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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

A 30k Kind of Day

Yesterday a friend and I skied Methow Trails’ Community Trail from Mazama to the Town Trailhead in Winthrop – a distance of thirty kilometers or more than eighteen miles! For some people that’s not a long ways but it is for me. It was sunny and cold. Colder than I usually like to ski. My water bottles froze shut and had to be forced open. Brrrrr. My feet and fingers suffered some, but in the end I was refreshed and exhilarated.

The trail winds through the forest and across fields and along the river. It crosses the Methow River and several streams – Goat Creek, Wolf Creek, Spring Creek and some side channels. With all the cold weather we’ve had, the ice formations are fascinating. Cold weather also makes the skiing slower and more challenging and squeaky too! We did it in almost exactly four hours with one twenty minute break at a warming hut and several shorter breaks.

Ice on the Methow
Interesting patterns on Goat Creek.
View from the Suspension bridge
So incredibly bright!
A good day.

Winter Dogs

Dogs just want to have fun.

Look! I’m so excited my ears are standing up! Kala is here with Buddy and Lea!
Buddy is not that social
Kala loves to come over and play.
Kala and Luna are best chums.
I got a stick.
My stick.
My stick.
I told you. My stick.
Do you have a stick?
I’d really like you to throw a stick.
Can I have a cookie?
Who is that?
Cold? I’m sure there’s a stick here somewhere.

January

And there’s another month gone by.

Scene on the ski trails
Sunflower
Aspen snags
Ice
Winged landing spot
Keeping the skis waxed
Winthrop

Weekend Scenes

After a couple of months of snow and cold here at home, it seemed downright balmy in western Washington. Folks over there thought it was cold with frost in the morning and cars coated with ice. Walking on grass and dirt seemed almost refreshing. We lucked out and had little rain and the sun even came out from time to time.

 

Monday morning fog
Graffiti under the bridge
Dead fern leaves
Moss on a fencepost
Lichen on a fencepost
Moss and lichen on a fencepost
I love this old wood fence
There’s a whole world happening on this fencepost

 

 

Agility Dogs

Sky and I went to an agility trial near Auburn over the weekend. It was sponsored by the Extreme Agility Team (EAT) and held at Argus Ranch for Dogs. Sky and I are a work in progress, still learning how to communicate and get through courses cleanly and quickly. Sky has a strong drive to do agility. however my skills are lacking to keep up with her speed and she often has to turn to me and say ‘what do you want me to do now? I don’t understand you.’ However, when it comes together, we can do very well.

Agility trials are lots of fun. Well, they are lots of fun if you like dogs.

Here is our Tunnels run. We did have a clean run that was fast enough to qualify, came in first and earned our Open title in Tunnels with this. However, to compete at the next, Elite level, we will have to eliminate the indecision and spinning in the middle of the run. We have to be faster.

 

This is a view of Brutus Hall at Argus Ranch from across the Green River. Sky and I and our friends stayed at Brutus.
Frannie gave Sky the coat off of her back. It didn’t really fit Frannie but was perfect for Sky
This is Bertie, a light colored border collie
Teddy is a miniature Australian labradoodle
This is Bisbee Blue, a cardigan corgi
Liberty went to National Championships last year. She is amazingly fast.
This lady had tried to get into Seattle for the big March but could not get close enough so she went to Argus instead. I love her hat.
Compared to here, it seemed warm over there.