Hill Walk

Yesterday, I took the dogs for a walk.  They really enjoy going for walks.  I enjoy taking them.  We went to the top of one of the nearby hills to some public land.  It's bunch grass and sage brush.  There are sage rats for the dogs to chase and all sorts of wild critters and smells.  The dogs think it is Club Med.  I drove up higher than normal, for my regular and secondary parking spots were in use.  The first by some guys with off-road vehicles, the second buy some gentlemen with guns...black guns.  I was not worried, because all showed signs of resisting the urge to shoot me.  Well, actually, what they did was point their barrels at the ground and take out the magazines.  I smiled and wished them a good day and drove on past.   

I drove about 3/4 of a mile further and the dogs and I got out and headed away from that direction.  We could still hear the gunshots, but we worried not.  The views were magnificent (see above).  The dogs and I found an outcrop of basalt and heard the familiar whistles of sage rats warning that danger (dogs) was in the area.  The dogs did their best to find the whistler and have him out for some fun and games (games, I imagine, that included some chomping and biting[dogs aren't THAT imaginative]).  Below you can see Gypsy inspecting different holes for sage rats.  You can also make out my truck in the distance, in the upper right hand part of the photo.

I love this next photo...Gypsy looks good!

Those darned squirrels/rats were in the rock that Toby is leaning against.  The dogs simply could not get to them.

That didn't bother them, though.  The dogs enjoy this kind of thing.

Below they look as though they are paying close attention to the whistles...and, well, they were.

Toby made sure there were no entrances on top of the rock...that's my 4X4 dog.

The views were spectacular! Did I mention that?  Spring is the only time the brown hills turn green for a short time and even then the brown remains.

I thought I would throw in a self portrait.  I love the way the clouds threw shadows across the hills.

I had hoped to find some flowers, but it is still too early to find the Phlox in bloom.  I DID find these little guys.

I think the dogs and I needed to get out in the fresh air!  I hope to do this more as the spring continues.

Walk

When left alone, television becomes boring.  I was left alone last night.  Cora went to be with her sister for the birth of our newest niece!  It is awesome to be a new uncle...now, four times over.

I was at home all day.  At about 11 PM I decided to take Toby for a walk.  I took him to the park.  There was absolutely no one to be seen.  So I let him off the leash.  He thought he was in heaven.  I walked quietly with him.  The traffic on the highway zipped by in flashes of light and whooshes of sound.  Toby was a white spot in the dark.  He was SO happy to be free and exploring without me disturbing him except to sound off when I lost sight of him.  He would zoom by me in an extension of his parabolic orbit to let me know he heard me.  I was very proud of his behavior.  He is a good dog, he just has lots of energy!

We had walked through the territory of two exceptionally loud and annoying chihuahuas on the way out.  Toby was very polite and did not jerk the leash.

On the way back from the park, I got a text that announced that there was a new little girl in the world, and that she happened to be my niece!  I was ecstatic!  We were walking home with Toby OFF his leash.  since it was 11pm and it is our small town...well, it wasn't necessary.  We were within less than a block of home and crossed the street when the dog of one of our neighbors let loose a war cry and began to close in.  Toby did not have a leash.  He is a good 25-30 lbs.

The dog that made the report is a papillion that might be 12 lbs when he is soaking wet.  I said, "go get him!" and off Toby went.  It was a large parabolic intercept.  Toby began to cut off the attacker, and the attacker became the defender and when Toby got within 6 or 7 feet, there was a strange, plaintive high pitched yip that issued from the little aggressor.  Toby never made a noise.  I called Toby off and he came back.  The little guy decided Toby's withdrawal was a retreat and made chase...yet he kept his distance.  It was all very amusing.  The little guy never got very close after that, though he did bark.

Overall, it was a fun walk!  Not a bad way to spend a weekend!

Happy New Year to ALL and to ALL a Good Night!

Yesterday, as Cora was walking in the door, I was putting the last touches on a masterpiece. I had, in the past ten minutes had a glorious idea and was in the midst of bringing that wonderful little gem into being. I had taken a look at one of her empty coffee creamer jars and the starving birds outside and put two and two together. I created a bird feeder.

Cora took a look at it and snorted, then went off to the bedroom to talk to her sister on the phone. I finished my little project and hung it out on the fence. The picture below shows I am NOT crazy, but a definite genius!

Yes, that's a bird eating out of my BIRD FEEDER! HAH! Take that Cora!

Below is a shot of the trees just as it had began to snow.

As the morning wore on and I went from store to store the traffic went slower and slower.

In fact there was traffic in places there usually wasn't. You'd think it was the day before a major holiday!

It snowed so hard it blotted out some buildings...

When I finally got home, I unloaded the truck and let the dogs out. You can see Toby heads for the nearest bush...as usual.

after I shoveled the walk, he was not done and decided to initiate the light pole...well, this is its 1,270,004th initiation to dog pee...

Note, I had JUST shoveled the walk...maybe 3 minutes before...

Cora got off work early! Tonight we decided to go for a walk. As we were walking along...after the city guys had decided NOT to plow our area-but I'll address that in a later post...we saw someone washing their car...

Yes, that is someone washing a van...with snow all around. if they take that damned thing out on the highway it is going to get muddy...just like everyone else's. Cora and I were a little confused by this apparent obsessive compulsive behavior...but some people are just odd.

Below you see Cora on our wonderfully plowed streets...I think the right way is to get the snow OFF the street, NOT compact it so it is even hard to walk on...

She told me about a blog she reads and this person had done some sort of swirl technique with their SLR camera...I thought I might be able to approximate it...here is my second try. Also, I gave her some Romulan Ale before our walk...I had some too.

The trees have rime on them...they look so pretty in the dark...here is a shot:

This is a shot of Cora before she attacked me with a snow ball! Devious.

And this is as close to a junkyard dog as we can get, still, it looks a little demonic, huh? It has an extreme under-bite, which is not shown in the photo. Shortly after this it levitated and spoke to us in an unearthly voice...it wanted to know where we kept our kibble...weird. As it was still chained up, we ignored it and walked on.

and finally we decided a couple New Years Eve Photos were in order...

Note the dogs in this last one?

So, may you all have a wonderful new year! I hope 2010 goes better than 2009. I hope those of us who want kids get them and those of us who don't give them to those who need them! So there!

Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Good morning! Happy Birthday to my Mother! She is now somewhere between young and old, and I am certain she would rather me not get too specific. (Does the Egyptian sarcophagus give any hints, though? Mom, do you remember when these were all the vogue?)

We had a great day yesterday. I worked on finishing the sarcophagus...probably should have been reading for the graduate degree...but, it was a holiday...right? Cora worked on sewing. Here is the finished product, what do you think? Looks pathetic, an ancient Egyptian artisan I am not...but sould be ok for the daycare kids. The curse on the side with the spider means (according to the hieroglyphic dictionary I made) "danger/curse- protects -royal- jewels/treasure." Doesn't look to bad or being from ancient Egypt and sitting in a Washington desert for 160 years, huh?



Oh, and the jackal on the end of the box stands for guard, dog, or jackal...go figure, nice statement of the obvious, huh? Sorry.


I would have posted again last nigt, but the card reader (no, my computer was made BEFORE such things were standard equipment on laptops) was having issues. I had to wait for this morning to surprise my computer and trick it into downloading the pictures. So, anything in the brackets was written last night, before I realized the computer was going to have a hissy fit about reading the card.


this is a blurry picture because I was experimenting with exposure...

Our nieghbors across the street were setting off several canon at once...one (or more) tipped and sent some blazing balls of fire in our general direction...I am afraid I don't have any pictures of that OR our startled expressions when we saw it happen.


[It was a good day. Even now (mid-night) the explosions and detonations report. It sounds like a battlefield. The change this year is that we could sit on the front porch and see the fireworks. The new development has allowed this. Used to be we had to sit in the backyard to see the fireworks.

Tonight, after burgers, we took the dogs for a walk. Several people asked whether the noise bothered the dogs. Gypsy was somewhat nervous at times, but otherwise both handled the fireworks like they did that everyday. I was proud. They are such good dogs. Toby and Gypsy have both been exposed to gunfire, so loud noises are not new. Gypsy would usually rather hide, but Toby does not even appear to notice.

Here are a few pictures we managed to capture.]
Ha, I caught her while she wasn't looking...

Cora, you have sparks coming off your shoulders and head...did you just think of something?

We were having difficulty timing the photos to get fireworks and us in the pictures...I think I did ok with these two...

celebrating!

Of the two, I think she is the better looking...don't you agree? I hope everyone had a safe fourth!

WOK

We went for a dog wok…yes, W.O.K., they know what a W.A.L.K. is, so we have to be smarter than they are (they haven’t had “Hooked on Phonics,” yet.) I told Cora we were building her character. She rolled her eyes at me. I said, “SEE? Success!” I don’t think she appreciated my humor.

When we got back I turned on my computer and found that Kylee has been on-line tonight…and apparently in the country too long. She has come to appreciate tractors.

Be sure to look at my other posts today…should be three, thus far…I promise not to post again today.

This is Toby...we had our sheets awaiting the wash and he decided they were fit for him to lie in.

and this is the end...dog gone...