Fun and ice

First the photobomb of Dixie.

Then as she bounds off to more adventure along the creek with a whine of ...Come ON!

She kept getting in the way of me trying to set up a photo using a tripod in the creek.

I think her intent was to whack the whole works with her tail to let me know how happy she was to keep moving.
There is the new challenge.
Morris would just wait and let me do my thing.
I'm sure Dixie and I will come to an understanding.

I really didn't bring the cheapo tripod to do that while hiking with her anyway.
I thought it would be fun to set up a 'selfie' with her. Little camera on the cheap tripod with a self timer and call her to me....

Seems to have worked fairly well.

We had a very successful walk despite her impatience to keep moving. In that respect, she is a great hiking partner.

...and she is curious and still quite young.
I think I explained that I keep the training collar on her when we hike in the woods as she is prone to chasing things or following her exquisite nose.

Dixie wears a bright collar with our name, address, and phone number on it.
Since she has been trained to come on a whistle I am confident that I'll never  lose her.
The biggest challenge I've had with hounds is that sometimes they get very distracted by scents and will run off. Dixie has never been trained to hunt so I'm pretty sure I can keep her close while off leash.
However we do hike in a remote area. If I were hiking at the Reserve or the State Park, she'd be leashed of course per the rules. But when brush busting and creek leaping, you do not want to wrangle a large dog on a leash.

However. I would rather be safe than sorry.
Dixie is trained to 'find' me if she loses me. We used to play 'hide and go seek'. I'd go hide while she was distracted and then let out a call and she'd have to track me to find me. She excels at that. Bless that big hound dawg nose!

Morris cannot find me unless he hears my voice or sees me. But given that we've hiked for 14 yrs together and he has learned all the trails and my habits, I'm sure that Dixie will also.

So for now, Dixie and I do hikes but no complicated stuff.

Our really bitterly cold temperatures did some amazing things to the ice wall and the creek.

Isn't this ice amazing? Looks as if it froze instantly while running! However this wall is a sandstone mix that seeps water constantly.

This is a shot of the section of the creek that froze solid on top. Towards the top of the photo you can see the frozen deer tracks. It must have been slush when the deer walked on the ice and it froze like that!
I need to get back over to the long dry run that has a spring in it.

There should be a nice long ice flow in it and the colors ought to be incredible like those greenish blue colors in the photo above.

I do love winter. Didn't I say that?
It is so interesting in the forest.

Meanwhile at home ... later that day...
Morris relaxes with my new blanket.

It will be warm enough this week for me to take Morris and Dixie out together for a little walk up the road. Morris has been feeling quite playful the last few days and is enjoying the sudden warm up.

The weather is supposed to get cold and wicked again after some rain/sleet and snow comes.