SkyWatch Friday: "Harvest Moonday" Hike, Early Snow

It's been a week of many seasons - Monday and Tuesday were definitely summer, with highs of 90ºF. Most nights and early mornings recently have had the chill of Autumn to them, and Wednesday was a chilly, rainy, Fallish day. Wednesday night and Thursday we were under a Winter Storm Warning and it snowed several inches (14" in our neighboring, higher elevation town of Story and up to 18" in parts of the Big Horns). Though we didn't get nearly that much (about 4" at our house), by early this morning our temp had dropped to 19ºF.

But let's begin with the summery weather and Harvest Moon of Monday, before the flowers, trees and shrubs were dealt such a cruel blow that also likely annihilated our chances for fall foliage.

Monday morning, before it got too hot, we loaded up the dogs and took them walking on a new extension of the wonderful Sheridan Pathways system (on the attached map, it's the red and black path near the bottom right, running between the yellow and purple signal light symbols). This part of the path leaves very busy Brundage Avenue and as it heads toward Sheridan College it takes you into a different world… one of trees and marshes and birdsong and tranquility. And shade - which was our chief objective on such a warm, sunny morning!

Here are BW, Willow and Josie crossing one of two handsome footbridges that cross the marshy stream meandering through this area...

Once over the footbridge (you can just see it in the bottom right of this next photo) and out of the trees and into the meadows, you get to enjoy this beautiful view of the soon-to-be-snowcapped Big Horn Mountains (if you know where to look, you can even see the road that led to our old house on its way over the mountains!)…

Look at that clear blue cloudless sky!

Oops, I spoke too soon. Startin' to cloud up. :-)

And you thought I was joking about it clouding up, didn't you? ;-)

Here's Willow enjoying a rest in the shade back at the trailhead after our walk. Notice her leg draped elegantly over my foot, her way of keeping me from wandering off! :-) …

She was intently watching BW deploy our wonderful PetLoader, which Tess demonstrates...

That night, of course, unveiled the full Harvest Moon, seen here rising over the dry hills to our east...

Rarely satisfied with how my moon closeups turn out, I decided to have some fun and make this one a little funkadelic….

And now for a too-soon taste of things to come, the wintery scene from our patio yesterday…

We covered our front flowerbed Wednesday night, but could do nothing for our large rose bush except pluck this last beautiful, fragrant bloom and bring it inside to enjoy for a while. The bergamot on the right had already broken off when I went out at 5:30am to knock the snow off the trees and shrubs, so I brought it in, too. I think the rose looks sad, and doubt the reassurance that our temps will return to the 80's early next week offers much consolation…

Wishing you a week of lovely skies! 

We'll be spending it in Big Sky Country (Montana) with our dogs and camper! 

SkyWatch Friday: Ringside at Sunrise (+ bonus goodies)

As if the splendid "Super Moon" rising in the evening skies wasn't enough to take our breath away this week, our morning skies on Wednesday and Thursday seemed to be putting all they had into a Sunrise heavyweight title match to which we had ringside seats! Choose the winner (if you can!)

Ladies aaaaannnnd Gentlemen! In the east corner, in the orange, gold, pink, and purple trunks, Wednesday's "Tornado Cloud" sunrise...

And also in the east corner (awkward!), wearing… well, pretty much the same colored trunks but with more fluffy bits, Thursday's "Golden Glow" sunrise…

Let's get ready to ruuuuuuuuummmmmble!!!

And now for anyone who's interested, here are some bonus, non-sky pics. I have not forgotten my promise to share photos from Sheridan's (relatively) recent annual Garden Tour, but since it's looking like a multi-post dealio, I wanted to first clear out some of these poor little stragglers that I never seem to get around to posting!

During our hot summer weather, our front porch is the place to be in the early mornings and evenings. When we were clearing out and organizing our garage recently (to make more room, for reasons that will become apparent at the end of this post), we found our pretty iridescent glass-winged dragonfly candle holder - a gift several years ago from my friend Jo. In the melee of moving 3x in a year, it had wound up stashed away rather than hung up and enjoyed! So we immediately remedied that - finding the perfect spot for it was easy!

Yup, easy as 1-2-3! :-)

Now his little doorbell brother has someone to talk to! :-)

Speaking of insects, here's a threefer, though it's a sad ending for two of them. Sitting on our back patio (the place to be in the hot afternoons), we watched this robin chase several grasshoppers along our back fence. We didn't think she'd manage to catch one, but she did! She then - with her mouth full, the feathered glutton - continued to chase the surviving grasshoppers around. This time we knew she'd never be able to catch a second one, not with her mouth still full of her first hapless victim - but again, she did! Beats us how, despite watching it happen. Aware she had an audience, she perched on our fence, turning her head to the left, the right, and straight at us repeatedly so we'd have ample opportunity to admire her grasshopper-catching skills. She did this for so long that I eventually fetched my camera, attached the telephoto lens, and took several photos of her before she flew off to those trees in the background - where she no doubt has a nest full of late-summer babies to admire her grasshopper-catching skills far more than we, her vegan audience, ever could. :-) 

Only when I downloaded this photo did I see that I'd inadvertently also captured a winged critter in flight…

And while we're on the subject of critters, here's a recent photo of a content and contemplative Tessa, watching the passers by from the shade of the front porch...

And now to our final critter, BW - who retired two weeks ago today and has finally learned to love it (haha!), posing beside our new T@B teardrop trailer!

It's a 2014 S floorplan w/wet bath "M@xx" model. Despite being teeny-tiny (it'll fit in our garage, yay) and so lightweight you can tow it with some cars (like the Subaru Outback) and even maneuver it around by those two handles you see, it manages to squeeze in a U-shaped sofa/dinette which converts to a queen bed, a wee kitchen (2-burner stove, bitsy sink, little fridge), a "wet bath" shower with commode and hamster-sized sink, a furnace, air conditioner, stereo system, and television with DVD player! All the comforts of home. Well, not really, but it's not really camping if you haul all the comforts of home with you! 

We got the T@B - which, in a nod to my Tuscan heritage as well as its cheery trim color we have named "Girasole," Italian for sunflower (gira sole meaning "turns to the sun") - so we can take our dogs with us when we go places. They are all canine senior citizens now, but still love going on adventures! 

Though we signed the purchase agreement on Girasole a couple weeks ago, we won't be picking it up at the Montana dealership till Monday because we took our 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee ("Otis") in for repairs and upgrades. He's got over 206K miles on him, bless his little 8-cylinder heart, and we needed him to be as safe and dependable a tow vehicle as possible before asking this additional duty of him. We spent the time he was in the shop, well, shopping! Getting such a late start on camping season does have one advantage - we're getting a lot of stuff on sale (including the T@B itself!), which is especially helpful since we have almost no camping gear (sleeping bags and a camp stove are about it), and have never had a travel trailer/RV of any type before. So we needed accessories - boring stuff like hoses and tire chocks, and fun stuff like a (backordered till October, sadly) matching yellow & grey T@B tent that attaches to the trailer's side (where the dogs will sleep and where we can stash some gear), some portable dog fencing, fun party lights (a necessity, you ask me!), and a pair of these reclining camping chairs. Which I blinged up for this photo with the sunflower from the bouquet from BW's retirement breakfast, plopped ever so appropriately in an empty Girasole wine bottle! :-)

Still on Island Time...

Hulloooo again! It's been awhile, but after a perfect 2-week vacation in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, culminating in a very relaxing week on Whidbey Island, I still find that even after nearly a week back on Reality Street...

Just replace those palm trees with pine trees, and in spite of a pretty full schedule and no time spent sprawled in hammocks it sums up the mood of much of our vacation! Especially that week on Whidbey - island time really is delightfully slower and more mellow. (Unless you're talking about Manhatten Island!)

Anyway, I've somehow managed to combine indolence with frantic busyness since we returned home at 11:15pm last Saturday. It's not fair that modern life demands jumping back into chores, work, and responsibilities immediately following a vacation - there should be a mandatory decompression time! One in which people continue to prepare wonderful meals for you, if nothing else. :-)

After the cooler temps of Puget Sound, this heat is only making me feel more sluggish. Though despite our temps in the 90's, I realize we don't have it nearly as bad as those of you experiencing the same (or worse) sizzling temps with the added mugginess. There really is something to the "but it's a dry heat" caveat! Anyway, I think we can all agree that Tessa's got the right idea about how to spend the Dog Days of Summer...

But what about your trip photos, I egotistically imagine you asking? :-) Well, between the Rebel, Kodak and iPad, we took over 2000 photos and videos during our trip! So needless to say, I'm so overwhelmed and intimidated by the prospect of sorting, culling, editing, uploading, and selecting the most blogworthy ones that I've hardly touched them yet (plus, I need a way bigger chunk of free time than I've had the luxury of this week). And August is going to be a busy month with various appointments, a trip to Havre to see my Mom, and a week-long visit from BW's parents, so I don't know how much progress I'll make. But I promise to whittle away at the massive photo stack and publish posts as I'm able! We saw and did (and ate) so much, and it was all so beautiful and wonderful and interesting and fun (and delicious), that I'm looking very forward to sharing it all! I'd love to think I could get a post of the first leg of our trip published tomorrow in time for SkyWatch Friday, but again - stupid, tiresome Reality Street will likely cut a pot-holed swath through those fun plans!

Meanwhile, stay cool if you're in the path of this US heat wave (and judging from this weather map, if you're in the US you likely are), and embrace that Island Time/Dog Days vibe as much as you can!

SkyWatch Friday: By the Dogs' Early Light :-)

The dawn's early light yesterday...

bathed Josie and Tessa in its beautiful golden hues...

(Psst - click here for another - and quite amusing - photo of Josie bathed in sunrise light!) 

Tessa and I beg your pardon about the unsightly garden hose, but I feared losing both her enigmatic expression and the pretty light if I took the time to move it out of the frame! 

Our third dog Willow followed me out onto the patio, but slithered back inside through the ajar door when she saw that I was photographing her sisters. I think I heard her mutter something about having "bed head" and that no decent human would be taking furbaby photos at such an undogly hour.:-) She promises to make it up to her fan base in a future post!

Meanwhile, the girls and I wish you a wonderful weekend, and hope that all your sunrises are beautiful and that all your days are good hair days! :-)

Enjoy more of our planet's beautiful skies at...

S'no Fun...

... if you can't have fun in the snow! :-) So I grabbed my camera and had a little before my fingers froze.

It's been snowing (and sometimes blowing) here every day this week, which has resulted in several inches of accumulation and some mighty drifts, along with a couple of unusual wild critter sightings...

We never see Rocky Mountain goats around here. 

So to spy one scaling a snowy peak in my front yard this morning was quite a thrill! ;-)

The Abominable Snowpup

(aka Tessa) :-)

ABC Wednesday: Buddies

Photos of some critter buddies I took last summer...

Pronghorn

Who says three's a crowd? 

Mule deer near our house

They're not fenced in; the chainlink fence surrounds a golf course behind them.

(Here's a photo of this handsome pair that gives a better - but less unique - view of them)

Field Mice

This is Val and Tino, brothers (we think) who sought refuge in our garage during a blizzard on Valentine's Day six years ago, were given temporary housing in the "Whiskers Inn B&B," decided they knew a good thing when they saw it and signed a long term lease. :-) They live with us still, elderly but still quite active, as well as safe, warm and happy. (This photo was taken before they figured out how their exercise wheel worked! LOL!)

Dogs

Josie and Tessa, taken just after a car ride and before we could remove Tessa's Doggles! Josie looks decidedly unimpressed with Tessa's fashion sense. ;-)

Canine & Equine Interspecies Friendship

Tessa makes friends with a horse during a walk in the countryside.

For more examples of interspecies friendships, please enjoy these beautiful and very touching photos by amazing animal photographer Tanja Askani. I recommend that you view this wonderful slideshow full screen with your speakers on (the music is lovely!)...

 
And for more takes on the letter B, visit

Willow (& other sweets!) :-)

Yesterday was snowy, windy and, as one would expect with snow and wind, cold. Perfect day for baking, which is what I'd planned to do regardless of the weather. I baked a batch of Cranberry-Orange muffins and Hearty-Spiced Cocoa muffins to send to my mom for Christmas, and dole out to a couple of friends (and yes, snarf ourselves!) :-) For Mom, I make the Hearty Spiced Cocoa muffins in a peppermint version by leaving out the cayenne and adding a teaspoon of peppermint extract (I used Watkins brand in this batch, which is pretty mild. In fact, I probably could have added more. Don't know that I'd be that generous with it if I were using a stronger flavored extract).

See the top of Tessa's head? She's peeking through the patio door to the right!

In addition to being spied on by Tess, I was kept company by two of my favorite people: BW, who was offered the day off (a huge surprise for a UPS man at this time of year and he by-golly took it, having worked very long and grueling hours since Thanksgiving and knowing that this is a lull before the real storm ahead), and precious Willow, who is recovering from having a broken, abscessed tooth extracted and a lump removed last Wednesday...

She didn't feel very good that first evening, but has since recovered fully, starting with her always-robust appetite! She's been enjoying lots of pumpkin mixed with her kibble to soften it, and one of her favorite treats - raw red cabbage! :-) But despite her longing looks, she got no muffins (and was unimpressed by my warnings that chocolate is toxic to dogs!) 

Meanwhile, we await the results of her biopsy, which we should get this week. What our vet diagnosed as a small cyst on the lower side of her face in late May had grown to twice its original size, and our vet now thinks it's a soft-tissue sarcoma. :-( We're hoping, of course, that she's wrong and it's benign, but if it turns out she's right we're hoping she was able to get it all. It's been hard impossible not to worry, but I'm trying to think positive and distract myself by doing things like bake muffins and blog. Your positive thoughts are also appreciated! I'd send you a batch of muffins too, if I could, but this wee gift will have to suffice instead :-) ...

Just print, clip, and show to your parent, spouse or parole officer. LOL

UPDATE: O happy day! We just got the results of Willow's biopsy, and her mass was a benign trichoblastoma, a tumor of the hair follicle, and the surgery got it completely and is considered curative! Yay! Thank you all for your positive thoughts and well-wishes, Willow and we appreciate them very much! :-) 

SkyWatching Critters

Most of my critter friends enjoy a little Skywatching! :-)

Dogs...

Josie

Willow

Tessa

Deer...

Punky

Bucky

Chipmunks...

(identity protected by the Witness Protection Program:

Birdfeeder Theft Division)

And husbands...

:-)

Please...

And enjoy skywatching with some critter friends of your own!

ABC Wednesday: Dynamic Duos

For D Week, a Display of photo Duos...

 A Dignified Dove

(Or more Descriptively, a Eurasian Collared-Dove)

A Duplicate Depiction of the Dove above, 

this time Doctored in PhotoBucket :-)

Dragonfly windspinner

Decorating the Color Garden of A Week's "Accidental Garden"

Inspiration for the wind spinner Design

A Dragonfly Dancing on sage

Click here if you Desire to Discover how to Distinguish 

the Difference between a Dragonfly and a Damselfly,

and here to see more of my Dragonfly photos, 

including some Diversely and Dreamily Decorated versions.

Distant Deer

Detecting us During a hike and Determining if we're Dangerous

(Don't Despair! We are friends & Defenders, come in peace!) 

Dozing Deer

A less Diffident Deer enjoys a shady siesta near Kendrick Park.

Please Do not Disturb. :-)

And finally, a Dynamic Duo of Delirious Dogs!

Josie and Tessa, just returned from a long hike and car ride,

flopped Down in the shade before I could Doff Tessa's Doggles.

Our Doggedly indolent Dogs are no Dummies, 

they know what the Dog Days of summer are about!

And there you have it: photographic Duos of Doves, 

Dragonflies, Deer, and Dogs, Divided by Daisies. 

I'm Definitely Done. :-)

But you can Delight in more Dandy Ds at...