Walk in the Park

Picture and some video from our walk on Sunday the 23rd.

And then up to the quary.

And now we have even more snow. But in the midst of winter, you just have to think summer....

Winter is here. Happy Birthday Mom.

Got a little snow this week. We've been lucky so far, getting more rain than snow. But this time it piled up a bit. Doesn't seem to bother the dogs. But then they don't have to shovel or drive in it. They just get to have fun. Bo likes to attack and bite my shovel while I'm trying to clear the decks. Max just wants to lay in the snow, chewing a tennis ball. Of course, if someone would throw the tennis ball, that would be even better!

The picture was taken around noontime, yesterday. Today we went for a walk and checked out the snow drifts over at the condos. As you see, despite the fact that we received 8-10 inches of snow yesterday, afterwards the winds here just wipe some areas clean. But the snow has to go somewhere....

And here's a video from last week showing Buckley really running in his cart in the snow.

I was telling Kristin about the Mockingbirds that I was watching all summer in our backyard. I've noticed that the Mockingbirds are still here this winter, along with the Cardinals and Bluejays I see all the time. Donna has feeders everywhere for them. We get to see pretty much everything that's still here. The other morning I noticed a little red squirrel on my deck going through the bird seed that dropped from one of the feeders above. There's still plenty of wildlife.

Here's a video I shot last summer (change to British accent), where you can see the Mockingbird's distinctive white markings on his wings while in flight.

And here one bird displays the classic mating ritual of jump-flying into the air and returning to his perch, trying his best to impress the female of his species.

Next, the miniature poodle displays his retreiving skills in the snow.

Oh well. Cheerio! Off to tea, (or Pepsi in my case).

Old Man Videos

Here are the videos from our trip to the top of the old Man of the Mountains, or what's left of him, this past fall. It's been about 9 years since I did this last, so I got a bit off track, not the most direct route we've ever taken, but it was fun. Andrew was last up here about 11 years ago.

As you can see, it was a little too rough for dogs, so it was just us humans.

Then we finally found our way to the correct area of the cliff, and we were almost there.

I think my rock climbing days are over, and will probably never hang out on the sloping ledge below the Old Man ever again. Fall of 2001 was the last time I was on the ledge, and climbed the top 2 pitches of Lakeview with 2 strangers. So this is probably the last time I'll be on the top of the Old Man in this lifetime, who knows.

OK, I'll throw 1 dog video in here too. Poobie howls for his 'Mama'.