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Tag Archives: labradoodle

San Poil Moments

Along the way, Luna and I stopped in the San Poil valley to visit Dixie and her people. It’s a beautiful valley and sparsely populated. Our friends live on an old ranch with about a mile of riverfront – excellent habitat for birds, bears, moose and other animals. We walked and walked while Luna and Dixie ran and jumped and rolled in the mud! After the agility trial where dogs don’t get to play with other dogs, Luna was entirely relieved to see her old pal Dixie and bounded out of the car when we arrived.

 

 

On July 20th, a huge storm known as a micro-burst hit this area and tore down thousands, if not millions of trees. You can read about it here. Power was out for a week or more. Everywhere you go, you can see the damage. One area I saw looked like it had been clear cut.

 

Now that the wet season has started, people are burning debris leftover from the storm

 

Old farm machinery

 

They have draft horses to pull this sleigh and also for farming and logging.

 

So much dog fun!

 

Dixie is a McNabb, similar in appearance to a smooth-coated border collie

 

Rope growing moss. How cool is that?

 

Canada Geese flew off the river

 

The front yard. Peregrine Falcons nest there. Rattlesnakes den in those rocks.

 

A well-constructed beaver dam

 

These trees are full of birds in the spring and summer. Pretty quiet now.

 

Very pretty place

 

More moss

 

The neighbors’ cabin does not have indoor plumbing.

 

 

Stops Along the Way

As Luna and I travelled from Deer Park (north of Spokane) to home, we made some stops along the way. I always figure there is no point in travelling straight through in the most direct manner if you have some time to spare. After two days of agility trials, Luna was ready for some ground-sniffing walks without leashes. We both enjoyed the fresh air of autumn in the woods.

 

Happy Dog

 

Beautiful Ponderosa Pine trees

 

Love those undulating hills

 

These mushrooms almost looked good enough to eat but I’m not one to experiment

 

Golden Western Larch needles carpet the trail

 

This is a nice boardwalk over a wetland that is probably teeming with birds in the spring and summer. We only heard a few chickadees and siskens.

 

And a cool bird blind but no birds were in sight

 

I wonder how long ago this tree was cut down

 

Near the summit of Sherman Pass, it was quite cold and silent.

 

Big Valley Walk

Luna and I drove up to Mazama for some errands the other day and on the way home we stopped at Big Valley (part of the Methow Wildlife area and in the winter a great ski trail shared with dogs) for a quiet walk. Summer is drawing to an end and much of the green has faded to yellow. The trail is dusty from use. Walkers, dogs, horses, bicycles and wildlife all share this path through the mixed woods. The river is quite low and yet still inviting and refreshing.

Ponderosa pines

This field used to grow grain or hay. I wonder if this year it is producing canola with the bright yellow flowers?

Still fascinated by patterns in the water

Fish science? 4 meters from the river, something happened. There was a tiny rivulet of a side channel with little fish that might not get out to the main river.

Luna. She hurt her leg sometime after this and won’t be going any walks or playing in the river for a while.

Asters. Nice to see a few wildflowers still in bloom.

Splash!

Ok, I admit it. I like my dogs. And I like to photograph my dogs. Especially when they are having fun. These dogs love to play in the water. Sam, the brown one, just loves to swim. It takes all the weight off of her old sore joints and she is once again mobile and she remembers her glory days of youth and good health. For her sake, I wish we lived on a lake. Luna loves to swim after something we’ve thrown. Tennis balls are her favorite. In hot weather she can do this longer than we can throw the ball.

 

 

 

 

What Luna lacks in grace and style she makes up for with enthusiasm.

 

Look at those ears! No wonder she gets water in them.

 

I love how the water comes off of her in sheets.

 

Sam displays calm determination.

 

 

 

I got it, ok? I got the job done. I’m a working dog.

 

Just swimming for fun on a hot afternoon.

 

 

Look – I can get the job done too.

 

 

Spring Skiing

MVSTA said that today is probably the last day of grooming at Big Valley this season. Only one thing to do. Luna and I headed up valley to take advantage of the day.

 

The Methow River

 

Reflected trees

 

Love those curls. Next week, Luna gets a hair cut.

 

 

I discovered that the snow in the field was still firm enough for skiing so off we went. It was great – nearly effortless skate skiing.