Sunrise, moonset, and sunset

The Rocky Mountains shined with brilliance today. The golden hue of the rising sun and the white face of the setting moon greeted us as we rolled out the door.

The frigid air kept the snowpack solid, and I rode my Fatback on perfect snowy trails with K by my side for part of the ride. As we headed out, we crossed one route that animals could take up toward the deer carcass cached about a third of a mile from our house. Indeed, two sets of tracks, starting at the top of the photo below and moving toward the bottom, headed directly toward the site. At the start of the tracks shown below, the animals moved slowly, one directly behind the other. Then, something spooked them, and they briefly loped uphill. I couldn't see any of the tracks clearly but they were the right size and spacing to be a small lion and her kitten.
Nearby, a pair of deer had walked a parallel path. I now have a visceral feeling for how much courage it takes to be a deer in our forests.

While I looked at the tracks, K patiently sat next to my Fatback, watching out for me.
When I returned, she looked at me soulfully, as if apologizing for her crazy behavior when she ran away to the deer carcass two days ago.
Our next stop was our favorite view point. The wintery veil of clouds, glowing with the subtle golden hue of sunrise, mingled with the mountains.

Then, I took K home. She stood by the intersection leading to our house as if to say, "Why aren't we going further?". She's giving me conflicting signals. Some say that her tummy has felt bad since her venison misadventure and others say that she wants to romp. If only she could talk.

I rode solo after dropping off K, and I found some stupendously perfect trails for snow biking. I rolled up a ridge faster than I usually do on dirt. I had a blast and almost forgot about the rapidly accelerating countdown to surgery. On my way home, I coasted downhill, careening atop crusty snow with the world passing by at warp speed. When I was almost home, a gorgeous view of a mountain greeted me.

When I arrived home, the pups and I did some training in preparation for my surgery recovery. I won't be able to bend or twist my neck due to a restrictive brace that I'll wear for 6-12 weeks. So, I'm training the pups to put their front paws on a platform so that I can leash them without bending my neck.

This trick is an old one for K. I first taught her it when I had my lumbar fusion surgery almost 4 years ago.

For R, it was totally new. However, the boy learns fast. As usual, he added his own unique twist, putting his back paws on the bottom step rather than keeping them on the ground. That's fine for my purposes!

Tomorrow, I'll work on actually leashing them in this position. And, I'll work on having the one dog do a down-stay while I leash the other one.

That ended the fun part of my day. I then headed to the spine doctor's office for a lumbar steroid injection, designed to reduce the pain in my low back and legs before next week's neck surgery. I hate these injections but maybe it'll help. I'll know within a few days.

I arrived home in time to see the sunset light up lenticular clouds into a rainbow of colors against a deep blue sky. The snow turned pink, transforming our forest into a surreal landscape. I can't find such beauty and peace anyplace but in nature.