Snowshoe Madness!!

It’s finally here!  The snow I have been waiting for since last winter!  As of noon today we have a good 8 inches and there’s more on the way.  After shoveling for two hours this morning, I got out for a trek on the snowshoes.  I could only go for about 1/2 hour, because I had other things to get done, but that’s OK, the important thing is I finally got to go.  Hopefully there will be less shoveling tomorrow and more time for ’shoeing.   Here’s a few pics I took along the way.  And yes, you guessed it, you’re gonna see that old tractor.  Again.

It just doesn’t get any better than this!

My partner in crime, Axl.

Happy Trails!!

Happy Dog

My dog Axl, loves the snow more than any other dog we’ve ever had, and it shows in the following pictures.   He had a wonderful time jumping around, trying to catch the snowflakes.   after he got tired of that, we had a very enjoyable walk in the woods.

 

 

 

Whatcha Doin?

I almost forgot I had these pics, waiting to get posted.  I shot them about a month ago.  I was outside taking macro shots of the water droplets on the cedar bushes in front of our big picture window, when I realized I was being watched.  I looked up and saw two of my “furry children” peeking at me from between the blinds.  These are our cats Jack and Earl, and I managed to snap a few “reflection”  shots of them before they got bored with me and went to find something else to do; most likely another nap.

Jack

Earl

Kitty Rule #1

“If I fits in it, I sits in it”.  This is a universal rule of all cats.  Any box, basket, bowl, etc., regardless of size, is a potential kitty bed.  This is my cat, Earl, and as you can clearly see, she is way too big for the box, but that doesn’t stop her from squeezing herself into it.

 

Babies

I went to visit a good friend of mine yesterday and got these pics of her 4 kittens that are about 7 weeks old.  They are so adorable that I couldn’t resist posting them here on my blog.

Bear Attack!

Last Thursday night, when I turned into our driveway after work, I surprised a large black bear in the front yard who was in the process of raiding my bird feeders and destroying them.  The shepherds hook is bent at nearly a 90 degree angle.  The screen is torn out of the bottom of the tray feeder and I found my finch feeder out in the woods, smashed to pieces.  As soon as I turned into the driveway the bear took off running back into the woods, but the damage was already done.  This all took place at 12:30 at night, so everyone, including the dog, was safe inside.

The First Spider

Yesterday morning when I went outside I saw the first butterfly, but there was no way I could have gotten a picture of it.  Later on I took a walk in the woods looking for any sign of life and all I could find was a nasty spider.  So here it is; a nasty spider.  And some fluffy clouds.  And of course, my buddy Axl.

Puss In Boots

I was looking through my archives yesterday and I came across these pics and decided they are too cute not to share. We have two cats, a boy named Jack and a girl named Earl.  These pics are from 3 years ago when they were only about 3 months old.   Earl used to love to crawl inside my Mukluks and hide in there and peek out at me.  I caught her on camera a couple times and I’d like to share them here.  I smile every time I see them and I hope you do too.

Happiness Is…..

Hitting the trails again after being forced to take 3 days off due to ridiculously low temps and wind chills.

It was 3 degrees when we went out this morning, but very still and peaceful with light snow falling.  It was a little chilly, but I warmed up pretty fast.  It was great to get back out on the snowshoes again.

This is the dreaded Bull Thistle.  These are the nasty little buggers that I sometimes run into (in the summer) when I’m looking for other things to photograph and not paying attention to where I’m going.  When I saw this one all dried up and covered with snow, all I could think was “not so tough now, are you”.

The long road home.

I was about 1 mile back in the woods when I shot this.

When I first left the house, it was snowing lightly, then stopped for awhile.  When it started up again it was snowing a little harder, and it was so peaceful and still that I could almost hear the snow falling.  Once again I’m trying to convey through pictures the amazing sense of peace and tranquility I felt as I stood out there with the snow whispering around me, and once again, my pictures fall short.

Happy trails!!

Friday’s Frost

I went out snowshoeing Friday morning and we were already getting the freezing drizzle that was predicted for our area.  It was about 28 degrees and expected to get much higher.   The drizzle put a beautiful layer of frost on everything.   The temperature managed to get into the mid-30’s on Friday and yesterday it got up to 40 and we had drizzle and rain, so needless to say, I never went snowshoeing.  The temp. right now (5:00 am Sunday morning) is 29 degrees.  It’s snowing and windy, it doesn’t look like we’re gonna get the 4-7 inches predicted for us, but I’m gonna keep hoping anyway.  And I’m gonna go out and snowshoe no matter what.   These pics are from Friday’s walk.  I chose black and white because it seemed to make frost stand out more.