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The Sledding Hill is Open!

I like to wait til there is deep soft pillowy snow before I try sledding. Right now the snow still has a crust on it but new snow is falling so it could be nice soon. That didn’t stop Ken from giving it a try. He just got a new plastic sled to replace the one that burned up in the fire so it was time to give it a spin. He said it was very fast and it certainly did take him almost to the edge. That’s why I like the deep soft pillowy and slow snow!

Getting ready
Sky says – Hey whacha doin?
Hey, where’d he go?
I can catch him!
See that edge there? If he goes over that, there is a state highway at the bottom of the very steep hill.
Luna says – well that was fun.
What goes down has to come up.
We can wait here Luna
Oh look, Sky found a stick.
Weren’t we going to put in a tow rope?
How much fun is this?
Hey Luna, look at the cool stick I found.
Again?
Catching air.
I wonder if she should be running with sticks?
To the edge.
Sometimes you have to fall out of it to get it to stop.
The hardest part.

Winter at Home

Christmas is done; it’s almost New Year’s; the Solstice is passed and the days are getting longer. It’s snowing this morning. The sled run is ready to go. Here are a few images from yesterday morning.

Sunrise on Isabella Ridge.
Morning dog walk
Goat Peak and the North Cascades
I wonder if I will like the dead trees better when the red needles are gone?
Our steep icy driveway
My, what a big nose you have, Sky.
Luna just doesn’t like to look at the camera.
Maybe if I have a cookie
My bromliad has four blooms coming on.
Morning

Agility with Sky

Before we went to the beach we attended an agility trial at Argus Ranch Facility for Dogs near Black Diamond. It was Sky’s very first trial. We started training last spring and gradually added more obstacles throughout the year and finally she was old enough and ready to give it a try. It was very fun! And it was a real learning experience. She and I have a lot to work on but right now she looks like she has great potential. Watching the videos it is apparent that the only thing slowing her down is me! On her first run at her first event she got a qualifying score and a blue ribbon. She had seven other chances over the weekend and while we both had a lot of fun, there were no more ribbons. Like I said, we have a lot to work on.

Here is the video from that first run:

As you can see, she was ready to go before I was!

Dogs on the Beach

Well, of course we took the dogs! And of course they had fun!

Where’s the ball
Sky wants that ball
Luna got a ball
Sky got a ball
Frida wants a ball
Frida got a ball
See how fluffy her normally sleek tail looks? That’s from the powerful wind.
Wind blows her ears back
White socks from all the sea foam

Birds on the Beach

I’ve never been very good at identifying shorebirds. It used to be that I birded with some experienced birders and I could muddle my way through the peeps and such but not anymore. And this time of year, the birds are in winter plumage so very few clear ID marks stand out for me. Someday I’d like to go to Alaska in the late spring and see the breeding shorebirds decked out in all their fine feathered plumage. But for now I will have to settle for wintering birds on the Washington coast once in a while.

This Bald Eagle didn’t seem to bother the shorebirds.
He finally moved on.
Two gulls.
Beautiful patterns when they fly.