Sunrise Sunday

I am so thankful for our beautiful world!

Sunrise in the Rockies often inspires me.

Labraduo on Saturday

When I had the Labraduo out with me together recently, I got them to wave in sync! They are each very good at waving by themselves but they have a tough time doing it side-by-side.

We now have proof that they can do it if they focus!

After they achieved that milestone, I let them run and run and run!

A rare photo with Shyla out in front as they ran...

Happy Saturday!

Aerial View of a Spectacular Sunrise

You may have noticed that it's been a long time since I could get any views from the sky. The primary obstacle was the wind. I'd see the eastern sky light up at sunrise but then I'd hear the wind. There's no way that I can fly when the wind is strong enough to be heard.

This morning, the eastern sky was a brilliant orange but I almost didn't go outside to check the wind due to pessimism. The Runner encouraged me to check it, and he was right! The sky was beautiful and the wind was in a temporary lull.

As I got a view of the east, all that I could say was "wow!". What a spectacular sight.

I turned to look to the west, and the alpenglow made the mountains appear to radiate pink.

Then, the sun crested the the eastern hills.

One last photo - and I could hear the whoosh of the wind starting out of the west.

Before landing, I got one more peek of the mountains from very low.

I did have time to record a short clip of video near the middle of the sunrise. It is also at Youtube.

Happy Friday.

Thankful for A Lovely Bluebird Day

Today was a bluebird day by any definition! We hurried out to soak up the sunshine.

After I rode and played with Shyla. I headed out to ride a little more on the roads, which are easier on my knee than the trails. I saw the mountains across a meadow.

As I gazed at the mountains, a Red-Tailed Hawk caught my eye as he soared and then perched up high.

When the Red-Tailed Hawk took off, another bird, much bigger than the hawk, flew straight at him. I was searching my mind for what kind of bird could make a Red-Tailed Hawk look small. It was a Bald Eagle! He chased the hawk away and then did a couple of circles over my head. I captured no photos of him but it was breath-taking.

After all that avian activity, I felt sure that the rest of my ride would be uneventful. Nope! The Mountain Bluebirds had returned to enjoy our warm day. It amazing how bright they are, especially after drab winter days.

At this time of year, they move up and down in elevation depending on the weather. It was warm up here today.

Now you see why it was unquestionably a Bluebird Day.

I am so thankful for Bluebird Days and the signs of springtime that make me smile!

Wordless Wednesday - Treat Snarfing

Incoming treat!

Bad throw but I've got it!

The State of our Sunrises and my Knee

I've been sad that the days of the super reddish sunrise rays are over. However, as I was going through my photo library, I realized that I'd forgotten to process my photos from one of the best sunrises of the year that occurred about a month ago.

I don't know what factors coalesced to make the sunrise light so red but I loved every moment of it. It may have been that we were on a high plateau at the instant that the sun peeked over the eastern hills. It seems that our early start may have left Shyla sleepy based on her dropping eye lids in the next photo.

I had time to go through my photo library due to my darn knee. I am still babying the knee, trying to see if rest will let it heal and make the swelling finally go away. By "rest", I mean as little weight bearing activity as I can get away with. However, I am still allowed to ride a bike, which keeps me happy. I will follow up with my orthopedic surgeon in a month. Hopefully, I will be well enough healed by then to avoid surgery. My case is sufficiently odd that I may end up having my knee scoped to figure out exactly what happened inside it.

In the meantime, I can still go out for spins with Shyla in the morning. Although the days of incredible sunrise light are behind us for this year, sunsets will get better and better as we head toward springtime!

I hope that I'll be able to join the pack for sunset hikes by then. For now, all dog walking and hiking is off-limits as I try to let my knee heal.

Happy Sunrise Tuesday!

Mountain lions and red foxes find food in wintertime

As we mountain people go about our normal activities, our wildlife are doing the same - but they're out of our sight. I am endlessly fascinated by how large predators manage to fly under the radar when they live so close to humans. These past few weeks have - yet again - showed me that they are going about the business of living just outside the lights of human life.

I've been lucky this winter because I've twice found out the locations where mountain lions took down elk. The first one was in late December. After the lion and coyotes had finished feeding on the carcass, I left a trail camera there to find out whether he returned to that hunting ground in the near future. It turned out that lion did return, using exactly the same route as when he was feeding on the elk.

He is a big mountain lion. He decided to hang out in front of the camera for a little bit, and that is included in the video at the end of this post.

Usually, I'm lucky to know about one such site per winter. This year was different. I've already known about two kill sites.

You may remember my post a couple of weeks ago about an elk that was killed by a mountain lion. I didn't find the elk carcass until the day after the lion had abandoned it. I did get lots of footage of the lion at a nearby scent marking site which you can see in the previous post.

I posted trail cameras at the elk carcass to see which animals ate it and whether the lion returned. I discovered that the carcass was dominated by a single red fox every night for a few nights after the lion had moved onto other meals.

Then, a second red fox showed up, and things got interesting. As you might imagine, the original red fox wasn't too happy to share his meal. He gave warning signals to the interloper.

And he even scared off the interloper a few times.

Eventually, the pair settled down and shared the remainder of the meal.

After they were finished with it, there was a quiet period at the carcass with only a pair of ravens during the day and no one at night besides a spotted skunk who visited briefly.

Then, much to utter surprise, a mountain lion picked over the remainder of the elk for a few minutes after the foxes had dispersed. Here he was on arrival...

And then he disappeared into the night with a swish of his tail. I had my usual conflicted thoughts as I watched footage of him leaving, wishing him successful hunting so that he can flourish but then wishing that no deer or elk had to be killed for him to flourish!

I made a video of all this activity which you can watch here or at Youtube.

I have to thank the wildlife for remaining so active all winter so that I've been able to keep my weekly wildlife post going!

Happy Full Moon Weekend

I love when we have a full moon. Photographing it has long been an obsession of mine. It's so beautiful when it rises.
The light of a full moon lets us go for mini-adventures after sunset. Some friends went for a full moon bike ride with us last evening. Fortunately, although I can't hike (our usual full moon activity), I can still pedal a bike!

This silhouette of Shyla reminds me of a wolf howling at a full moon.

I haven't noticed whether our coyotes howl more during full moons. However, I have always wondered if the bright moonlight affects a mountain lion's ability to sneak up on prey. I don't know whether it does but it's an interesting effect of moonlight to contemplate.

Happy Full Moon!

Black Dog Saturday

R is ten years old but I really doubt that anyone who meets him out on the trails would guess it. In fact, most people assume that he's the younger of our Duo.

I love R for the trait that is hardest for a human to cope with - his zany crazy energy. He's a challenge but he makes me smile. He leaps for no apparent reason except that he must beat his sister in a recall race. He did this just last week!

And his ears fly wildly in the air as he sprints to me as fast as can - just because he can!

If only our Black Dog could give me some of his energy!

Finding Flowery Smiles in Early March

I'm sure that we all have those days when it feels as if an overwhelming weight has been placed upon us. Yesterday was one of those days for me.

A sunrise like this one is like a restart for 2018! It can make me smile.

Our indoor flowers also brighten my day. They make life so much more colorful at this time of year.

I never feel that my photos of daffodils do them justice but I keep on trying!

A daffodil reaching for the sunshine...

And, our trusty Paper Whites, which bring a smile to my face!

Happy Flower Friday. I hope that everyone finds something to smile about today.

Thankful for Snow!

I am increasingly grateful whenever we see something resembling "real winter". We had that last week, and I loved it more than I expected.

On the days before and after the snowstorm, the temperatures were very cold - below 0°F when I awakened. For that reason, I was very surprised to see a flock of robins in our neck of the woods on the day of the snowstorm. They adorned this snow-laden tree as I approached, like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Then, every one of the robins except for this loner flew away.

On that first day of the storm, the sky was steel gray, and the snow was sticking to every branch.

If you touched a branch, a poof of snow exploded.

The next day was my favorite. It was coldest day of all making frost form all over Shyla's fur and my fleece. To the east, the sky was robin egg blue.

Remnants of the storm made the west less blue but still glorious - especially with a chocolate lab in the picture!

Shyla and I visited Angel K's favorite lookout. It's amazing to me how individual dogs are. K loved this spot, and Shyla doesn't. To make Shyla happier when we visit, we play some games that include hopping up on K's perch and then I quickly snap a photo before Shyla looks worried again. This photo is one of her more upbeat expressions.

Shyla has chosen her own special places in our forest where she loves to slow down and relax. This photo was in Shyla's favorite spot atop a big boulder outcropping. I don't think that K ever laid in this spot.

I need to reread this post next November because I always am bemoaning the end of my "favorite" time of year in that dark month. Truth be told, I do love the special beauty of winter. We have had far too little of it this year. Our biggest snowfall months start today so please let it snow!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Canine Eyes

We had a dog visitor for a few days recently, and her eyes mesmerized me. They are so beautiful!

 

Eyes give us a glimpse of the inner spirit of a dog - and this dog's spirit is beautiful!

Yellow Lab Puppy!

Puppy cuteness can help cure all that ails you! This is the puppy who I photographed early in the winter. Now, she's about 5 months old and has become so devoted to her humans. When they're around, she can't take her eyes off of them.

She's looking up at one of her humans in almost all these photos. She was in a serious mood. She also has a playful and silly side that I hope to see before she grows up!

Her humans have been working hard at training and socializing her, and it shows. She and I were on the deck alone briefly, and she even dropped her bone to come running when I called her!

She's a beauty. Even her eyelashes are gorgeous!

I came home smiling and started searching for a yellow lab puppy to adopt. After a few minutes of looking at very cute puppy faces on my computer screen, I realized that we cannot adopt a puppy right now. Shyla needs us to keep her world stable - and, when we do add a puppy, to plan it out carefully.

I think that I'll have to get doses of puppy cuteness from friends' puppies.

As for my knee - thanks for all the nice questions and comments - the pain is decreasing although there's still a fair bit of swelling. I'm hoping that the icing brings down the swelling soon so that the docs can figure out whether the cartilage and meniscus damage requires surgery.

Moose in Winter - Watch out for the Thin Ice!

On a recent fat bike ride, Shyla and I saw seven moose on one ride. The first group appeared to be three. They were all bulls, and they didn't show much interest in us besides a quick look as we appeared. All except for one were too deep in an aspen grove to photograph.

Despite their lack of interest in us, it wasn't easy to convince Shyla that it was okay to make a circle around them. She firmly wanted to turn around. Before I worked hard on convincing her, I snapped a few photos with my little point and shoot camera.

This is the same bull, now letting us see his full antlers. They're pretty big for around here.

He was busy eating the aspen trees and seemed to ignore us although his ears might have been monitoring us.

He stuck out his tongue as he processed the aspen twigs. Then, I finally convinced Shyla that it was okay to circle them and go on our way.

We rode for a little while, and then Shyla planted her butt in the middle of the trail - her moose alert signal. Again, she refused to move so I looked around for a moose. It's amazing how hard it is to spot such huge animals. Indeed, I spotted a group of at least four moose! As usual, most of them weren't clearly visible but here was one bull.

In the next frame, it appeared that a calf passed by him. The odd thing was that I never saw a cow moose in this group. Perhaps she was out of sight.

It looked as if the calf bumped an aspen tree as s/he moved past, releasing a shower of snow onto the bull moose. Typical teenager move!

Then, another couple of moose came into view. It looked like a bigger bull moose in the foreground and a younger one behind him.

With all these moose in a small area, I started to wonder if they were having a family reunion or some sort of party!

Part of the reason why we see so many moose in the forest in the winter is that their favorite feasting site, the bottom of a pond, is inaccessible. I was lucky enough to be able to put trail cams by a pond last autumn, and they are still there today. It's amazing how much the animal activity has gone down in the winter compared to autumn!

The biggest reason is probably that the ponds freeze, cutting off access to the moose's staple - plants growing from the bottom of a pond. Also, the pond ice is treacherous - it can break, sending an animal plunging into ice cold water.

Today's video shows some moose at ponds and shows an elk falling through the ice but managing to save herself.

Enjoy the video!