Wordless Wednesday

Hmm...

Peace...

A rack

Mom and calf

Young stud

Bigger stud

Dog Sunset

Snow biking with Shyla and our elk herd

Our old friend, the wind, has returned, and Shyla's ears flapped in the "strong breeze" this morning.

I said recently that she didn't seem afraid of the wind. Well, I need to revise that. Something had her uneasy this morning at sunrise, and it might have been the wind. Here's another ear position. Based on her eyes, I didn't think that she looked thrilled with the cold wind.

We took a shorter than usual hike because it was a big day. It was the day that Shyla went snowbiking with me for the very first time. We went only a half mile, to test out her leg. To be honest, I don't think that snowbiking is any more stressful on her body than zooming in circles around me as I hike. Snowbiking is slow because it's so hard to propel huge tires through snow... and Shyla tends to follow the bike closely.

It was a great first ride, and her gait still looked perfect after it (no limp). We'll stick with very short rides for a while, as she continues to rebuild the strength in that bone. On the vet front, she does have one more x-ray ahead of her, to make sure that the unusual "lesion" that we've been following is continuing to resolve, like a fracture rather than something more insidious like an infection or cancer. I feel very confident that the x-ray will be fine because I can feel that the lump on her bone has shrunk to be a fraction of its original size.

This is my fifth winter of snowbiking on my Fatback snow bike with very wide tires (4").

Most places near us, the snow cover is much thicker than atop Hug Hill (photo above), where snow gets melted and blown away very fast. However, this is, by a huge measure, the best year for snowbiking so far. We had a couple of substantial storms before Christmas, and then we had beautiful weather over the holidays. Tons of people went out walking on the trails, packing them down beautifully for snow biking.

Today was the first day that I ventured very far on my bike since my pneumonia, and I found endless trails to ride. That is a very different situation from most years, when the majority of trails are blocked by huge snow drifts and are truly impassable in January.

I get to see our elk almost every day when I ride my snowbike but they're usually pretty far away from me. One of you asked about how the elk deal with fences. Fences seem to cause them some consternation. In the photo below, the majority of the herd was on the side of the fence closer to me. A few lagging elk were pacing along the fence line searching for a good place to cross it and regain the safety of the herd.

Here's the leading part of the herd, not looking back at the elk having trouble with the fence.

In the center of the photo below in the midst of the lagging elk, you can see that one of the bigger laggards was taking the leap over the barbed wire. As I watch them make these leaps, I imagine that the elk sustain quite a few barbed wire injuries while trying to get across fences. The fences seem toughest for the calves, who are so much smaller than the adults.

Today, the herd was even closer to my house. I used a very fancy lens and extender that a generous friend loaned me to take photos from more than a hundred yards away.

Some of the herd was resting, lounging in the snowy meadow. Magpies were fluttering around them, landing on their backs. This photo was from very very far away (and isn't in perfect focus) but you can see a magpie sitting on an elk's back. The elk didn't mind. It's a symbiotic relationship. The magpies eat the parasitic bugs that live in elk fur, which is an advantage to the birds and the elk!

It is so fun to be able to watch the elk throughout the winter! And, I am thrilled that, after months of patience, Shyla and I had our first snow bike ride together today!

Finally...

I woke up this morning without a headache and without any obvious pneumonia symptoms. I almost leaped out of bed because I haven't felt this good since early December. Finally...

Shyla and I were out on the trails before sunrise, in the quiet of the early morning.

The clouds blocked the intense early morning sun but let the sun softly light the mountains.

Shyla and I took a long hike to a spot where I wanted to put a trail camera. We tramped all over a hillside, examining the animal tracks and choosing the very best spot. I pulled the camera out of my lumbar pack, and, to my utter dismay, it wasn't working. So, I carried it back home to fix it. Ugh - I guess that we'll be repeating that snowy and dark hike sometime soon.

On our way back up the steep hillside, slipping and sliding in the snow, the sun peeked over the ridge toward us. A flash of red captured my attention. It was the remnant of a shrub that bloomed last summer. Its red bark is peeling off, and the sun set it ablaze.

Amazingly, while I am absorbed in photographing something like this plant, Shyla usually sits next to me quietly, watching me closely. I say "amazingly" because she's really still a puppy, and I'd normally expect that I'd need to tell her what to do (like a sit-stay) but I don't. She's a special dog, and I can tell that we are becoming a team, with both us watching out for each other.

After we'd hiked back up into the sunlight, we did some training. We've been doing some remedial tricks this week - ones that I'd "taught" her before the whole "osteosarcoma, bone infection, or maybe an ulnar fracture" drama. I was so distracted by her health that I totally forgot about the fun tricks that I'd been teaching her.

So, today, I reminded Shyla about her "relax" cue. It took about 10 minutes of work for her to put all the parts together again. But, after those 10 minutes, she was snoozing on her side in the snow (I'm astounded that I somehow taught her to close her eyes for this trick by capturing it with a clicker - and she was smart enough to realize that I was clicking for eye closing).

It was unseasonably warm here today (it reached almost 50°F) so Shyla wasn't cold lying in the snow for a short period - just in case you are concerned that I was torturing her!

You all gave me so many good suggestions for tricks to teach Shyla in your comments the other day, aside from the normal "obedience" things that we're already working on. I plan to put together a list that I post and then try to check off one trick at a time. I'm very excited about it! It'll be fun to practice more clicker training and to build my bond with Shyla through fun training games.

Shyla is perhaps the most easily trainable dog who I've known in my life. It is so fun to watch her figure out what I'm asking. My trainer keeps commenting on how much Shyla seems to love working for me. Indeed, Shyla uses her "tricks" to distract herself when she's in "scary" situations in town. As a loud bus goes by, she might start poking my shoe with her nose or intensely making eye contact with me. Both of those are things that I've trained her to do in the quiet of our home - and she freely "offers" them in intense situations.

It's the start of a journey, a new journey with a new soul.

Life in Full Color

I've read all of the comments about how horrific migraines can be - and I am so sorry that any of you experience that ordeal on a regular basis. This is my first true multi-day migraine, and I sure hope that it doesn't get worse than this. Thanks for all of the support and advice. Nurse Shyla thanks you too.

I woke up with my head still hurting but no other symptoms so I decided to "pretend that my head didn't hurt" and try to live my life like normal. Shyla and I hiked out into the winter sunrise. She romped, getting snow all over her face.

Early in the hike, she stopped and gave me a "trademark" Shyla look. It's shown in the photo below. Shyla looks very serious as she gazes at me with a slight head tilt and soft eyes. She does it most often when she's happy but I'm still not sure quite what it means because there's almost a look of disbelief on her face.

I've noticed how Shyla looks more and more beautiful to me every day, reflecting how our bond is growing. When I see Shyla standing in the sunrise light, I am awed by her.

My ruse (that "my head didn't hurt") worked for much of the day, as long as I wore dark glasses and didn't move my head too fast. At least I didn't miss out on another day of life - and that's a victory, as far as I'm concerned. I hope that this pain is gone tomorrow.

Finally, I know that it's "Black and White Sunday". I always want to participate but I've learned that I have trouble giving up the color in my photos. I think that the color is what captures my heart, and when it's gone, my photos don't look as beautiful to me. I'm not sure how Ansel Adams managed to make such captivating and gorgeous photos with no color!

But, I did stumble upon an unsettling scene in the forest today that seemed best depicted in black and white. Here is a snippet, and maybe someday I'll feel up to telling the story behind it.

Thanks again to all of you for your supportive comments to this "novice" migraine sufferer.

Close to home...

The day started full of promise with a sunrise start.

With the sun still low in the sky, Shyla demonstrated her progress on "taking a bow".

And, then, with no warning, the ocular migraine began. A couple of years ago, I had my first "ocular migraine", and, unfortunately, these have progressed to full blown migraines. The "light show" - shimmering and glimmering lights in my visual field - is the first hint of what's to come. Today, it was a whole day of a headache that hasn't let up yet. It really hasn't been my lucky month.

So, when you're feeling good, kick up your heels like Shyla did!

As soon as I arrived home from our hike, I flopped onto the bed with a dark cloth covering my eyes. Nurse Shyla was on duty, lying with her chin resting on my chest, keeping close track of her patient. She is such a sensitive soul.

Since I can't write much more today, I thought that I'd share a couple of wildlife photos from our yard. When winter truly takes over, the animals start spending more of the nighttime hours in the vicinity of our house (and I'm sure they're also near other people's houses - perhaps due to the packed snow trails near houses).

First, a coyote pair, both with thick and warm coats, walked past a camera.

Then, a few days later, a very small looking bobcat walked past the same camera. I wonder if this is the bobcat kitten. The camera takes only one photo every 30 seconds so it's tough to know if another bobcat was nearby.

Finally, a bobcat walking carefully in my narrow track on a very snowy and shaded forest slope.

You can tell by looking at the photo that this slope gets no sun in the winter, so the snow is several feet deep by late winter - and absolutely no animals venture onto it. The cat is walking in my narrow track... and, soon, I suspect he'll leave the forested area altogether.

That's all for today. Have a good weekend and kick up your heels if you're feeling good!

Our training resolution

We were out for a cold sunrise this morning, and Shyla was willing to wear my hat for fun! She's really learning to trust me. A few months ago, placing a hat on her head would have freaked her out. Today, she seemed happy!

Lots of people have written about their resolutions for 2013, including all sorts of fun exercise and dog-walking programs. I've decided to try a completely different kind of program, focusing on dog training.

As I've written, Shyla and I have been taking multiple excursions to town each week for socialization and training. She's come a long way... but that form of training is hard work for her and for me. During these excursions, I am exposing Shyla to things that used to scare the heck out of her (like parking lots, new people, city noises, etc.), and I have to proceed very carefully to make sure that I don't stress her out. Needless to say, although I love seeing the incredible progress that Shyla is making, both she and I are exhausted when we get home!

So, as an antidote to that difficult socialization training that we will continue as long as it's needed, I thought that trying to teach Shyla one new trick/behavior every two weeks or so would be a good program for us. We can do the training at home, and it would be nothing but fun. We'll do some serious behaviors, like heeling off-leash (which we've just started), and we'll do some frivolous ones like taking a bow.

Before Shyla's leg fracture flared up, I had started to teach her to take a bow but then I stopped because I was afraid that it might hurt her leg. In the past week, we've started again, and Shyla demonstrated at sunrise this morning. The tongue flick was Shyla's idea!

We're also going to gradually work on strengthening her stay. Today, I practiced having Shyla remain in a sit-stay without swiveling her rump when I walked behind her.

Then, I used a trick that I taught her when she first joined our family to get her to whirl and sprint. I walk a certain distance away, and I hold my arm straight up in the air in a spot where I'm going to leave a few treats on the ground. Then, I walk away from the spot so that Shyla has to find the treats herself. When I said "find it", Shyla whirled around from her sit-stay and sprinted to search for the treats. She LOVES this game.

I'm planning to teach her a variety of tricks using positive methods, including a clicker and treats. I'm not opposed to luring a behavior to initially teach it. A few things on our list are a "high five", belly crawling, spinning, rolling over, and covering her eyes with her paws. I hope to be able to show you a new trick every couple of weeks.

Has anyone else taught their dog to cover his/her eyes with both paws? I don't know how to teach it, and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or suggestions. It seems like it would be very cute!

I'm also eager for suggestions about other tricks that I might teach Shyla. Thanks!

A Day out in Nature

The day dawned incredibly cold - so cold that the air freezes your nostrils closed. Shyla is adapting to our winter weather. She chose to lie in the snow at sunrise.

Today, she started a new hobby - eating snow whenever she had the chance. With the air temperature in single digits (Fahrenheit), she rapidly built up a serious snow beard and kept trying to lick it off.

She and I wandered far and wide, with her off-leash romping time increasing so that she is now off-leash for the majority of our morning hike. I'm so happy to see her recovering from her leg fracture. For the most part, I've stopped worrying about her while she runs but I do still keep her on leash for part of our hike.

I was looking for animal tracks during our hike but was distracted by the beauty of the snow on the floor of the aspen groves. Just before the snow, I planted a huge number of Columbine seeds in the aspen groves near our house. So, I see Columbine flowers when I look at the snow around the aspen trunks!

One hazard to "wandering" off-trail is that this land has the remnants of barbed wire fences strewn everywhere. The land near our house used to be owned by a rancher who used the fences when he grazed his cattle. Most of the fences have fallen down, leaving dangerous strands of barbed wire on the ground. Fortunately, Shyla seems to have learned where all these hazards are and goes around them.

As we wandered, we spotted mountain lion tracks walking exactly in my snowbike packed track. The lion tracks weren't that clear and didn't photograph well but they were undoubtedly lion based on their size and shape. That observation made me wonder where the elk herd is grazing. In the winter, our mountain lions seem to follow the herd - so seeing lion tracks made me start watching for elk.

Indeed, a little later in the day, I saw the herd nearby while I rode my snowbike. Yes, I know - I'm doing a lot for someone recovering from pneumonia but my spine hurts too much when I try to be sedentary for a long time (like a person really should do when recovering from something like this).

I didn't have my good camera with me when I saw the elk... but they looked well-fed and their fur coats were thick and luxurious. The herd is huge this year - at least 50% bigger than recent years. Only a fraction of the herd is shown in the next photo.

I also saw a Northern Pygmy Owl perched on the tip-top of a pine tree. I really wished for my good camera then. It's such a small owl (less than 7" tall) that I thought that I was photographing a song bird. It wasn't until I saw the photo on my computer screen that I realized that it was an owl!

I love wandering with Shyla, I love riding my snowbike, and I love observing nature. I can't wait until I can combine all three when Shyla is fully healed!

She's getting there, slowly but surely.

Wordless Wednesday - Glitter and Glow

Welcome 2013!

There's nothing like seizing the first day of the year, getting out early to see sunrise. We almost made it... the sun was just above the horizon when we arrived.

K had her favorite places to hang out at sunrise, and Shyla has different ones. She loves this boulder. In contrast, when she visits K's boulder (the one in the blog banner photo), she looks uncomfortable. Every dog is different.

The sun only shined from below the cloud cover for about 10 minutes, and we reveled in its glow.

The air was chilling, down around 10°F with a light wind. Shyla soon showed me that a paw was getting cold by holding it in the air. We practiced some long distance recalls to warm her up. It works every time!

After we lost the sun behind that cloud cover, we hiked to a faraway trail camera that was almost snowed in. It was pointed at a bear day bed which was heavily used last fall and early winter. Moreover, when I first pointed a trail camera at it in September, there was a fresh bear scat next to the bed - so it looked like a very promising spot. However, to my dismay, over the past 4 months, a squirrel visited the bear day bed approximately 4000 times and a single bobcat dropped by for 10 seconds. That was it. Oh well, you win some and you lose some in the trail camera game.

The day bed is under the canopy of the tree behind the bobcat. I was hoping so fervently to get some bear photos here. But, there's hope for bear photos because I get to make my annual visit to the bear den soon, and I'll find out if a bear chose it for this winter. I'll also check the trail camera that is posted there year around to see how many bears visited it this year. It's usually a popular spot for bear visits.

After our long cold hike this morning, my girl was ready to snooze when we arrived home.

Happy New Year!