The Path to the Dog Park

 It was pouring rain today with the possibility of snow in the morning, so I took a different way than normal to the dog park. We came across  this young buck Mule Deer (3X3 points), probably a three year old. The dogs saw him, but they are fairly well trained to "stay" while on the leash.

He let us walk right up to him without startling. You can see Missy's head in the picture

All the time I was saying 'stay" to the girls. When he did bolt, they just watched him go with out yanking or pulling on the leashes, All told I saw 9 Mule deer in the Park today, mostly does. I like these impromptu training sessions! 

From This........to This

In only two days!

 The Larch, or Tamarack are beautiful

 The access trails are sunny and bright

 Then came the snow!

 It doesn't faze my faithful companion though.

 -3 C, feeling like -10 and she still wants to run! Oh well, only six months till spring!

Bits and Pieces

 I figured that I should maybe post a blog before I forget how! Its been very slow in the great outdoors probably due to the miserable weather. Everybody is in hibernation mode, including me.

My faithful companion is always up for a walk in the woods, or a trip to the Dog Park. Whitecourt is blessed to have a facility as great as Rotary Park! I caught this little guy sitting on a rock wall having breakfast. 

There are still a few Mallards hanging around. If it were me, I would be

in the deep south by now instead of freezing my tail feathers off!

 I have bee adopted by about 6 Blue Jays that are eating my bird seed like its going out of style.
 Then, there is always this guy that figures he should eat for free also. Hopefully the weather improves and I can go farther afield for some photos.

Back Again

Well we are back home again after a week plus vacation.We travelled out to the Shuswap in British Columbia to visit our oldest son and family, then crossed into the Parks at Lake Louise and up the parkway to Saskatchewan River Crossing then over to Red Deer to visit our youngest son and his family. All in all, a good trip covering about 2100 km.

The following are a few picture of our happy dogs after our return. Happy to be out of the Kennels! More on the trip later.

The Dog Days of Summer

More fun in the sun with the doogies!

The Walk

Lots of ducks and critters in the swamp today!

Common Goldeneye

Buffleheads

Ring-Necked Ducks

Red Squirrel

Song Sparrow?

Sand Hill Crane

Tamarack (European Larch)

Tamarack ( Starting to flower) 

Daphne (forground) Brooklyn (in distance)

What Happened?

It seems the snow was almost gone. The fields were brown. Some grass was starting to go green. Then this! Snow for 3 days!

 The geese were wandering about also questioning reality!

 However, the goofus dogs thought it was great!

 Daphne and Brooklyn really enjoyed an outing in the snow (nasty 4 letter word)!

Anyway. Happy Easter to all of you!

A Doggone Good day!

Actually, it was several good days! A 5 kilometer walk with the dogs was very good for all three of us.

 There was lots of snorfelling. What they were looking for I don't know. Maybe mice.

 Daphne was the first to lose interest.

 At home, the Red Polls were posing.

 The Hairy Wood Pecker was back. He hasn't been around for a few days.

 This was a new addition to the feeder. The dogs put the run on her pretty quick.

 Then on the way home, I spotted this lady riding in the field. I stopped to take a picture, and got an invite to a Cutter ride. My first ever! It was fun! The pony's name is "Annie".

 Yep, I could get to like this! Too bad horses are a thing of the past for me.

45 Years of Dogs

From Top Left Going Clockwise:

JoJo  A loaner dog we boarded for two years. Loved to ride with the horses!

Daphne  Rough Collie and newest acquisition. A great dog for walks on or off the leash!

Brooklyn  Golden Retriever and second newest dog. Will swim miles, but now getting old.

Dusty  Purebred Sheltie (Shetland Sheep Dog) A great bird dog, but other than that, decorative.

Sheba  Yellow Lab. Fantastic retriever for upland birds, but would not look at a duck.

Boots  Border Collie Kicked 42 times trying to herd horses. Devoted.

Pal  Border Collie  Dog #1 Loved to swim and herd kids when they were at the crawling stage. Would also leap off high places.