Raining mushrooms and coyotes

Yesterday evening, the clouds lifted so that we could see the sunset light. The wind still howled, as you can see from R's flapping ears.

We hung out in the warmth and beauty of the ending of the day.

These winds have been, by my understanding, true Chinook winds, flying off the high mountains down to lower elevations and warming the world that they touched. It's been incredibly warm and sunny here, melting the snowcover on south-facing slopes at an incredible rate. K and I walked on dirt today, by hopscotching from one dry patch to another.

I've mentioned before that my dogs adore eating wild mushrooms (to our chagrin), and the wind blows the squirrels' caches out of the trees and onto the ground. To my dismay, K spent our morning hike searching for mushrooms. I watched her like a hawk, and she found some. So, rather than let her eat them, I had her balance them on her nose and gave her treats for the feat!

Each time she found one, we did the same routine. Look at the evil glance that she threw my way during this balancing act.

The dried mushrooms that littered the ground today are not poisonous but they do cause "gastric distress" if eaten in large quantities. And, Labs are not known for their moderation!

The ironic part is that the only "alternative" medication that K is taking for her osteosarcoma is a mix of wild mushrooms that has been shown to slow the spread of this type of cancer. My friends joke that K is actually "self-medicating" when she forages for mushrooms in the forest.

The other food that was suddenly uncovered by the melting snow today was rose hips. The snow has covered them for a long time, and K enjoyed munching on the tart berries. These are fine for her so I let her munch all that she wants.

I want to apologize that I haven't been visiting many blogs. My sarcoidosis (an autoimmune disease) has acted up in a big way, attacking one of my eyes. I'm having great difficulty focusing on the screen for any length of time. I'll be seeing my eye doc at the end of the week...

Just one more thing, in a comment, someone asked the great question of whether the coyotes ever wriggle in tandem at the scent post. Most of the time, one stands guard while the other wriggles. But, on one occasion, I caught them both wriggling!

Someone else asked if coyotes can be dangerous to dogs. They can be... but we've never had any bad incidents. We carefully train our dogs to recall away from wildlife, and we keep the dogs leashed at times of day when coyotes are likely to be around. I think that, by respecting these canines, we can coexist with them peacefully.