Tons of new snow again..

This just caught my eye. A nondescript bush down the driveway, by all appearances, is full of 'snowballs'. It looks like someone made snowballs and set them in at every nook and cranny, or the bush is actually growing them!

Dear Mother Nature...we've really received enough snow already this winter. Please stop. We want to make walking paths again, and right now the snow is up to my knees everyplace. The dogs and I are not happy about mainly walking down the driveway. Blast is the only really adventurous one out in deep snow. So, I believe we are at the middle mark of winter...enough already...

This is how deep it is in the front field. I threw out the toy and he can only take huge jumps to get out through the snow..you just CAN'T walk or run in it. This dog should have muscles on top of muscles!

Another one of those things that gives me pause. I tossed the toy out here, and it hit the branches before falling to the ground and into deep snow. Blast tore out to get it, stopped and sniffed up on the branches - where I saw it hit - before putting his head down into the snow and retrieving it. He is smelling EXACTLY where it hit! Amazes me...

And then he is leaping and bounding to get out of there and back to the driveway with the toy. I actually don't do more than a few of these, as I think it must be very tough to keep doing this - good exercise, up to a point. Running and retrieving in the driveway is much more practical.

Goshawk hunting at feeders..

I just missed a lovely clear shot of him/her? out in the open when he flew into this bush and was hard to see. I thought I saw one earlier, soaring nearby, but when I heard the screaming racket of the bluejays, I knew he was back. Goshawks are huge, but this one seems a little smaller than the one that was here last winter which was about 2' tall standing on a branch. I hope this one will show up again, although I'm sure the other birds would prefer otherwise.

A new little star in the sky tonight..

Keepers' Jess RN TD - born in British Columbia sixteen years and two months ago, left us yesterday. Regardless of her age, we were not expecting this. Jess was completely normal, enjoying the snow when we went out, until last Saturday night when she suddenly stopped eating. We went through thorough physical checks, bloodwork, and more bloodwork; it was not a good week for her or us. When the final diagnosis was finally confirmed, there was just no time left. She was calm and quiet, mainly sleeping, and we helped her by letting her go. We have the best vets in the world, who care almost as much as we do.

This was Jess the day she was finally turned in to Sheltie Rescue in B.C. She had gone through ice on a pond, and brought in still wet and dirty; the owners had had enough of her. She was no longer good for breeding as she was over 9 years of age.

And here she is, when I took pictures to apply for her Performance Event Number with the CKC.

She wanted so badly to go out and work like the other dogs, and finally I thought "why not"!! Jess had been "working" as a pet therapy dog (with Storm) but really wanted to do some physical things. So, as an "older senior girl", she began to train for Rally Obedience.

This picture was actually from Storms' birthday party on the 18th. Jess had turned 16 on Dec. 4th. I used the picture as it's the last one I took with Jess in it.

Jess BEGAN tracking when she was 13 1/2 yrs. old. She loved it! She was super slow, but nose down, and just motored along. This picture was after she finished a track..Miss Happy.

This giant chewie is her reward at the end of the track. Jess never learned to play due to her rotten early life, and I could never find anything that really turned her on...other than food. One day, I thought of these chewies, which I can't say I like, however, it worked a miracle for her. She got to keep it for about 10 mins. of chewing and sucking on it and she was happy. She never had any interest in the article at the end of the track. Didn't really matter - she stopped dead when she reached it, which was a good enough indication. So she got her chewie...it always looked brand new. And this is the day that Jess earned her Tracking Dog Title! A very slowly worked track, but she finally finished it. I'm holding her glove and she's wearing her rosette. Dawn Sanderson from Thunder Bay was our (very patient) judge. Jess was 2 months short of fifteen years old when she got her TD. We think she "might" be the oldest dog to earn a TD.

Here's Jess with her friend, Emma. What ARE they looking at? "It's a butterfly"! "No, it's not, it's a bee"! They did some agility, rally, and tracking together....travelling companions.

The day Blast arrived. Jess is quickly putting him in his place - she was great with puppies, and the bigger, the better! He had run up and barked in her direction, so he's now getting the evil eye

Jess earned her CKC Rally Obedience Novice title at the Muskoka Club when she was thirteen. This was fun for her, and we would have continued into Advanced, but she had some arthritis in her shoulder and I didn't want her jumping. Doesn't she look proud and happy here!

And Jess' most important 'job' (along with Storm) was visiting weekly in a local nursing home. They were so loved and looked forward to by many in there. She began shortly after arriving here, as she had a perfect, quiet personality for this. Jess visited for six years, they both were retired this past September, both well over 15.

And nothing was better than snow! We couldn't believe the first time we saw her actually DIVE into snow here. She loved it. She would go head first and bury herself, roll around and then just lie in it. If there was a snowbank, she would go part way up, lie down and roll and tumble down it. Never saw a dog love snow this much.

This is an older picture, but one I've always loved. One spring we had ponds in the front fields and what fun that was. Tank is leading the way with a ball in his mouth, Trust following behind, and then Jess. You can just see how happy she is! No prissy little sheltie, this one. She loved water also, which was a hassle for me, when she got soaked.

It's a very long story how we came to get Jess, and another one how she lived. Should you be interested, I wrote a story that was featured in Dogs In Canada magazine in January of last year.
There is a link also from a sheltie rescue site that had a fund raising contest. I was asked to enter a story for this about Jess, which I did. She is number 4 on that. Be warned, if you read some of the other stories, they are pretty sad....BUT they all have a good ending. As did Jess. We hope she never remembered her life before coming to us, already a senior. She was a small dog that thought she was a big dog.
Just recently gone, we can't believe it quite yet, I will keep looking for her for some time I imagine. She was truly a little princess, even without the birthday hats.
www.dogsincanada.com/jesss-story-an-old-dog-learns-new-tricks
www.mistyisleshelties.com/rescue.html

Playing in the New Snow....again!

Tank heading over and down the plowed snowpile...full speed ahead!

And over comes Blast with the rope toy. This was the mildest day we've had in a while.

Trust was up on top of the pile, minding her own business, when Tank rushed up and ran right into her, stopping dead. These three top pictures were taken this afternoon, snowing again!

These bottom two were from this morning, a break between snowfall. We were out in the front field here - Blast plowing through snow up to his belly.

Tank is on top of a round hay bale after he and Blast had roared through the field playing with the toy Blast has above. It's a favorite one for both of them.

Exotic (but easy!) Orchids!

Gorgeous houseplants, orchids are soooo easy to grow and maintain, yet most people think they couldn't do it. They are so beautiful, and look like high maintenance, yet they are just so easy.
Now, I AM talking the more "common" ones, which you see everywhere now...in grocery stores, Walmart, Home Depot...obviously, if they are in these locations, they are not tricky. These are Phalaenopsis Orchids and there is a huge colour selection.
That's my finger just pushing the flower up a bit for the picture. It will be 4 years in April that I've had this plant. In FOUR years, there has been only one three-week period without a bloom!!!! Not kidding. Basically, it has been in bloom for four years straight, normally having from 8 to over 20 flowers on it! And though I keep being told it is NOT fragrant - this one is! When conditions are perfect for it, it does give out a faint perfume. This is a new bloom, it gradually fades to solid yellow, but the flowers stay on the stems for weeks!

I love this one. It's a young plant and so there are only two stems that bloom, a new stem is forming..yay! And you can see a new bud formed just behind this flower. Each one of these is different in the "mottling" as I call it; I'm sure there's an 'official' term.

I think people that kill their orchids are too kind to them. They like west or north windows, cool conditions, and lots of humidity, but rarely watered. My only problem is the heat in our home in winter with all our south windows - which they can't be in - and I mist regularly - ideally having them sit in a pebble tray with water in it.

I think it's time for me to get another one!!! I have four orchids, each different, but only the yellow one is the non-stop bloomer. You may go some time with no sign of them ever going to bloom again, but be patient...once they do flower, they can last for months. Beat that!

A COLD Weekend!!!

I guess I spoke too soon, a week and a half ago, or so....we've been under a warning most of the weekend here....coldest temperatures yet of the winter, mornings in the minus 30's and windchills from -40 to -45. Our walks have been few and short, but not too bad. Have to go out with the dogs early morning, and follow them around, to keep them moving to do their "stuff"; if they stop, they can't get going again.
This afternoon was beautiful and sunny, we weren't getting the wind here as it was from the north, and the forest behind us protects us. We did two walks into the woods, short and fast, but quite nice...at least everyone was happy. Blast raced back around a 'corner' to get a stick he had dropped earlier...putting on the brakes here.

Coming back to see where I was...Dad didn't want to play with him...

Back out on the far side, and heading up towards the house. You'd never know it was so cold with the sunshine. And the house is hot, hot, hot inside with the sun and all the south-facing windows. Still around -25 and I had to open a few windows.

This would be a "semi-sit".....too cold to put that bottom right down, he's waiting to see if one of us will come and try to get the stick.

Not me! He gave up waiting and ran back with it. His game plan when he finds and picks up a stick is not one I enjoy playing, so he's on his own with this one. By this time, our fingers were too frozen to play, anyway. Considering how awfully cold it was, windchill was still around -33, our little walks were quite enjoyable.