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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Sleepy but fun Saturday

It was a sleepy start to the day here in Colorado. We've reached the time of year when the morning sun shines in our bedroom like an intense spotlight so there's no sleeping late. The dogs tried anyway.
A very sleepy R tried to lift his head.
I took both halves of the Duo for a mountain bike ride. Having R with us made me realize that I've slowed my pace for K since her toe amputation. We stop and relax much more often than we used to. Needless to say, a leisurely pace and stopping to relax do not suit R's style.

I don't know why he was jumping in the photo below. R doesn't need a reason, aside from his amazing joy over everything!
For parts of our ride, K went at R's pace, showing me that she's capable of more than I thought.
But, at times, riding with R feels like trying to control a runaway train. To help him learn self-control and to give K rests, we practiced sit-stays.
And, down-stays...
From my perspective, these "stay" breaks seem to bring R's excitement down a notch. He seemed noticeably calmer after them so I think that I'll continue this practice when both dogs join me for mountain bike rides.

While the dogs did one of their down-stays, I photographed a developing catkin. I think that it was on a willow tree but I'm not certain of the tree species. It's a gorgeous composite of many tiny flowers. I've read that catkins are a popular food with bears, like the bear sow who I highlighted yesterday, at this time of year.
When I was home in the afternoon, our Abert's Squirrel came for a visit. I'll never get over how much I love his punk ears!
"Hey, who are you looking at?", he seemed to say.
He posed with his ears profiled against the forest light.
He's an amazing little animal. I'm surprised that he doesn't flee as soon as I come out the door. The first Abert's Squirrel that I ever saw was in the jaws of a bobcat as he sauntered past our living room windows. Today, as I inched ever closer to the squirrel for photos, I began to understand how a bobcat might be able to stalk and pounce on an Abert's Squirrel. It almost seemed as if the Abert's Squirrel didn't notice me but I'm sure that's not true. I hope that this squirrel survives to reproduce and bring us more Abert's Squirrels near our house!

Enjoy your weekend!

17 comments:

  1. I'm sure Mango would bark it is because black Labs are crackah dogs!

    Great pics!

    My word is so NOT the post: ANGER

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  2. Just thought you should know I now am cleaning Deschutes Brewery Northwest Pale Ale out of my laptop keyboard.

    Thanks Albert the Punk Rock Squirrel. I wish I looked that hilariously awesome!

    Kira

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  3. Lovely pictures again!! R and K look like they just run with joy all of the time and are so very happy! The flower is beautiful....I've never heard of it! The squirrel with the punk ears is so cute....totally unlike the ones here! Have a great weekend! Lots of love, Holly and mom

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  4. I noticed the sun on the bed this morning too,,, but only because it was the weekend,, and I wanted to not get up at 5 am!
    It would be so fun to have the "run away" energy that R has!
    Even to have all the energy that K has would be cool too.
    The catkins are beauiful... they do look like they "might be tasty".
    I love your little squirell.
    I hope it finds a friend to make more babies too.!
    love
    tweedles

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  5. Interesting how a ' stay ' break makes them calm down. Used to be like that with our two. Must get the hormones back in their box. Who knew there were so many types of squirrel ?

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  6. R - just a little sleepy look. Our own Rusty is much the same - you have to pry him out of bed in the morning.

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  7. R may have the look of wanting to sleep longer, but it sure doesn't look like he has any trouble finding his energy:) Still amazed at the sheen on those two pups' coasts.

    That Abert squirrel is so unusual that he is almost cute:) And we agree with you, we don't think he misses much going on around him.

    Amazing photo of the catkin - beautiful!!

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  8. That squirrel is totally rad! And the catkin is another of Mothr Nature's beauty...lovely!

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  9. What a wonderful weekend post!!

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  10. Love the shots of th Abert's Squirrel.

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  11. We have Abert's Squirrels here, but they are more of a lighter brown color. I didn't even know there were others. Great pictures.

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  12. Did you check to see if that squirrel has a tattoo? He looks like a tough little guy! I bet watching him is pretty entertaining!

    There must have been something pretty interesting out there to keep the Duo's attention like that!

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  13. I WISH our dogs would try to sleep in, at least every once in a while. Actually, I think it is all the cats' fault - they start rattling the bedroom door wanting someone to come out and feed them, and it all goes downhill from there.

    I love the squirrel pics!

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  14. I just starting working on "stay" with Latte. She's struggling with the concept but I've managed to get 4 steps away and back a couple times. Once again, I love the punk squirrel!

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  15. Great pics of course - I love the one of the Duo with beautiful K and R the Tigger bouncing! And of course, that Squirrel has rendered me speechless. I LVOE HIM!!! I've never seen one like him - thanks for sharing :)

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  16. The golden light in that first photo of K is so pretty!

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