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Around the Ranch

Betty and I and Dixie and Sky had a nice walk around the ranch. It was good to see that everything was intact after 2015’s fires and this spring’s flooding. Like so many of my closest friends, Betty and her husband and animals had to evacuate their home in the face of the dangerous fires. I think all of us carry around some PTSD because of it.

They grow hay on the ranch and have been working hard to rehabilitate some of their fields. In the past horses were used to run the equipment but now they rely on a tractor. Two of the old horses are still there living out their retirement. Sky gave them a wide berth. Horses are big scary animals for her.

You can see where the fire burned on the cliffs above the house
A simple piece of wood? It has been chewed by beavers and it is charred from the fire. It is in the pasture that flooded last spring. It was washed down from the mountains in the flood and landed high and dry in a new place.
Dixie can’t catch Sky.
Peregrine Falcons and Canyon Wrens nest in these cliffs
Retirement
A nest box for a Canada Goose
Ranch art
Dixie
One lone apple

Betty’s Chickens

Sky and visited friends who live near Republic. I love visiting their ranch but it seems like I seldom get over that way. The weather was already into that November mode – gray and kind of dreary – like it is here today. But it didn’t rain. I got a chance to visit with Betty’s chickens. They are a colorful bunch of different breeds, some with amazing plumage. And their eggs are not only different colors but different shapes too!

On the Loup

Sky and I traveled to an agility event last weekend. On the way, we stopped for a walk on the cross country ski trails at Loup Loup Pass. The western larch (tamarack) trees were marvelous with their golden needles. The ground was damp and smelled good. It was a nice way to start a trip.

Sky found a stick. Imagine that.
Tiny larch needles
Lichen
I think this is a tiny buckwheat
Kinnickkinnick berries?
willow leaves
Wolf lichen on bark
Larch needles. Interesting patterns as a result of the fall rains
Nope. I can’t/won’t cross that.
Layers

We had a fun time at the event. Sky had three qualifying runs, all blue ribbons and a new title.

 

October Scenes

November 1. How did that happen? October has been very colorful and also very wet. I’ve heard rumours that we have broken records for the amount of rainfall. In the mountains where we hiked earlier in the month, the trails are covered with a foot or more of snow. I’m glad we got out when we did. Here in the valley we should be able to hike in the hills for another month or more.

Patterson Lake
It was hunting season so the dogs wore colorful vests and stayed close.
The view from our house.
Balsamroot leaf
yarrow
bunchgrass
Mosses and lichens enjoy the wet weather
I told this two point buck that he’d better learn to not stand like that in front of a person. Next year he will be a legal deer.
The Sawtooth Mountains separate our valley from Lake Chelan
After rain, we often have a foggy morning
That view
Erosion above Campbell Lake
Lots of elderberries remain on some bushes. These bushes burned to the ground two years ago so this is a remarkable comeback
Douglas sunflowers normally bloom in June.

Blue Lake Fall Colors

It was a hair-brained idea given the fact that my to-do list is a mile long. However this might be the last day like this in 2016. The weather forecast shows lots of rain and wind for the next four days. Snow in the mountains too. So the girls and I threw together a little bit of stuff and headed to Blue Lake. Our dog friend Wyatt Ann is staying with us and she’s not in such good shape but she was a real trooper, having great fun on the trail.

Blue Lake is close enough that a person can get to the trailhead and do the hike and get home and only use up half a day. Unless she lollygags. And this time, I did not. That to-do list was waiting at home.

Ice on the creek.
Ice dripping out of a log.
First view of the golden larches
Here comes Sky
Here comes Luna
Across the highway to the north
Snow on log
Frozen creek
Ice crystals coming out of the ground
Underwater and ice
Here comes Wyatt Ann
I like hiking!
They are thinking about someone’s lunch
Frozen bubbles
Too many shadows for a good image
Wow!
The back of Liberty Bell
Sky jumped into this ice covered pond near the end of the trail.
She had to break the ice to swim and when she got out she was cold.