We recently celebrated Methow Dark Sky week in conjunction with International Dark Sky week. Here is my celebration from my backyard. As usual, I am a little behind with my posts. Sigh.
Tag Archives: Methow Valley
Well, it was frozen. Willow’s favorite lake covered in ice and snow. At first she was skeptical that it was a good idea and she kept returning to shore but when she realized that I was going to keep walking, she joined me and had fun. The ice is thick enough for ice fishing so I figured it was good for walking. There aren’t many good places for dog walking this time of year. This winter is dragging on, occasionally acting like it will give up its grip and allow Spring to start but it’s all fake news. Of course, it’s still winter. It is February for goodness sake. Sigh.
Willow and I spent much of the first half of December walking the hills around the valley on the Methow Wildlife Area. The state closed those lands yesterday for mule deer habitat til next Spring. We never did see a deer all the time we walked out there. We only saw a few birds. We did find some beaver dams and lodges and ponds but didn’t get to see the beavers.
It’s been a mixed bag of weather, that’s for sure. We started out with snow on the ground, thinking we would soon be cross country skiing but no, it rained. It rained inches! There has been flooding in the upper valley and severe flooding in other parts of Washington. We are fortunate here and just had some erosion on our driveway. The rain melted the snow and then we had lots of fog but also a couple sunny days. One day, we got just above the top of the fog. It was beautiful.
Now the hills are closed to us and it’s pouring rain, again. ‘They’ say we will start getting snow again on Thursday. Fingers crossed.
Mule deer honestly earned their name with ears that rival a mule’s. This small group of four to six does and fawns is often seen on our hill. And they see us. And they are not afraid. They know we, including Willow, will not harm them. In fact, one big doe, in the last photo, has been known to stomp her feet and act threatening to us. We give them a wide berth. This particular day, they were grazing around our parking area and not in any hurry to leave.
November has been mostly gray but Willow and I have done a bit of walking in the hills anyway, searching for color and patterns in the landscape. That’s what I’ve been doing. Willow played with sticks.
My Everyday Photos 