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Tag Archives: puppy

The First Book of Sky

Those who have read this blog for a while know that we got a new puppy back in October and her name is Sky. She is now seven months old and was spayed yesterday. She is a great puppy – the staff at the vet clinic was very impressed with her mellowness. We love her to pieces. She’s very trainable and pays attention as long as there is food or a ball involved. She will be a good hunting dog and she will start agility training this spring. She was ten pounds when we brought her home and now she weighs 52 pounds!

Last month I started a puppy book for her and I called it The First Book of Sky. It is a handmade book. Several years ago I took a bookmaking workshop from Door #3 Print and Book Arts Studio in Twisp but I confess, it’s been nearly three years since I made any books and I am out of practice. So I made a few mistakes with this one but it looks pretty good anyway. It’s an accordion book. All the pictures came from my Instagram stream. Here is the book and images I used in it.

The finished project
Was she ever really this small?
Let me in the garden. Now.
She loves her walks
She takes after her big sister
I could use a boost
Do you see the owl?
Aren’t we just the cutest?
Tired dogs are good dogs
LOL!
Her and her shadow
Look over there!
I got a pine cone
Ready to drive. Where are the keys?

Pearrygin Lake Walk

We have had quite a few days of ice fog. That combined with no new snow can make a pretty bleak picture. The little snow we have has been softened and frozen into an uneven frozen track that often makes walking difficult. I put ‘yak traks’ on my shoes just about every time I go out for a walk. One day last week there was a hint that the sun might be shining just a little higher up and the dogs and I had a few minutes before meeting our friends for agility practice. So we went up to frozen Pearrygin Lake to see if we could find the sun and to stretch our legs. There were glimpses of sunshine, sucker holes, but by the time we left, it was just gray again.

We saw some folks walking their goats through the state park
A sun spot/sucker hole on the hillside
Sky at five months and 40 pounds.
Sky and Luna playing
Sometimes she looks distinguished
Bubbles in the ice
This bubble looks like a UFO
There’s that spot of blue sky

Fun Times on the Ice

Even without much snow, there is still winter fun to be had. I took the girls/dogs to frozen Patterson Lake a couple days ago along with my skate skis. The small amount of snow on the ice surface is sort of chopped up now but I was still able to skate ski on it. Not very gracefully though. Since this is Sky’s first winter, she is learning about skis and skiing and staying away from the potentially dangerous (to her) sticks on my feet. And to her they are sticks and she just loves sticks. I haven’t even tried using poles around her yet. This was our second ski outing and she did better. A few other folks were out enjoying the ice and bluebird skies too. They were ice fishing, ice skating, classic skiing and playing with dogs. I saw one Great Blue Heron perched high in a snag. I wonder if the bird has learned to steal fish from the ice anglers? Most of them hope to catch perch but trout and kokanee salmon seem to be easier to catch.

Ice anglers
So I learned the easy way to tell the difference between a rainbow trout and a kokanee. The trout has a colored pectoral fin – that fin closest to the gills – while the kokanee’s is clear or white.
And here she comes
Sky watches Luna
Sky puts the puppy sneak on Luna
Great Blue Heron in an old pine snag. In the summer I frequently see Bald Eagles, Osprey and Tree Swallows using this snag
Ice skaters have cleared off part of the ice and made a hockey rink
Benches for changing into skates and a fire pit too!
Luna made a new friend

Puppy’s First Mountain

On Wednesday, the dogs and I hiked to the top of Patterson Mountain. It’s not a long hike or particularly challenging but if you are a three month old puppy, it might be a big event in your short life! According to the hike report it is 1 1/2 miles from the lake to the summit, gaining 1100 feet elevation. Enough to warm you up. Sky was a trooper, staying on the trail and keeping up with no problem. We encountered one other group of hikers on our way up – the Wednesday hiking ladies. We stopped and had a nice visit with them and I was warned that if my puppy went missing that I might want to check in Chris’s backpack! As usual, Sky attracted a lot of attention. We started and ended the hike with a visit to Patterson Lake and Sky almost, inadvertently, went swimming!

 

Sky considers leaving her comfy crate
Following big sister Luna
Look! I got you a stick!
Wait for me
Hurry up youngster
Tug
Finally heading up the trail
Don’t get lost
Magic forest
I was the only one that had to use the stile
Mt Gardner. I love when the snow returns to the mountain
Gardner over Patterson Lake
It was a glorious day!
On the mountain top
No puppy in her pack
Sun Mountain in front of the upper Methow
Luna
Watching Luna swim
I can catch her
Ooops. Maybe not
I’ll watch from here
Now I’ll get it!
Hey! Wait up!

Fall to Winter and Back Again

Saturday afternoon Ken and I and two of our friends and a total of six dogs went for a quick afternoon jaunt to Aspen Lake. The morning sunshine was replaced with leaden clouds that made it seem colder. And sure enough, it was snowing when we got to the lake. My new camera was confused by that and instead of focusing on a distant duck, it focused on the snowflakes. It made for an interesting effect.

 

Aspen Lake
An interesting painterly effect, if not exactly what I was looking for
The obligatory puppy photo
Subtle fall colors with a touch of snow
Through the aspens
Lindsey helps one of her old dogs over a log
Healthy sagebrush seed crop this year
Barrow’s Goldeneyes
That old tree looks like something out of a story
Overlooking Moccasin Lake on the way down