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Dog Diary

The ride of life with a dog
  • Surf Dog Diaries - dog blog
  • The ride of life with a dog
  • HANG 20 - DOG BEACH, CA
  • HANG 20 - DOG RIVER, OR
  • ABOUT US
  • BarbAyers.com
  • GIVING BACK
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Dogs ride the ups and downs with us. Real life Surf Dog Diaries

Meet writer dogs. Rider dogs. Best dog friends. Surf the couch, the www, or a wave. Wave back at us!

It's all about the ride. The ride of life with a dog.

Mosier Creek Fire, in our home town this August, caused immediate evacuation orders affecting nearly 700  households. 31 structures were lost, including 11 homes. On top of COVID, Oregon suffered its worst fire season in history in 2020.   Photo: (c…

Mosier Creek Fire, in our home town this August, caused immediate evacuation orders affecting nearly 700 households. 31 structures were lost, including 11 homes. On top of COVID, Oregon suffered its worst fire season in history in 2020. Photo: (c) Barb Ayers, Hood River County Emergency Management

Evacuation. Wildfires. Winter storms. Train derailments. Been there, done that. Lessons learned.

Barbara Ayers October 13, 2020

"Been there, done that" tips on disaster preparedness - from the “day job me” - County Emergency Manager. A dog/cat mom who has lived through disasters and evacuated people and pets.

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Tags disaster preparedness, recovery from disaster, oil train derailment, Bakken crude oil, wildfire, evacuation, Emergency Manager, Barbara Ayers, Barb Ayers, Surf Dog mom, surf dog diaries, Dogdiary.org, emergency preparedness, family emergency plan, pet preparedness, Hood River OR, Mosier OR, derailment, Columbia River Gorge, dog mom, dog kids, dog friends, Hood River, Eagle Creek Fire, Columbia River Gorge national scenic area, emergency response, emergency manager
Eagle Creek Fire has been burning some of our country's most spectacular scenery since Labor Day weekend - in our Oregon front yard.  Photo by Richard Hallman, freelanceimaging.com

Eagle Creek Fire has been burning some of our country's most spectacular scenery since Labor Day weekend - in our Oregon front yard.  Photo by Richard Hallman, freelanceimaging.com

Hoping for the best - preparing for the worst. It is happening to us - it could happen to you. Eagle Creek Fire ravages our magnificent Columbia River Gorge

Barbara Ayers September 17, 2017

It started with a 3am phone call. 162 hikers stranded on the trail as a wildfire broke out. Now it's 48,000+ charred acres later.

What's in your kit?

"Been there, done that" tips for pet parents on disaster preparedness, from Emergency Manager Barb Ayers, our Surf Dog Diaries dog/cat mom who has lived through several disasters.

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Tags disaster preparedness, recovery from disaster, oil train derailment, Bakken crude oil, wildfire, evacuation, Emergency Manager, Barbara Ayers, Barb Ayers, Surf Dog mom, surf dog diaries, Dogdiary.org, emergency preparedness, family emergency plan, pet preparedness, Hood River OR, Mosier OR, derailment, Columbia River Gorge, dog mom, dog kids, dog friends, Hood River, Eagle Creek Fire, Columbia River Gorge national scenic area, emergency response, emergency manager, wildfwilire, US Forest Service, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Friends of the Gorge, Hood River Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police, Oregon State Fire Marshall, Eagle Creek Fire 2017, Oregon fire season, firefighter, thank you first responders, Portland, Portland Oregon
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There's a rainbow over Mosier. Recovering from last weekend's oil train derailment disaster

Barbara Ayers June 12, 2016
Rainbows are a way of life in Mosier, OR. They take on new meaning these days - as we were rescued from the brink of an oil train derailment. It happened in our front yard - right below this front porch rainbow. Hard to believe that was just one week ago...
This is not how Mosier wanted to make national headlines.... with black clouds of smoke and fire; with all eyes on us - distressed, displaced, disgraced people. 
THIS is how Mosier wanted to make national deadlines.... we revel in our views. 
THIS is what Mosier stands for....
This is not a normal Mosier train day...
train derailed, Kristina DeFever image.jpg
THIS is a normal Mosier train day. Kids like Lou are fascinated by trains. We've peacefully coexisted with them for hundreds of years.
This is NOT our Rocky Creek park- our Mosier waterfront. At least not on a normal day. Yes, booms are still in place after last weekend's oil train disaster. Oil, please go away. We miss our beach, we miss our trees, we miss our waterfront walks. We miss our salmon.
Rocky Creek had a light oil sheen after the derailment. Booms prevent oil from creeping elsewhere. Photo: WA Dept. of Ecology

Rocky Creek had a light oil sheen after the derailment. Booms prevent oil from creeping elsewhere. Photo: WA Dept. of Ecology

THIS is Mosier's Rocky Creek park - our own Columbia River beachfront where dogs and kids and windsurfers and kiter surfers and SUPers and kayakers play.... and where our salmon brothers and sisters return each year, to spawn in their home town.
Dog model Klaus has the classic "I Love You Mosier" smile here. He and we and salmon coexist peacefully; we are Mosierites.
There's Klaus's dog mom, Carole Schmidt walking the Mosier waterfront with her grandson Lou and all the usual characters - dogs and kids and their friends - Klaus, Eloise, and my fur kid Doodle.
Is this a magical place, or what?
We're all in this together.
Here, my other dog son Dude checks on his fur sister Tia, while we were evacuated last weekend. We got home Sunday afternoon after running for our lives Friday. 
Here's how Mosierites normally show togetherness - this is a scene from our Mosier centennial parade September 2014. We are small, population 430, but we are mighty. We are proud.
Mosier parade old timers.jpg
Here's our fur family in the Mosier 100 parade -- dinky doxie Doodle, basset Elvis, and blind beagle Dude riding our land board with other Mosier locals.
It's a big deal, being a tiny town, surviving the best and worse of life for 100 years.
Mosier 100 parade SurfDogs.jpg
Our float carried the plaque of our 1907 farm house.
Our Sears Catalog home is rare on the west coast -- shipped to Mosier via the railroad at the turn of the 20th century. That railroad. Our Oregon railroad. Union Pacific.
I don't know what we would have done, if we had all lost everything. Right behind our old home is a waterfall park, an overlook trail and a pioneer cemetery. 
We couldn't wait to see our home again. Here we are evacuating - can you tell? We headed home in the same car, on the same freeway two days later. The fire was out, but we didn't have water or sewer service.
Heading home, the stress level couldn't have been any higher. Driving on I-84 toward Mosier had us so clenched up, we could barely breath. What would town look like? The last time we drove I-84, we were running for our lives.
the bad car ride - whites of Doodles eyes.jpg
As we rolled into Mosier, we saw all the usual signs. Tears rolled down my face. Relief. I looked for this sign over the avalanche of semi trucks and hard hat workers and a cavalry of equipment there, cleaning up the mess.
Old Hwy 30 sign 20140804_094002.jpg
Driving through downtown, we passed the cavalry, the train tracks and then stopped to chat with next door neighbors we last saw fleeing town.
Up the old dirt road, we rounded the corner and... there she was.... one look and I burst into tears. Happy tears. Just like I remembered her....
There's no place like home. May she live another 109 years.
Doodle jumped out of the car....
What a relief!
We couldn't wait to get inside - even without plumbing. Nature's housewarming was waiting for us....
Time for a celebratory nap. 
Home Sweet Home!  
Hugs to you and yours,

 

Barb, Dude, Doodle and Tia Ayers

Surf Dog Diaries

Tags evacuation, oil train derailment, Bakken crude oil, Mosier OR, Surf Dog Diaries, recovery, disaster, Oregon, Doodle, Barbara Ayers, Dog Diary, oil train
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Surf Dog Diaries.com

Featured
The smell of the river at sunrise will change your life
Jul 15, 2023
The smell of the river at sunrise will change your life
Jul 15, 2023

Dogs and people on the river. At dusk, coyote swims by as you zig jag turns through river glass, reflecting earth and man and sky. River bamboo swallows your wake - as if nothing ever happened.

Secret spot. Shhh! Don't tell....

 

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Jul 15, 2023
Celebrate your indy spirit on Independence Day with Doodle!
Jul 9, 2023
Celebrate your indy spirit on Independence Day with Doodle!
Jul 9, 2023
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Jul 9, 2023
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Jul 7, 2023
From Cat House to dog house. Cat takes over the dog blog (Part 4 - last in a series)
Jul 7, 2023

So there I was, living at Cat House, surrounded by 25 felines of every size, sense and sensibility. Waiting to be rescued. Elvis stopped by. In 13 seconds, my life forever changed. I was picked out - picked up - by the basset alpha of Surf Dog Diaries. In no time, I was in the car in a box, on my way to my new home with my new surf dog family.

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Jul 7, 2023
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Jun 24, 2023
I met Elvis at Cat House and he took me home. Based on a true story.
Jun 24, 2023
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Jun 24, 2023
Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (GoPro video)
Jun 17, 2023
Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (GoPro video)
Jun 17, 2023
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Jun 17, 2023
Cat takes over the dog blog (part 2)  Based on a true story. By me, elegant tabby cat.
Jun 10, 2023
Cat takes over the dog blog (part 2) Based on a true story. By me, elegant tabby cat.
Jun 10, 2023

Dear Dog Diary - In the Beginning - 1991… I remember the day She first picked me up. It was in the Cattery at the jail with all those other kitties.

Actually, it wasn’t bad, it was San Diego Humane Society – but it was still jail. That place in between. For homeless kitties.

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Jun 10, 2023
The secret surf dog handshake! Our new rescue pup steps on board!
May 29, 2023
The secret surf dog handshake! Our new rescue pup steps on board!
May 29, 2023

A new rescue pup, a chiweenie, adopts us on Mother's Day.. He mastered a surf board faster than all four generations of low rider rescue dogs before him.

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May 29, 2023
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May 12, 2023
Mod Squad of cat’s 'n dogs - based on a true story. By the tabby cat. (Cat takes over the dog blog, part 1)
May 12, 2023

Elvis, the big ol’ droopy eyed saggy basset hound, swayed around the house, scraping against the walls of the dinky beach cottage. Walking for any length of time ate up his one-big-energy-surge-of-the-whole-day, and he used it to find just the right spot in the sun to plop down for his daily nap. I guess if I carried 70 pounds and a massive square head with neck flaps bearing down on two inch legs, I’d be a super mellow stoner dude too. 

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May 12, 2023
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Jan 12, 2023
Christmas spirit is inside us - every day - we crazy dog people!
Jan 12, 2023
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Jan 12, 2023
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Mar 13, 2022
Dear Grandpa, I love you - from your grand dog.
Mar 13, 2022
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Mar 13, 2022
Boomers - remember the Flying Nun? Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (Surf board GoPro video)
Aug 20, 2021
Boomers - remember the Flying Nun? Doxie Doodle's ear flapping windsurf ride. (Surf board GoPro video)
Aug 20, 2021
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Aug 20, 2021
I love my dog. You do, too. Together, we go - surf dog summers are here!
Jul 29, 2021
I love my dog. You do, too. Together, we go - surf dog summers are here!
Jul 29, 2021

Windsurfing is our first passion as surf dogs. We love to sail the Columbia River, right in our Oregon front yard.  My three dogs sons - Elvis, Dude and Doodle sail with me in Hood River, Oregon, the windsurfing capital of the world.

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Jul 29, 2021
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Apr 24, 2021
O.B. Law - throwback to another surf dog place and time
Apr 24, 2021
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Apr 24, 2021
Mar 28, 2021
First day of spring. In spite of COVID.
Mar 28, 2021
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Mar 28, 2021
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Feb 14, 2021
Hi, my name is snow. Remember me? Snowmeggadon, in words and pictures
Feb 14, 2021
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Feb 14, 2021
Feb 7, 2021
Snow dog day - Snowmeggadon in Oregon's front yard 2017
Feb 7, 2021

Snow day in the Columbia River Gorge - a DogDiary photo essay

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Feb 7, 2021

Surf Dog Diaries  |  Barb Ayers, San Diego, CA and Mosier OR.  |   All content and images (c) Barb Ayers, copyrighted, all rights reserved