Rock 'n Roll

 

Thought I'd have some fun with a different look. This is from the last day in February and the photos were of course shot in Infrared with a 665nm filter. 

Just playing with some art conceptions. High key concepts are fun as well as low key. 

Hint: I got sidetracked again while putting things away in the spare room. I messed with some old fiber board and a piece of white painted plywood. 

I was hoping for a wild and wooly snow melt but it doesn't look as though that is going to happen.

Charlie and I have been cruising the valley looking for signs of the big melt. What I am seeing instead is that due to the dry fall we had, it seems the snow is melting slow enough to soak into the ground.

The Ice Fingers are all gone now with night time temps staying just below freezing. 

Charlie and I hiked for a few hours yesterday in the valley. I stopped for a bit to work on the project I have way back by the obnoxious neighbor's empty land. I actually go to this spot a lot for picnics in the spring and summer. In the spring the patches of Leeks cover the forest floor.

We eventually made our way back down to the creek and headed home. 

Mr. Charlie is getting to be a pretty good assistant. He was tired enough to sit on a rock and watch as I knelt down in the creek to look for Caddisfly houses.

I have some really cool shots of him that I got yesterday. I haven't pulled the photos off yet as they are on the Infrared Camera. 

I'm taking my friend Bill today for a new hike at KVR. We'll park at Horse Camp aka as Willow Camp at Star Valley. Willow trail to old 131 ... a peek at the river ... then on to the pond and back up Star Valley road to the parking area. Bill wanted another easier hike so I picked a rout that would be a nice loop for him and Charlie.

Funny enough how this short legged guy just loves hiking. My cousin told me that Weiner dogs are notorious for disliking hikes. Charlie doesn't know that...I haven't told him that his 3 inch crooked legs were not made for hiking. The lady that I got Charlie from also said that his Pekinese half would be super lazy.

He can't handle the heat, but he sure loves wet, muddy, snowy, sloppy, trails. I didn't think he'd be up for another hike today but as soon as I started putting things in a back pack...

he went and sat on it.

He's ready to rock 'n roll.

March Madness

I have no idea of where to start things.

I thought March Madness was meant for the college basketball playoffs or NBA or something like that.

It isn't. It is what is going on here.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty tame. Not much going on. I took Charlie hiking and spent time with Sven and teaching him to come and work on a line.

We went from Frozen to Rain/Frozen overnight on Tuesday evening. Little short video of my sled that I used to take some trash up to the dumpster that my neighbors and I share. Taken with the cell phone but it was pretty funny.

By late afternoon the township truck did come through and sanded the hill.
Rich called his mom and wished her a happy 88th birthday and she was quite chatty and said she'd just had a shower and had to clean up the mess. [This was a big deal as MIL keeps insisting that she only had a shower last week when it has been much much longer than that. I found out later that Helping Hands assisted after months of trying and finally got her showered. MIL tends to come in and out of reality quite a bit.]

The Field Agent from the VA called, I advised her not to drive down our hill and walked up to meet her. Her name was Jane and she was a very pleasant person.
Everything was straightened out and I had worried needlessly.
Jane explained how in some situations the wives of veterans had mistreated their husband's pensions. I was a bit shocked by that. She talked of a situation where the wife took the pension money and bought things for a boyfriend.

The phone rang again and it was MIL. Her sister had passed away and she wanted to go right now to the funeral. Rich had to take her now. Rich tried to explain to his mom that he didn't drive anymore and that he couldn't make the 3 hour drive anyway. Sometimes MIL loses a sense of time and space. So when she says now, she may mean not now. She has no conception of how sick her son really is either.

Meanwhile the rains started in again and the temperatures climbed. Snow and ice began to crash off the roof.

I got another phone call from my step daughter who said she got a text from her Aunt in Utah that MIL's freezer wasn't working properly.
I was confused as to why a message like that had to go half way around the country to come back to me. But I knew how to handle it rather quickly.

I emailed MIL's Guardian to let her know about the issue.

Helping Hands reported back to me that the fridge had not been working for at least a week. They had to toss all of the items in the fridge.

We are working on getting MIL to her sister's funeral that hasn't been planned yet. The rivers are flooding, roads are covered in areas...and the stress hasn't been positive for Rich.

Steph and Steve and the kids are coming this weekend to visit.

I took two time outs yesterday and went to watch the snow melt dash down the rocks and creek. I took my neighbor and the dogs on one of the trips. The dogs played in knee deep snow and slush while we watched the waters tumble down the hillsides and roar into the normally very quiet stream.

I need to get back to catching up on all of the fun animal things from the past few days.
How Charlie and I got stuck in deep snow! How much fun it has been playing with Sven the Goat!

Toodles...

Photo Bomber!

Morris normally doesn't get in the way of the camera, but I guess yesterday was different.

He picked a nice spot to sit down just as the 1/5 timed exposure went off.

Since he was so insistent that I take his photo, I ended up doing just that.

Doesn't he look as though he is in charge?

He loves the spring rituals such as the snow melt and run off as well as I do.

We had hours to explore and take photos, not to mention wading and jumping the creek waters.

Taking a walk with Siera

I meant to take a walk with Princess yesterday but Siera gave me started to knicker at me when I came out of the shed with a halter and lead rope so I took her instead.

It was a good thing that I did.  The snow was slippery, the footing terrible, and it was very very wet due to the sudden warm up and the strong March sun.

Siera really didn't want to 'leave' home.  We have this issue every spring after a long winter lay off.

So she planted her feet and cocked one ear back towards her 'paddock' pals and refused to move.

So what do you do with a mule that refuses to move?
Wait.
I've known Siera long enough now to know that she really needs to think about this whole leaving home business.  If she is forced she will go, but there will be a lot more hesitation and balking if she is forced.

So she stood and waited.  I stood and waited.  Fred carried on as if he'd lost his best friend back home and she could hear it.  Normally Fred doesn't care about Siera in the least.  Of course he did on this instance.

I was again amazed at a mule's agility at taking on terrible footing.  I was slipping more than she was.  I wish I had her 4-Hoof Drive sometimes.

Siera finally convinced herself to move and off we went making a trek up the north wooded slope and then back down and around.  I didn't take a long hike because the snow is so deep on the hillside.  It was more of a 'let's get used to leaving home exercise' than anything else.

She never was in a rush and followed me quietly.  The path is narrow with many trees, the one time she did try to surge ahead, she caught my elbow on her nose.

Just like leash training!  She only bumped her nose once and while on the narrow trail walked a polite distance behind me.

I was rather pleased how our hour went.  She was perfectly content to stand around with me in the woods when I decided to stop.

I plan on hiking again today.  Morris could go with us.  Siera adores having his company.

Our temps are supposed to get to 45 degrees again today!

That means we should have another snow melt that will crash down the rocks into the creek.

I caught the mini flash flood as it began yesterday late afternoon.