One year ends...another begins...

From snow deep enough this past week that we couldn't get into the fields without snowshoes, we've gone to above freeing temperatures and rain! Our trails are lost once again, and who knows, by tomorrow, we may have bare areas.
A number of deer were at the back of the house this morning; wolves were heard in the early hours, so perhaps they were seeking refuge. Getting through the heavy deep snow that remains is difficult.
This picture of Blast in the snow was from yesterday, before the change in weather. So pretty.
So, we say goodbye to 2010 with mixed feelings, some joys, some sorrows, and look forward to a new year and some hopeful expectations.

Best Wishes to everyone for the New Year. I never make any resolutions, but hope for health, happiness, and inner peace and contentment for everyone, however many legs they have!

If we all could enjoy life as Blast does, wouldn't the world be a better place....

A New Water-Wubba!

Today we met some old friends for lunch and Auntie Barb brought a Green Water Wubba for the "kids". Barb had Tank in mind as it was meant for "water", but I knew it would be a great toy for Blast and Tank to play with together....and it is!
We went for a walk down the driveway and I tossed this and WOW what a response...they were both after it in a flash. Tank pretends not to be interested in he can't get it from Blast, and starts to dig in the snow...then Blast thinks he missing something and comes to investigate...if Tank is lucky, Blast drops the toy on his way, and Tank rushes in.

Foiled this time, Blast rushed back and grabbed it while Tank ended up head first in the snow having missed his rush. Comical characters, they are.

They had a great time, very worn out by the time we got back, which of course, was the plan!

There's something about Trust...

Trust has always been the dog everyone gravitates towards. The cat that hated us and everyone and everything else....loved Trust. She would sit beside her and rub against her. The foster puppy that we worried about "protecting" her from Trust....immediately went to her, and sat beside her. Trust just leaned over and licked her. When Tank arrived as an 8 wk. old puppy, it was love at first sight...for both of them. We have so many wonderful pictures, they hugged, they licked, they rolled together, slept side by side. She's always been so "motherly" and tolerant. She's even had a baby mouse between her front legs, carefully watching it.
Then along came Blast! Now, there's only sooo much one can put up with. He tries, and tries and tries, as he just loves her. He's just too rambunctious and pushy. She tolerates him up to a point and then just 'puts him down', albeit 'gently' with (what we call) her UGLY face. So funny.
He immediately respects her, but he just doesn't give up. This afternoon, I let them have some time together, just them. She just wanted to lie where she was, and he kept at her. What she hates is how he pushes at her with his feet and legs.

So, it was going pretty good if he kept a little more calm than normal, and let her lick him instead of him constantly trying to lick and roll around for her.

Body language says it all. He's trying soooo hard to win her over, giving her a short reprieve, turns to me and yawns. She looks comfortable right now.

But, he can't contain himself, springs up and starts licking furiously at her face and here's the result. The UGLY face!!! And what an ugly face it is. She snarled and he ran off to find poor Tank to bug.

Love these snowshoes!

For years we used to struggle with the old style snowshoes, actually the worst part was the bindings...they just never stayed on, and it was frustrating. Two years ago, I got a "newer" style, and last year, David got the same type. You can actually RUN in these! They are so secure and being a narrower shape, are really easy to walk in. Love them.
Today, we've begun to open up some of the trails so we can continue to walk all winter. It's been SOOOOO frustrating having only the driveway to walk the dogs in the last two weeks. In most places the snow is over my knees. So off we went today. David actually went out earlier on one trail to see how it went, and going over it a second time today was a breeze.

What's really nice is to have the snow pack down and when it goes through a couple of freezes, it will become hard enough (to walk on) for the dogs. The forest is just covered with deer tracks right now, and they go down well over a foot - very hard for them to get around. Oh...that's me above.

David thinks he will wait for me to knock snow down on my head using his pole..ha.ha.ha. As if I don't know that trick!

A little clear spot back in the woods where we often see signs of deer bedding down in the winter. It's a good place to pause and watch and listen. Moose are often out behind this spot.

We're headed back towards the house now, and this was such an enjoyable walk....out of the wind, (windchill ws -20) and it didn't even feel cold. We are hoping to get out every day at least once while David has some time off, and keep stomping down this trail and we will work on a couple of others. I'd like the front field to have a couple of trails also, but being open, usually they get drifted in pretty quickly.

It just couldn't have been more beautiful out here today.

Now Three Pine Grosbeaks

I was so happy today to see two more male pine grosbeaks have shown up to keep the first guy company. I have great hopes that we will once again, end up with a nice little flock of them for the winter. Their beautiful red colour against the white snow, and mixed in with the gold coloured evening grosbeaks and bluejays is a winter treat.

This is a little redpoll joining them. The grosbeaks are almost entirely ground feeders while the redpolls - now a flock of over 20 - usually attack the nyger feeder, but also will eat seed on the ground.

Christmas Day Dog Walk

For as long as I can remember, we've looked forward to our dog walks on Christmas Day. Most people may not understand how this was so important, but it has become a cherished tradition for us. It doesn't seem terribly long ago, these walks involved 8 to 9 dogs. They were wonderful long walks through the field and forest. But time changes everything. Although we still have five dogs, two (Jess and Storm) are not able to come along with us. I've been very sad about this, but glad they are still with us this Christmas. They've been out a lot for short periods, with us around the house, Jess still rolling in snow, but both feel the cold more now and are anxious to go back inside. If we aren't fast enough, Storm stands and barks at the door.
So here we are, three dogs heading down the driveway; the other unfortunate circumstance is the deep snow wiping out our normal trails. So, we ended up going on two Christmas Day Dog Walks and playing a lot with the "bestest" toy involving more than one dog. Even Trust got involved, not one to play much with toys.

We all had a good time, lots and lots of running and chasing and pulling. At any time that it became a bit too frantic, I would call them back for a cookie - special ones that Santa brought - and off they'd go again. Obviously, we are near the end of the walk, or Blast would not have flung himself down acting the fool for Trust....and there's no way Tank is letting go of his end!

It was a good day, and the old memories are bittersweet, never to be forgotten. Today, like all the others, was special.

Merry Christmas to Everyone!!!

We all...Susan, David, Jess, Storm, Trust, Tank and Blast...wish all of you a wonderful holiday!
May you and your families, and all your four-legged critters, have a very happy and a very safe Christmas and New Years' Season. The best to you in 2011 and may all your wishes come true!
Blast warns all not to drink and drive or he will come searching for you...

Tank hopes everyone has lots of fun and toys and lots of treats as well!

Trust says to be kind to everyone and hopes she will receive lots of body rubs!

Jess and Storm have had a wonderful year, and are enjoying their retirement. As long as those special treats keep coming their way they will be happy and hope all the other "oldies" are also.

Crazy Snow Dogs!

I debated putting these pictures on, as they are not terribly clear. One of these days...soon??...I really need to read some instructions with my camera to get good action shots.
Blast always amazes me how he can jump straight up from a sit or standing still, and so many feet off the ground. He's such a powerful dog.

He's in quite deep, soft snow here as I always used to worry he would hurt himself. He makes total body twists in the air as well, it's scary to watch, yet amazing at the same time. I was throwing snow hunks for him, he totally loves it, but I don't like to do too many. Tank and Blast have such a great time when I let them play together; which is not on a regular basis. They never stop racing and wrestling and can be completely tired out in 5 to 10 minutes. They have such fun and look like they have a smile on their faces the whole time.

Winters' Beauty through the window..

A very pretty early morning with very heavy hoarfrost coating everything. It's too bad, in these pictures, you truly cannot see the diamond glint on everything.

When a little break in the clouds allowed the sun to shine through, everywhere you looked was just glittering. It was truly spectacular.

More "New" Birds!

The female Evening Grosbeaks have arrived...about 4 days after the males...hmmm...what does that mean?! I think it is obvious, the females were able to 'tough it out' in the forest longer than the males were able to go hungry!!!!

And the Pine Siskens, which we haven't seen for two winters. They began to swarm the niger feeder yesterday.

They are such cute, tiny birds, it's really nice to have them return.

But then....the pretty but bloodthirsty Northern Shrike arrived as well. A notorious hunter of rodents and small birds, he is a close relative to the rare Loggerhead Shrike, referred to as the 'butcher bird'.

He thinks no-once can see him, I was lucky to get some photos as he doesn't remain still for very long

I hope he isn't lucky with our pretty Pine Grosbeak (male). And so far, the only one to show up...he's been here alone for two days now.

One of those "lucky" shots! I was trying to get the Pine Grosbeak and two male Evening Grosbeaks together in one picture. One flew off and what the heck is this other guy doing? Maybe showing off or too much eggnog last night....Too funny! I didn't even notice until I loaded the picture, lucky timing.

Another Snow Day!

This afternoon, we headed down the driveway, Trust, Tank, Blast and I. I rarely take all three together, as it gets a little too chaotic. However, being low on places not deep in snow, I decided to take a chance. It worked out great, we didn't go too far and all three kept busy.
Tank went in search of a snowball I threw off the driveway; he actually found it, but it fell apart.

Blast is just circling around to charge off after Tank into the deeper snow.

Blast bugs the heck out of Trust whenever there's a break in the action between him and Tank.

She 'allows' him a couple of kisses, and he always pushes it too far. I can see his little mind churning away here, deciding if he dare try to lick her face again. Trust looks like she doesn't care, but is always ready to give him 'the lip' telling him to back off.

I'm not sure what this is about. Blast appears to have a bad taste in his mouth, while Trust is just standing there. Nothing happened, I was watching them, think he's just being his usual silly self with her, showing off.

Tank apparently has the prize - a weed!!! Wow!!! When Blast can't get "it", whatever it may be, away from Tank, he throws himself at him. Doesn't usually work too well....

Tank charges off, with Blast rapidly catching him. I think it's time for more snowballs into the deep snow.

We had a good walk/run/play and now it's time to head back up to the house for a rest before dinner and get Jess and Storm out for few minutes.

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas!!!

Coming home from the second shopping excursion this week, (I HATE shopping!), I paused in the bend of the driveway to take this shot. It was so quiet and peaceful, one thing I love about winter. Well, quiet until I drove up to the house. With he snowfall we've had, and shopping, the dogs have not received their usual amount of walks...most of the trails are halfway up my thighs in snow height. They were raring to get out.

I decided to play in the snowplow piles and wear them out throwing "snowballs" over the back. I really had to put things away, so a walk would have to wait until later. They had a glorious time! Tank is sinking into the "pathways" they've made as it's still pretty soft.

Blast is blocking Tank and waiting for the next snowball to make sure he gets it first.

They're both trying to squeeze out the narrow opening from the back. It almost looks like Blast is on top of Tank, but they are actually side by side. All of our dogs have always enjoyed the winter season and the snow much more than the heat of summer....a good thing.

It's a stand off! Trust only ventured once over the back with these two...way too much commotion for her liking. She stayed mainly down in the front, but since Tank wandered off, Blast has decided she "should" play with him. Fat chance, Blast!

We will be making some pathways this weekend with the snowblower for the dogs. We are really limited already where we can walk, and really miss having the trails. Little Jess and Storm just can't go anywhere now, without making paths for them. Probably we will do some snowshoe trails through the forest, if possible, and try to keep at least a few trails open.

There's nothing more beautiful than the forest walks in winter.

Snowstorm - Before, and After...

On Saturday morning, we had two of the most lovely walks you can imagine through our forest.
There were some sunny breaks at times, no wind, not too cold, and a lovely fresh snowfall from the night before. We didn't see too many animal tracks, mainly just some deer and fox. We knew a bad storm was on its way, and thought this might be the only really nice walk of the weekend...which it was...
This is Trust, catching up after wandering off a bit looking for one of "her" birds- spruce grouse.

Oh-oh...Tank thinks the forest monster may be lurking out behind those bushes...better wait for Trust!

But here comes Blast to save the day! We had such a pretty walk. The weather changed drastically after this, and we had a huge dump of snow. It was unrelenting, through the day, the night and Sunday. We are actually still under a winter storm warming, but the snow has been light today, the worst is the high wind and -30C windchill. I've not been too enthused to spend much time outside today, but had to shovel the deck for the fourth time in the last two days.

The dogs are all very happy when we have snow, but the old two are having a tough time navigating, Tank and Trust are having fun, but getting cold feet. And then there's Blast, who never seems to be bothered by anything.

Above, Blast has climbed up the back of this pile of snow (from the plow) that is about 5' high. He loves to be 'on the top of the world'. He's just about ready to spring down again.

This is the amount of snow we received, in flat places, not affected by the winds. We were drifted in until our "snowplow guy" came at 4:30 this morning. Wake up! there's a monster coming up the driveway!!! Our driveway is 1500' long, from the road to the house. The townshop plows had not been out yet, expecting school closures and no school buses, I guess.

I haven't gone down to check for mail delivery, just not in the mood yet for winter, I suppose.

I'm just hoping we won't be drifted in again by morning.