Morning Bird Feeding

Do you know what this is? A "rear view" of a barred owl flying into the forest. Silent gliders, you can see the spread of the tail and the wings just lift and swish them off, appearing effortless.
This Barred Owl was sitting for ages on top of the post. He had been watching a squirrel for a very long time, but no way to reach him. I've seen a few barred owls in the past few weeks, and one lovely little Saw-Whet Owl. Normally, late at night before bed, taking Kira out. This was odd for this one to still be here.

I was concerned he was hungry, rather than still hunting, and held off going out to feed the birds hoping he would catch something or fly off. The bluejays were flying around and screaming at him, but he paid no attention to them.

Eventually, I went out and walked slowly up to within 8' of him. He looked ok, but showing no concern about me coming so close didn't seem normal. I hope he is ok.

The males are smaller than the females. Very pretty birds, and hope he is not having trouble hunting. Crust on snow is a problem for them, which is what worries me. Right now it is snowing like crazy again.

ANOTHER *#!!/**$%#! Snowy Day

So...down the driveway we go again! It's nice the dogs are easily amused by our walks and toys.
A friend just emailed today that we were tracking last year on March 11th....hard to believe looking at this.
Even Trust was playing today with the rubber hose. She has become more playful than when she was a pup, which is pretty strange...

Let's see, what kind of dog is this!!? Why, it's determined Tank, trying to catch that fast ball!

Blast has it this time, he sure looks long-legged in this picture, like he's gliding along...

I first thought this was Blast, but it's not, it's Kira...same ball, different walk. This WAS Elle, but I renamed her as she didn't respond very well to her name. She "took" right away to Kira and looks immediately when she hears her name now.

Kira certainly looks more like a german shepherd with those ears "up". They are still changing but seemed more "up" today.

She's so cute. And both ears up. Yesterday I had "another" discussion with someone when we were out about her breed! I can't get over the number of people up here that still think a GSD only comes in Black and Tan, maybe sometimes Black, but never heard of or seen a Sable. That's the snow at the sides of the driveway, by the way...

Kira does look a lot like Blast here. She's deciding whether to give me a big thrill (in her mind!) and drop the ball down the steps. We're heading in for lunch.

Snowy Driveway

The snow hasn't let up, and now it's nearing 4 p.m. and is deeper and drifted. These pics. were taken on the first walk down this morning around 9:30 a.m.

You can't really see the snow falling, but the pictures aren't clear because of this.

The foolish old guy (David) thinks he can out-run the pup! What happened next, was she cut him off, and he fell overtop of her. I have a nice picture of him on the ground, but he doesn't really appreciate me putting things that that on my blog....no sense of humour! Elle thought it was great fun!!

And this is the killer puppy...or...the 'training for protection work' puppy...or...who knows?!! We laughed when we saw this, I saw her jump at him, but not the open mouth. I think he was tossing snow at her and she was trying to 'catch' it. She's actually very sweet!

No Tracking in Sight...

Just when it looks like the weather is changing, and maybe, just maybe, we can soon get out and track....A Winter Storm Warning pops up and plans change once again.
This is what it looked like when we got up this morning...and more snow all day long with blowing winds is predicted.
This was just cleaned off for the birds' breakfast this morning....

The snow depth on the railings is all new and still it comes down.

Southern Ontario is getting rain all day, and my friends down there say the snow is all washed away and they just have puddles and mud. And still it snows....

Still No Signs of Spring...

Although the snow has gone down a lot in some areas, it is surprising to see just how much is still on the ground in some areas. And wouldn't you know...a winter storm watch has been issued for Saturday with high snowfall amounts and blowing. This means we will be drifted in over the weekend, so will have to get a few things today, use the hydro and water today, and stock up supplies for outages being likely tomorrow.
However, yesterday was a lovely afternoon and I took Trust, Tank and Blast out for forest walks, and Elle out in the front and down the driveway. Trust is struggling back to the path in this photo, the snow is heavy and in layers that make it tough to get through.

Tank thinks I can't see him! I think he can't see me!! Hmmm, which one of us is lacking in grey matter, playing peek-a-boo through the bushes and trees.....

Blast pauses momentarily to look at me, while trying to dislodge a large buried branch from the snow. I had called him off this branch, as I hate when he picks up some 6' long "stick" and comes running up behind me on the path. Either I go flying, or he gets a good whack when he hits tree trunks. Either one is not my idea of fun!

Just a happy puppy having fun! Yesterday was a "work day" for Elle. We visited the bus terminal and checked out a Greyhound bus while running - NOISY - and hopped up inside when people were loading, rode some baggage carts, and went into the terminal to check it out. After that, we went to an indoor parking garage and rode the elevators up and down and then off to the mall entrance.

This could be a mini Blast picture....Elle looks just like him racing off through the field.

Elle loves to carry something in her mouth and right now, would rather hang on to it than return it.

I managed to actually "hide" on her all of one time! Again, like Blast, she's so fast and it's almost impossible to have enough time to hide. I had thrown the Wubba way up the driveway, and had my tree in mind and ducked in, crouched down, and boom, here she comes. She was on a turn into me at full speed and had just paused briefly in this picture when she spotted me. I was dead.

Elle is a fun little pup, she was four months old yesterday.

Elle on the Snowshoe Trail

This morning I realized that Elle had not been very far out the back as we 'lost' the trails due to snow, and breaking through, for a few weeks. Since we had a complete circle from the weekend on our snowshoes, I thought it was the perfect time to get her out there.
She found a hose on the way and took it along.

The snow is still fairly deep off the path. She heard 'something' and jumped off to inspect, but got bogged down pretty quick.

We went quite a ways out the back, and here is the scent post which is her first experience with it. And, she reacted exactly as the others when they come upon it. Scents it up and down and around.

She thought she lost me and is running to catch up. I had actually moved off the trail and lay down in the deeper snow.

She's soooo cute! When she saw me lying down, she dropped the hose and came running lickety-split and jumped on my head. Luckily, it wasn't a case of me being injured!!! She thought this was just so much fun, but immediately turned around and ran back for the hose.

Blast in Forest

This is just the trees, no hidden dog... I just think this is a pretty spot right now. Too bad the "feeling" you get out there can't be translated in the photo. It's very serene.

Blast has two hoses on the go out here. He took off previous to this and I think he had spotted a poor little bunny. I just dread him ever coming back with one, but think he truly just enjoys the chase.

A lovely day, between lousy days, as it sounds like another change coming. It's near 0 right now, with some sun, just perfect.

Going back to the house, Blast finds the toboggan and decides to pull it around for a while before we go in.