Shyla's Time to Shine

It's the start of a new year, from my point of view. It's the year of Shyla - a year when I will fully appreciate her incredible sweetness and love.

She and I rode up high first thing this morning, and the sun was bright and warm.

For fun, I tried a backlit silhouette with a rope toy draped over her head. She looks like a creature from outer space! And, I must add that she's incredibly tolerant of my silliness!

Then, she played with her toy. You can see the Divide behind her. At that point in time, it was completely clear of clouds, like many mornings. When I saw the clear sky, I thought that we'd do a short ride and then go hiking up high, to kick off the Year of Shyla perfectly.

Alas, within about 45 minutes, the clouds erupted over the Divide, and the mountain that I wanted to climb with Shyla disappeared into the swirls of gray angry clouds. So, I decided to save our alpine hike for a better day.

Another factor in not doing a long hike was that Shyla is much better in terms of her diarrhea but not completely better. Apparently, the laboratory analysis showed an overgrowth of bacteria that is typical after a stressful time. I guess that, even though she absolutely loves the Runner and R, she missed me while I was away. I wish that she hadn't gotten sick - but it does touch my heart that she missed me that much.

After I left Shyla at home after our ride, I headed out for some more riding. You'll have to forgive me for my wildflower obsession this year. It's the first year that I've had a real macro lens to try to photograph the flowers, and it's fun!

This wintergreen is a plant that K and I stopped to water every single day last year during the drought. It was the only wintergreen plant in that section of the forest that bloomed last year. So, seeing it blooming today made me smile. It's a good memory of something that K and I did together.

Also, while I was out on my bike alone, I checked a trail camera. I discovered that Mabel, our main bear sow, and her single cub had come through our neighborhood the other day. Indeed, I'd noticed the signs that they'd been feeding in the area. Mabel had ripped up a big stump and had also pulled a large log so that it was blocking the trail. An ant colony lived under the log (that's why she moved it), and she'd clearly been chowing down on their pupae. Here's her cub sniffing a spot that many animals have marked over the past several years.

This spot has seen far more bear traffic than in most summers. First Milton went by in the last week of June, and then the new male went by a few days later. Here's the new male. He just walked by without slowing down.

I'll leave you with one my favorite bear photos from my visit to Bear Land. This was a 2 year old male who we saw foraging near the cabin where we were staying. He's still gangly, because he is growing fast. Male black bears don't reach full size until they're about 12 years old.

I love bears, which is why Shyla's nickname is "ShyBear". I've always thought that chocolate labs look a lot like bears!

Here's to the start of my new year! As my friend over at Tales and Tails wrote so eloquently, we don't always get the dog that we expect but, despite the unexpected traits, we often end up with the ideal dog for us. I think that her description fits Shyla and our family perfectly!

Life Marches On

We've had a deluge for the past few days, a huge contrast to the recent hot and dry weather that had the locals scanning the horizon for smoke plumes. I know that I should be grateful for the rain, but on this day, waking up to gray skies and rain was not what my spirit needed. Do you want to guess who showered me in canine love and helped me get moving? Yep, it was this girl - my gift.

On rough days, my motto is one pedal stroke at a time... just get on my bike and pedal into the mountains, and life will look better. It always works, at least to some extent.

We avoided the worst of the morning deluge by using the time-honored technique of procrastinating. When we finally exited the dry house, the world was still drenched so Shyla was quickly soaked. Then, to my delight, the sun shined for about 30 seconds between rain showers, just long enough for me to take one photo of Shyla in it.

Mother Nature had some beauty for me to discover. I spotted a bumblebee finding nectar on a Monument Plant (a.k.a., "Green Gentian"), a member of the Gentian family that lives as a leafy rosette on the ground for 50 years or so before its one big hurrah - the year that it sprouts to about 3' tall, blooms, and then dies. An exceptional number of Monument plants are blooming this year. The bees adore them.

Purple flowers are starting to take over the world as we progress through summer. These rain-drenched flowers caught my eye during our whole morning ride. They seem to be blooming everywhere.

After our ride, we headed into town for Shyla's socialization training. Wonderful R joined us to be a calming influence, after a rather long hiatus from training for Shyla. His presence helped her immensely. It especially helped her with meeting strangers. R has never seen a stranger who he didn't want to meet - and that attitude seemed to rub off on Shyla.

I feel like R is our link to the past - he knew and loved K - and now he's helping raise his little sister. That makes him a link in the chain from our past to our present. Recently, I've come to believe that R has become less of a cracker dog because he has felt the need to rise to the role of big brother for Shyla. I love the new noble R, although I also love seeing him go wild, every now and then!

Today, my heart has been with sweet K but I've also realized how much I've grown to love Shyla. K's unconditional love helped prepare me to be Shyla's rock. And, today, Shyla reversed the relationship, and she was my rock. Life marches on.

Black and White Sunday

First, for Black and White Sunday, we have a new Black Bear who came through the area. This year has not been like past years, where I've photographed as many as 18 separate adult bears by the time bears go into their dens. So far, I've photographed 10 individuals, including 3 cubs (many of them on numerous occasions). It'll be interesting to see what the rest of the season brings.

There's no doubt that we haven't seen this bear previously this season.

I also captured footage of mom and two cubs wallowing in a pool of water on a hot day, which I'll share in video form soon!

Shyla is feeling better, although she still isn't 100%. Our vet hospital discovered that I'd left many messages for them and called me this morning with a preliminary diagnosis. Now, with the right meds, I think that Shyla is on the road to recovery. Shyla is now well hydrated (an issue yesterday when her gums were tacky). She's even playful and happy!

I think that this relatively minor illness upset me more than it should have because tomorrow is the anniversary of K's death. Believe it or not, it's also the 10th anniversary of Acadia's death (she's in the sidebar - she was K's predecessor). So, July 15 has become an ominous and sad day for me.

I'll always remember the rallying of support last year with the motto of the "Power of the Paw". In memory of that wonderful outpouring of support, here is Shyla's paw perched on a rock that K's paw touched many hundreds of times. As I looked at this photo, it hit me hard that it's time for me to allow Shyla to escape K's very long shadow. I'll write more about that in the near future.

Today, I had fun photographing Shyla with a super fast lens loaned to me by a friend. It can achieve an aperture of 1.2, which lets in tons of light but gives a very shallow depth of field. I experimented with having just one part of Shyla's face in focus.

Here is one portrait in color with the focus on her eye. Notice how fuzzy her nose is, due to that shallow depth of field.

And the same one in black and white, in honor of Black and White Sunday.

What a special girl. I'm so grateful that I have her in my life. It's hard to believe that I didn't even know her a year ago.

Bears, Shyla, and Mystery Birds

I can't take my mind away from the bears who I observed on my trip. Like the bears here, they were transitioning from mating season into their "hyperphagia" season, when they eat relentlessly, up to 20,000 Calories per day. This bear was eating...

One of the foods that the bears were eating was wild strawberries. They are ripening here at home now too. Indeed, today during my bike ride, I ate some of them. They are super sweet and delicious but incredibly hard to find, pick, and eat. In five minutes, I ate about five of the berries.

They are tiny, and I'm guessing that they hold maybe one Calorie per berry. Can you imagine how much hard work goes into getting 20,000 Calories from berries? And, in the case of this bear who I observed, she had to forage and spend a good chunk of her day nursing her cubs. It's a tough, hard-working, life.

In the next photo, she wasn't acting aggressive or angry. Rather, she was scenting the air while in the midst of panting. Bears cool themselves primarily by panting, much like our dogs. Look at the size of her nose. She must have a great sniffer!

On these summer days, the only time that our dogs are outdoors and not panting is when the sun is low in the sky or when they are lazing around in the shade. Here was Shyla last night, very curious about the smells wafting up from a canyon at sunset. So many animals explore the world via scent, unlike us humans.

Her eyes seemed to almost pop out of her head. I wished that I could smell what was so interesting.

Bye bye sun! The next photo shows a funny habit of Shyla's as the sun drops below the mountains. She does the same thing when I arrive home and enter via the basement. She sits at the top of the stairs and waves to me as I climb the steps to see her. What a funny and cute girl!

Those photos were from last night's sunset. Alas, Shyla isn't feeling well today, with diarrhea that's left her feeling tired. The Runner took a fecal sample to the vet this morning but they didn't tell us the results before they closed for the weekend. So, now, we're "winging it", trying to help Shyla feel better without the guidance of our vet. Don't worry, if she doesn't perk up, we'll go to the emergency vet. However, I'm not happy with our vet hospital for forgetting about Shyla after how many times we talked with them this morning.

I went on a solo bike ride today, and I need some help identifying some birds. I found them on a small pond that has *never* had waterfowl on it in all the years that I've watched it. They swam around happily, never fishing or eating.

My research about what wild bird species this is suggests that the "Snow Goose" is the only real possibility. However, it's extremely rare around here. Why would three suddenly show up on a small pond in mid-summer? And, these are not a perfect match for the descriptions of a Snow Goose.

As I headed to the shore to get a closer look at the birds, they actually swam toward me like they were unafraid. Then, I stumbled over a bucket of tan granular stuff, with one wormy creature on top of the stuff, on the shore where these birds had obviously hung out earlier (there were feathers all around it). Hmm, the plot thickens...

If that's the case, I hope that they can evade predators, because there are lots and lots of them near that pond. I know that for a fact from my trail cameras in that general vicinity.

Does anyone know what kind of birds these are? I'd be grateful for any hints!

See Beautiful - Remembering K

Today is See Beautiful Friday. My thoughts, aside from bears, have been with K. I've been having beautiful memories of her over the past month at this poignant time of year. She has been gone a few days short of a year, and I remember so many details of our last months together. One might think that those memories would be purely painful but they're not. It was a soulful and love-filled time as we said a slow goodbye to each other.

I remember walking through the wildflowers with her and wanting to make time stand still so that we could be together forever. I remember playing silly games with her, together with a good friend, during the last week of her life. Despite the sadness of that time, it was beautiful to know, with utter certainty, that this girl would be part of the fabric of my heart forever.

The memories are beautiful and painful at the same time. My heart still aches every morning when I realize that she's not here physically. But, the strength of our bond taught me so much about the beauty of unconditional love.

Bear Land

I'm home again, back with my family, who I missed while I was in Bear Land. Apparently, my ShyBear missed me too. She kept pulling out my clothing to lie on, and even chose to gnaw on a few things that smelled like me. I guess that's the ultimate canine compliment but I now need to replace a few chewed belongings!

Although I missed home, I had an amazing bear experience, closely observing wild black bears. These bears are habituated to having researchers hang around watching them.

This black bear is a mother who had two cubs high in a nearby tree as we observed her. As we watched, her attention continually swiveled back toward her cubs, as shown in this photo. She seemed to be listening for noises from the cubs while scenting the air for danger. She didn't view us as danger but seemed worried about other sources, like the sound of ATV's in the distance.

It poured rain for part of the time that we spent with her, yet no one seemed to notice. Her ursine presence completely overrode any notice of details like getting soaked.

She wore a radio collar. Indeed, that's how we found her in the forest. Without the collar, it would be impossible to observe her behavior because the researchers would rarely be able to find her. Bears are masters of remaining hidden when they want to.

As we watched her, a new sound hummed in the distance. She stood up on her hind limbs to look for the source. Standing up is not a threatening posture for a bear. Rather, it indicates interest and curiosity.

Eventually, she decided that it was time to go to her cubs. She had to search for them, scenting the air and grunting to them, hoping that they'd answer to tell her which tree they were in. I was a bit surprised that she didn't remember where they were.

Eventually, she and we spotted them, about 30' off the ground in a tree. This is the more gregarious cub who quickly came down to the ground after mom came to the base of the tree making mama bear noises that mean "come to me".

The other cub was more suspicious of humans and elected to stay perched in the tree. The cautious cub started to descend several times but couldn't quite muster the courage. As an aside, bears can descend from trees very fast! They use a combination of climbing downward, rump first, and sliding while using their claws to slow their descent.

Shortly after this photo, we departed. We didn't want the one cub to be stranded in the tree by himself so we left to allow him to rejoin his family on the ground.

The most amazing part of this is that I never felt even vaguely afraid while I was near the bears. Bears are generally timid, and if you behave reasonably around these research bears, they never show signs of nervousness. They aren't the "killers" that the media likes to portray them as. Rather, they get scared easily so "good human behavior" involves not making fast movements or loud noises. You also always leave the bears an open route to move away from you if they want to.

I'll write more about the experience because I saw multiple bear personalities in different situations over my days in Bear Land. I learned so much about bear behavior, and I expanded my knowledge of the signs that bears leave in the forest. Indeed, today, when I checked my trail cameras, I spotted some bear marking signs that I'd never noticed before (I also saw that the bears had been parading past my cameras in honor of the course I was taking!). Pretty cool!

Speechless

I'm learning so much... and I observed this wild bear today.

I am in awe of these creatures.

A Bear Break

I am heading off to bear-land, to learn all about the behavior of wild bears. I hope to blog a bit while I'm gone but I'm not certain that I'll be able to.

Around here, it seems that bear mating season is winding down. Here was the last series of photos of a male and female together. First, the female emerged from behind my trail camera. She sniffed the tree that all the males have been marking.

She didn't stay for long, before ambling off to the right. On her heels, our "new" male emerged from behind my camera.

He sniffed and then walked while rubbing his fur against the tree.

Then, he marked a tree that I've never seen marked before. It's been interesting having this "new" male around - he's been creating new bear marking trees all along this route. I've always wondered how and why new bear trees are designated - and now I think that it may occur when new males show up.

He didn't stay at that tree for long. You can see how he swung his hind legs out in a "cowboy walk" as he headed away from the new tree.

Then, he stood tall to mark the tree that most bears rub against.

In this series of markings, unlike previous ones, the bear didn't grab the branches higher than his head to rub them against his back or even bite at the branches above his head. Some of you guessed that the bear might do that to leave his scent higher on the tree and thus make other bears think that he's bigger. That seems like a great guess to me!

If that's true, they probably all think that the cub who visited recently is the biggest bear in town!

This "bear break" will be the first time that I've been away from Shyla since her arrival. I'm going to miss her and the rest of my pack but the experience should be worth it!

With Shyla in particular, the prospect of being away from her has made me realize how close we've become. That's a wonderful realization after a very tough year.

Happy Independence Day

I hope that you're having a zany good day, like R did in the high mountains a few days ago.

I am taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of our country. We are so lucky to have deserts, mountains, and vast open spaces, all within our reach. Last week, Shyla looked raptly at the view from our campsite, while standing on a lingering snowfield. This huge world is still novel to her.

Next to the melting edges of that snowfield, there were Glacier Lilies, lots and lots of them.

There were also small lakes, fed by melting snow. Shyla made graceful water sculptures as she swam.

We had a glorious time in that campsite, taking hikes on a nearby mountainside.

And, outrunning storms to reach the safety of camp before being hammered.

The sun always shined again after the storms, painting beautiful alpine pictures.

I know that I am grateful for our incredibly varied and beautiful country, and so is our R.
Happy Independence Day from us to you.