a well traveled cat, he probably visited more states than most people, and through all our travels he was an absolute trooper.
He traveled in style (on the bed), like this ...

                               

... he had to explore every rest-area ..
                                                               



And took every new location we ended up in stride, as soon as we brought out 'his' chair, he was home ..

By the way, this is how he dealt with the mosquitoes in Alaska:

                                       

Which was before we acquired a tent, which served two purposes, he was almost invisible and somewhat safe with the zippers closed, and he didn't get bitten by the mosquitoes. He loved to be in his cat-cave/tent!

He did have a few encounters with wildlife after which he needed some medical care and off course he was diagnosed with diabetes 9 years ago, he also developed a skin-rash due to a tuna-allergy, had to have (almost) all his bad teeth pulled a couple of years ago and suffered from several bouts of fatty-liver-syndrome, during which he needed to be force-fed to pull him through ... but other than that he was pretty healthy during most of the 18 years of his life.
One thing I haven't mentioned yet .. he was rather voiceterous, to state it mildly ..
Probably due to his deafness, I once read, they either go mute or they go very loud and believe me, he was LOUD!

  

He was such a fun, silly cat, full of mischief, this next pic is one of his most famous and probably sums him up the best ..

Super-fly!

Besides all this he was the sweetest, gentlest cat, he didn't have a mean bone in him, he never gave us as much as the slightest scratch, no matter what he had to endure, and believe me, being tested once a day (in your ear) and getting Insulin shots twice a day, he had every reason to do so!

What more can I say, I think you 'get the picture', he was one in a million, we loved him to pieces and we are going to miss him so very, very much ..


     

Rest in peace sweet, sweet boy, our 'bud' and 'muffin', you have left our lives but will never leave our hearts ..

Our 'compound' is starting to look very pretty with these fall colors ..

I don't have much to show for this week, but here are a few more pictures of the vineyards around us.
They're just so photo genetic, especially now in the Fall ..

                                

I'll throw in a few more of those awesome trees. That's an Oregon Ash on the left and off course a Red maple on the right ..

  
  

                

I picked some branches of both (and some oak for good measure) and brought them inside:

                                                    

                                                Doesn't that look cozy?

In between some heavy rain-showers we still managed to get our weekly 9-hole golf round in on Wednesday, and afterwards we ended up at the Chehelam Brewery Co. for our weekly dinner out.                                               

Tucked away in the back of a parking lot is this tiny pub. It’s typical of the contemporary brew pub genre - concrete floors and “industrial” ambience, but it has a few nice tables outside as well.
It is a small venue with a relaxed atmosphere. There's a (glass) garage door at the front that goes up weather permitting.

 
The special happened to be 'Wing Wednesday', so we tried a few. They were pretty good!
We also split and excellent portobello mushroom burger with beer battered fries, and to wash all that down we tried a 4 flight beer!

          

                                                                 

Everything was really delicious and the portions were generous, so despite us splitting everything, we were pretty much stuffed when we left!

Other than that, I've finally started to 'earn my keep' in this household, as they say!
Since they were rather backed up this week, I've been tutored by James to assist him in preparing the appraiser-files to the point that he can make an appointment and 'take them on the road' ..


It's really very basic stuff, filling out forms, looking things up in various on-line programs, a lot of copying and pasting and putting together a physical real paper envelop with all the necessary papers ..
Nevertheless, after a couple of hours my head was spinning, and although I've been doing a couple of mornings and even a whole day this week to help them out, the plan is to do only about 2 hours a day, a couple of mornings a week.
More than enough, me thinks!

We had a rather rainy and cold week and the skies looked rather dark and gloomy early in the evening like in the picture above, but it's finally looking a little better for the next couple of days.
Hopefully we can get some golf in for the weekend!

Oh, a quick update on Merlin: he's very happy to be done with the pro-and antibiotics (and so am I!) and is doing a lot better.
He's still not eating a lot though, and is moving very slowly. I suspect his legs are bothering him a lot and I'm afraid he's in quite some pain. If he doesn't improve this week I might ask the vet for some pain-killers .. poor boy, getting old is not for wimps!

                                                      

When in Rome ... !

Yes, we went wine-tasting .. again! It wasn't the plan, but it's hard not to stumble across a winery out here and they all try to lure you in sort of .. anyway, it's hard not to give in!
We did work for it somewhat though since we went for a hike, up hill even, so we agreed we deserved it .. yeah, yeah, .. excuses, excuses.

About that hike, we drove over to Harvey Creek in Dundee, which is all but 10 minutes from us.
                        

There's a quiet 1,5 mile loop hike, over the creek and up a fairly steep hill,through a lush forest of ferns, maples, and towering firs ..

There's actually a creek 'running-through-it' ..

And look at the moss on these branches: 

     

Halfway up the hill, you have a view over the hills to the north side:

When you reach the top you walk right onto the Dundee Pioneer Cemetery:

                         

This small cemetery was established in 1855 and the pioneers who are buried here were the first to establish themselves in this area.

There are some beautiful old stones where whole families were buried ..

  

And amongst a few 'unknown', which we've seen before, there were also some marked as 'occupied' .. kind of weird?

On the way back we drove for a while through the back roads of the beautiful Dundee Hills ...

         

You'll pass vineyard after vineyard, with their tidy rows after rows of beautiful grape-vines.
Known as the heart of award-winning Oregon Pinot Noir, the Dundee Hills boast over 100 vineyards and wineries!

So, guess what .. we ended up at another winery for some wine-tasting! Hey, somebody has to do it!
This time we visited the Dundee Library winery.
At first we expected there to be a real library, with books about wines, but it's actually a library with a collection made up of all kind of different and special (bottles of) wine.
Like such:



There's also a B&B on the premises, and the communal sitting room does actually have a book-library, with some of them about wines ..

                                  

          

As you can see they can raise the glass doors at the front of the building, so you can sit inside but have some fresh air, but the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we opted to sit out on the terrace, from where you have a beautiful view over the Dundee hills ..

Our flight of wines consisted of three different Pinot Noirs, with one Chardonnay thrown in for fun ..

          

Here's how it's done by a real expert ..

                                                 

It was a wonderful way to end the day, life is good indeed!
            

More and more trees are turning in our neighborhood. Here's a few in Doug and Brenda's yard ..



... and a few in the neighbor's ..

                          

And some already have fires going!

One more thing that happened this week was that we had to bring Merlin to the vet again. He was still barely eating and getting really weak.
Fortunately they had a cancellation on Tuesday so we could bring him in.
The vet did a thorough examination and studied the lab results again, but really couldn't find much else wrong with him, so she settled on an Irritated Gastrointestinal tract.
She gave him an anti-nausea shot and they tried to give him some SC-fluids, but he was a little too upset by then and didn't want any of it.


So, we went home with antibiotics, probiotics, an appetite stimulant gel and the bag of SC-fluids to try at home when he'd calmed down a bit.
As soon as we came home he wanted to eat (!) and he kept improving steadily during the afternoon! I was able to get 150 ml of fluids in him and 5 gram of the probiotics, of which he's definitely NOT a fan, but such is life ..

                            

We're 3 days further now and he's doing a lot better, thank goodness! We stopped all the meds accept for the antibiotics. His diarrhea has stopped and he's eating like there's not tomorrow!

So, yeah .. still crossing our fingers, but much happier! All of us!