Hazeldale off-leash Dog Park is holding its fifth annual benefit tomorrow with fun for the whole family, both human and canine. The park offers a large, welcoming and safe fenced play areas with lots of small trees to provide shelter from the heat and poop bags and water on site. Come join the fun including competitions, demonstrations and vendor stalls from 10AM till 4PM (contests start at 1PM)

 My darling wife Donna organizes a regular social meet up for British ex-pats in the Portland area, and tomorrow is our next meeting at the Moon and Sixpence on NE 42nd at 7PM. Its a great opportunity for all us British and friends to get together, sample the local beers and have a chinwag about all thing British. Topics range from where the best places to watch the football in Portland to tips on where to get the best scotch eggs and sausage rolls.

[ ](/u/2008/05/gas-vs-oil.jpg) It's a scary thought, but could gas prices be too low? This graph shows the movement of old (Brent crude) vs gasoline prices at the pumps over the last ten years (source: U.S. Energy Information Administration). The data seems to indicate that the price of gas at the pump has lagged behind the increases in oil prices over the last year. The implication is that if the price of oil was to steady around the $125 per barrel price, then we should expect gas prices to continue to rise to $4.

 We almost never do it, but yesterday morning Donna and I were up at 6AM to go shopping! We were after the Wii Fit which launched on Thursday, and out local Fred Meyer's were getting a deliver of about a dozen. So at 7AM we are standing outside the local Freddie's in a gentle Oregon rain queuing with the dozen or so other hardcore Wii fans waiting for the doors to open.

Becky, our 5 year old labrador retriever, has been going through the wars over the last couple of months. At the end of March, she started limping and Dove Lewis diagnosed soft tissue damage in her paw. Unfortunatly, it didn’t heal on its own, so after a few weeks we took her to see an orthopaedic specialist who diagnosed a torn ACL. So a month ago, Becky had surgery to repair the left knee, which went well except that a post-op examination of the other knee found ACL damage.

 Hondo dog park in Hillsboro opened today just [north of 229th & Evergreen](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=45.552871,-122.909911&ie=UTF8&ll=45.552871,-122.909911&spn=0.007934,0.023518&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1), and the girls just loved it. On a 3 3/4 acre site, Hillsboro city have built a beautiful fenced dog park with a large mixed area, a smaller area for small dogs only, and a small gravel area to allow mud free play in the winter. The park will be hosting an opening celebration on Saturday September 29th, 11AM-3PM - watch [hillsborodogs.

The Fourscore concert last night was awesome - congratulation to Ben, Ben, Brian & Stephen.

FourScore, a classical manband, has it’s debut concert tonight at The Old Church, Portland. Come and join us at 9PM at 1422 SW 11th Avenue, corner of SW 11th and Clay - tickets are $10 at the door. They will be performing five centuries of sad music: * Henry Purcell * Rufus Wainwright * William Byrd * Hanns Eisler * Edvard Grieg * John Dowland * Gnarls Barkley * Robert Schumann * Charles Strouse * Barbershop quartets * Irish laments * .

Oregon celebrated "Founders' Day" this weekend to mark the anniversary of the day in 1843 when settlers in the Willamette Valley at town of Champoeg voted to create the first independent western style democratic government. Included at the celebration at the state park was a draft horse plowing competition and a scavanger hunt. [ ](/u/2007/05/20070505_113437_large.jpg) [ ](/u/2007/05/20070505_113645_large.jpg)

Life is simple. It is HUMANS that make it hard. If a dog was the teacher, you would learn stuff like: When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy. When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience. Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.