Crazy spring

Many of our recent days have started in a windswept world of fog, painting our pine trees and meadows with hoar frost.

Most days, the sun soon shines through the waves of mist, almost blinding us with its glare on frost and fresh snow.

K and I mountain bike through fields of kinnikinnick covered in a fresh coat of wet goopy spring snow.

But, within minutes of the sun breaking through, the snow melts. The kinnikinnick glows in its beautiful bright green spring color.

K and I have been enjoying high voltage romps every morning. She's so full of energy and spunk - I smile as I watch her matching my speed while hurdling downed trees in the forest. She's in a phase where she likes to parallel me, with me on the trail and her acting like R, flying among the trees.

Although we've been getting light coatings of fresh snow almost every night, the animals seem to believe that spring is here. One year-around inhabitant of our area is the Abert's Squirrel, or Tassel-eared Squirrel. We rarely see any of them during the winter but they emerge to forage near our house in the spring. They're usually very shy and easily spooked but one of them let me take his photo today. Look at those gloriously punk ears!

They rely on Ponderosa Pines for food and for building their nests. Today's visitor climbed a Ponderosa Pine to get a better view of me.

Then, he did a classic Abert's Squirrel trick, hanging by his hind feet and stretching head-first down the tree trunk. One year, I saw two Abert's Squirrels mating in this precarious pose.

Look Mom, no hands!

Not all of them are jet-black. Some are gray with white underbellies. Others are cinnamon colored. For a couple of years, we had one near the house whose front half was cinnamon and back half was black. Unfortunately, her tenure was before my photography hobby had taken off.

We been loving the late sunsets. The Duo and I hike, enjoying the light show in the sky on the days when the clouds aren't too thick. Unfortunately, K took advantage of yesterday's hike to behead a Pasqueflower. Here's the evidence. The petal-less flower is on the left, and the blossom is on the ground on the right. K performed this heinous act during a snow squall so the flower is covered in water droplets.

The perpetrator stood by while I took my photos. I saw no signs of guilt in her eyes.