This little change up in our normal routine sure was fun. We all got to explore a newly cut trail, and we also got to experience a beautiful spring day with all the signs of things yet to be.
Interesting fugus, a new one to me and these blobs were teeny tiny.
On the same rotting log were some black blobs of fungus.
Little magical creatures found their way to this dead snag.
Someone was having fun placing things for others to find...
We were half heartedly looking for morels and found this very deformed one hiding in it's own camouflage.
Do you see the rare bird in this photo?
he he he...
Nice Zen moment....
We come to a nice little brook, and it has a beaver dam that you can see just at the top of the water.
The dogs think this is a great spot to get excited about. Liza is all in for this water feature. As I mentioned previously, she just LOVES to play in water ---- and mud too! You can see her get a little stuck trying to walk in the deep mud.
Because Liza was getting a bit carried away and starting to get too far away from us on the other side of the stream Dave calls her back. Of course once he picked her up and put her down on our side of the stream she took off again down the big downed tree and off to explore, so it was time to get going. Mom and dad are such worry warts!
Skip looking cute as always.
Birdie playing silly face with the camera.
And little Jenny Boo just stood in the same spot, not being able to see where she was so staying close to mom just to be safe. It's so hard to see the dogs getting older, but we will continue to get all of them out and about as long is it is physically possible for each of them.
I hope anyone reading these posts are inspired to get out of your routine and find a new environment for your best furry friend/s to interact with. Any new environment will do, city-scapes (if your dog can feel comfortable there), desert, city parks, the possibilities are endless. Our dogs need new smells, textures, and sights on a regular basis, and so do we....
This new trail has a peek a boo view of Moss Lake. Soon enough though the trees will be leafed out and this view will be hidden until fall.
This bench was such a great surprise. So many times on hikes we wish there was a bench to rest on so we were happy the trail builders thought so too! Love how they used a tree stump to create the bench,
I thought this would make a good photo shoot op. Tim is the first one to strike a pose.
Liza comes bouncing over and wants up, she is certain treats must be involved, and she would be right :)
With a little help she makes it up to pose with Tim.
Liza is VERY treat motivated, she has the hardest time actually sitting her bum on the ground for the treat, she just shudders and vibrates wanting the small treat she knows is coming. Such a Min-Pin.
Birdie and Liza are typical sisters. They do everything together and get into tiffs on a regular basis. Here Birdie is showing Liza what a calm sit should look like. Liza just can't bring herself to sit calmly.
Birdie looking for the rest of her treat and Liza does a good sit!
LOL! This is so funny, Liza is trying sooooo hard to sit still, Birdie is a pro at impulse control. Such adorable girls, we just love them to bits.
Skip doesn't want to get on the bench so he gets a treat for just being cute.
Birdie lets Dave know what she thinks about her sister Liza getting a treat.
Liza still working on putting that booty down and Birdie still waiting.
This is the view from the bench and you won't be surprised to find out that we didn't get to sit and relax, the dogs were ready to move on...
Pretty Trillium next to the Zen Rocks
We come to the crossroads of the new trail and the original trail we normally walk on, Skip looks to ask "which way are we going guys?"
We find a little stream and sweet Jenny soaks her paws. She also got a little drink.
One more post and our excursion will end. Stay tuned....
We continue along and you will notice Jenny is on a retractable leash. Normally we don't leash Jenny on walks like these. Her walking habit is to stay right on our heels, sometimes so close to Dave or me that it is hard to even see her when we turn around! But with Jenny's eyesight getting really bad she has been having some trouble in the last few months with seeing us under certain lighting conditions and she has even been confused and gotten tripped up by bushes and separated from us so we now keep her connected to us with a leash. Jenny says "leash or no leash just don't leave me at home". We think she would want to go for her daily walk even if she was in complete blackness, she just enjoys being in the mix so much. She is such a good little girl.
reminder of days gone by....
Liza LOVES water and she is always the first one to explore a small pond or stream. She will wade way in up to her tummy even, hoping to find something she can hunt. She has never caught anything but she would do this for hours if we didn't have 4 other dogs wanting to motor on. Sometimes we will let her do this to her heart's content. It is really fun to watch her.
I think she hears a bird in the distance.
A friendly natural arbor welcoming us along the way.
We love the deciduous trees on this trail, big leaf maple, cottonwood, and these alder are gorgeous with their new spring green leaves.
Not possible to capture how pretty this little brook is, the water trickles into a small pool and makes the most beautiful sound. That and the birds singing in the background really made for a dreamy afternoon.
We come to a newly cut trail! How fun. We don't have any horses with us so it is safe for us to explore what the volunteers have made. It is always so amazing to me that volunteers will come out and cut new trails in these places so there are so many more options for loops and short or long-cuts. This trail was really done well, kudos to whoever built it!
Tim don't pee on the Zen rocks! He didn't.
As I was taking a photo of this cool mossy tree we heard a commotion up ahead and hurried to see what on earth was going on with Tim and Liza off trail....can you guess what it was?
Tim and Liza had been thrashing about in these bushes and going back and
forth. Birdie even got in on the action. If you guessed they were
crittering then you would be right.
Tim was REALLY focused!
He stayed here quite a long time waiting for whatever it was to come out, which of course it didn't.
Oh hi mom, I wasn't doing anything....
As you can see he got pretty worked up.
No critter was harmed and to be sure of that we decided it was time to get back on the trail and do some more exploring of this new trail. Birdie says "mom I think there is something ahead you might be interested in".
This video gives you an idea of how pretty this new trail is.
In my next post there will be a bit of a photo shoot, stay tuned...
It's been a long time since I posted to the blog. My husband and I continue to go through some big and little transitions in our life with our family and with our business. As we are going through these life changes and some losses it really brings home the awareness of taking time to just enjoy the simple things in our life of which there are many. With 30 years of marriage under our belts we are really in a good place right now and this is due to the life we have created together. Our theme in the last few years has really centered around simplicity and working to achieve that in our life. We have all we need, we don't want a lot, and we have each other, some wonderful friends, and 5 GREAT dogs (and a kitty) who all help to keep us grounded as they age along with us. We are truly blessed and grateful.
We hadn't been out to Moss Lake in Carnation in a long time. Dave decided we needed a stay-cation so we broke from our usual routine to do something different. It turned out to be a great idea!
We actually saw this cute sign as we were driving around Lake Joy and it was very apropos for our outing that day.
Jenny is our oldest kiddo and she is in the 15-16 year range now. She is nearly blind and her hearing is shot but she still never wants to be left behind when there is a walk involved. Here she is saying "let's go mama".
I don't know what this plant is but I loved the veins in the leaves and also the shape of the leaves.
A bit of a cloudy day at Moss Lake but that was fine we had the whole place to ourselves!
Skip is now in the 13 year range and he still loves to go for his walks although he is slowing down some in his day to day life.
I startled Birdie a little when I took her photo, she is deaf and had been in her own world eating some grass so she didn't realize I was right there. Birdie is now in the 9 year range!
Liza on the left is 12 now, it is so hard to believe that our fur kiddos are all moving up in age.
Treat time, Timken who is the youngest at 3 1/2 years is making sure he gets his treat, lol
Jenny just stands on dad's foot making sure he doesn't forget her in the treat department. He didn't.
Blurry photo of Liza-Bear, she is always moving and grooving so this is the best I could do :) We're just getting started so stay tuned for more of our fun day.
Happy New Year! This post is a little tardy but comes with the same good wishes for a wonderful 2016 to everyone. Life happened in our world last year and 2015 was one of those years that had a lot of changes for our family. These changes kept Dave and I plenty busy and I wasn't able to do a lot of fostering or blogging. Thankfully I was able to keep up with the other volunteering I do for New Rattitude.
Last year we fostered Tesla and Kia, two fun and adorable girls who both got great adoptive homes!
Tesla now Nova has a fur sister named Ella Bella (Nova is brown and white). Look at how these two sisters love each other. You can see them and their antics on Ella Bella's Facebook page here
Here are Nova and her sister being silly terrier sisters. We are so happy for them to have each other.
Here is Kia with her furbrother Oso out having a blast with their moms. Kia has grown so much! Not such a puppy girl anymore.
Kia's moms report that both dogs get to sleep in the bed with them and they are one happy family.
Our wonderful volunteer and adopter Darin Eng Suthapong put together a wonderful end of the year video showcasing all the Ratties that were adopted in 2015. Hope you enjoy it! Northwest Adopted Ratties 2105
