Sunday, January 30, 2011

End o' January

I took the dogs for a walk late in the afternoon the other day, and snapped some more pics. The light in winter can be very dramatic, or very subtle.

 
Good night, sun!




 

An animal (or various animals) likes to hang out in the hole at the bottom of this big old tree. The dogs feel compelled to stick their heads in there every time we walk by! A few weeks ago, something was in residence and it was not pleased with the invasive dog noses. It could have been a pine marten, or a fisher, or even a small raccoon. It made some very nasty sounds, and I dragged the dogs away before the occurrence of any tragic nose amputations. I just caught a glimpse of some dark little paws in the hole. I am tending towards pine marten.



 I decided to be brave and snowshoe on the frozen "municipal drain" (aka creek) that runs through our property. I figured that if the ice was thick enough for people to be skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa right now,  then this ice is thick enough to hold me. Plus the water beneath it  is currently about 8" deep, unlikely to cause a fatality if I fall in. I am paranoid about walking on ice. I think I paid a bit too much attention to the ice safety movies they used to show us in elementary school!



 Sophie is not worried at all about ice. Now if I had a Zamboni, I could groom this ice into a nice skateway.




 Anyone know what the tracks in the middle are? The ones on either side are from the dogs. I need to get out my field guide. They looked too large to be a cat, but I could be wrong about that.



 Winter presents lots of opportunities for stark and dramatic photos...





Look at this poor, pathetic soul. Tristan is afraid of Sophie, who has a nasty habit of snarking at him at the end of our walks. So when we are nearly home, he hangs back and lets her go ahead, and waits for me to call him over and walk beside him to the house. I'm his personal thug! It's funny how he can't see that he has at least ten pounds on Sophie and could take her if he wanted to. But bitches rule. ;)

Tristan is definitely the master of the sad, "poor me" look.



 This is outside my office window.

And now I must go eat the wonderful breakfast my husband is preparing, because today is my BIRTHDAY! :)

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:15 am

    All the best to you Nat on this special day. YOur blog is now one of my daily rituals...many thanks for keeping me entertained. I love the last picture of Tristan...my yellow lab is such a big baby too...he's afraid of his own shadow.

    Have a happy day!

    Andrée

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  2. Happy, happy birthday, Natalie! Hope it's the best one yet! Enjoy your day. :)

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  3. Anonymous10:35 am

    BONNE FETE, as they say in La belle province! Happy B-day Knatolie!

    Your winter wonderland photos have inspired me to go for a jog now on Mayor Bloomberg's new bike path along the Hudson River! Stunning views of the River and the NJ pallisades.

    I'll be sure not to stick my doggie nose into any tree holes en route.

    xxoo,
    Brian

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  4. Anonymous11:45 am

    Happy Birthday, Natalie! Have a wonderful day with your hubby and your furry and feathered pet family!

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  5. Happy birthday Natalie, have a great day.
    Love your photos. Poor old Tristan, he does look hard done by!

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  6. What glorious scenery. I love the watery colours of winter.

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  7. I miss those great winter walks with my snowshoes. Thanks for sharing the views.

    Bonne Fête, Knatolee. Best Wishes! Thank you for your nice words on Jams' post. Still a bit slow visiting and commenting.

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  8. Andrée, thanks so much! I am honoured to be part of you daily rituals.

    Thanks Michele, it was great!

    Brian! Merci beaucoup, mon cher. And good plan about avoiding nose-holes.

    TTPT, thank you! We had lots o' fun.

    Little Blue Mouse, Tristan does that "poor pathetic me" look VERY well.

    Jam, I really love winter. I was outside for two hours this morning helping our friend load and unload firewood he brought us. Bracing!

    Claude, so nice to see you back. Take good care of yourself! We're thinking of you and wishing you well.

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  9. As for the tracks, perhaps they're from a fox or a large feral cat? I can't see the tracks up-close, so it's hard to tell.

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  10. Yeah, not the greatest pic for I.D.s, Ahab, sorry. I thought they were too large for a cat, but we do have feral cats around here, foxes, coyotes, muskrats, skunks, beavers, fishers, pine martens, bears, elephants. Okay, no elephants.

    I'm working on it. Stay tuned!

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  11. Beatiful shots. I’m a sucker for dramatic photos with the sun setting or peeking through the clouds.

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  12. Thanks David, me too! :)

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!