Tracks and Scat

For Valentines Day I got Andrew a copy of Peterson's Guide to Animals Tracks. Romantic huh? He went to the creek today with his camera. He came back happy that he had identified both scat and tracks and got voucher photos of both. See for yourself...click photo to enlarge

muskrat scat

Rabbit Fever

There is a movie coming out sometime this year about the world of rabbit exhibiting. It's called "Rabbit Fever. Apparently it is to be an eye opener for those who can only imagine horse and dog shows. There was recently a write up about in the Rabbit Annual magazine for 2010. I know all my rabbits friends have experienced, at least once in their lives, "the look". It comes from whoever you are talking to after you reveal to them that you are crazy about rabbits. Hopefully this movie will help us avoid "the look" in days to come. Here's the trailer. http://www.rabbitfever.com/trailer/ I personally can't wait to see the movie! Here's the Facebook Fan site for those of you who are interested. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rabbit-Fever/64739606378

The Poop Path

Now that I have your attention...LOL
There's not much going on around here today. No fresh snow and no winter weather alerts. I'm bored. Just kidding. But since there isn't much new going on today I thought I would share yet another picture of Daisy. Since we have about 18 inches of snow on the ground we have had to shovel a path throughout the yard so that Daisy can go out to poop without drowning. Here she is at the crossroads of the poop path. It's also like a race track. You ought to see her run on it. That dog can move. It goes from our deck to the gate (which is about 45 feet) and there is a cross path which is twice the length that goes from neighbor to neighbor and then a smaller path from the deck to the rabbitry. It looks somewhat like a little maze around the yard. Apparently the topic of conversation at a pot luck on campus this afternoon was the fact that many small dog owners are having to shovel paths in their yards. This information came to me from a friend across campus with whom I shared this photo.

Cross Country Ski Outing

We took advantage of school being closed today and me having the day off to do some cross country skiing at the park which is only a couple blocks from the house. Andrew went to work at 4 am to help plow snow so he was home by noon. Anyway the park was beautiful and it wasn't too cold. When we got home and I was out back feeding the buns Pip came out to see me and stood on her hind legs as if to say here I am. She's living under the back deck where it is protected from the snow. This is the first time I have seen her for a couple weeks. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on me to get her photo.

Who Be Whatee?

Snow and Ice

Near white out conditions sent us packing early from work today. Here's a couple photo of the snow and ice. Personally I'm lovin' it!This is our street. You can't even see it! 4 pm Monday.

Look at all that snow...

...A whole lot o icicles hanging on the house...

...And one jumbo icicle.

Valentine Slippers

I finished the pair of slippers with the cables that I was working on. In the picture on the pattern they show them as pink ladies slippers but really they are unisex and look more like moccasins. I gave Andrew the first pair and he really likes them because they are very warm. I have enough yarn for another pair so I will work on those later today. This is a really quick and easy pattern.

Knitting Cables!!

I finally mustered up the courage to tackle a knitting project that involves cables. Having never done them before - it's a little intimidating. Cable knit patterns have always fascinated me and earlier this year I had a chance to observe my friend Tina knitting away on a pair of slippers with cables. She showed me how to do the cable stitch and assured me that it was easy. At our New Year's Eve rabbit show she gave me a pattern and some yarn. I've been staring at it ever since. Today I decided I needed to get busy. So far so good. She was right - they are easy. Here's what I have accomplished so far.

Awww....

Last night Daisy disappeared in the house. This is not an easy task in our small house. I called her name and looked for her in the usual spots-under the toilet, under the bed etc. She was nowhere to be found. I finally discovered her when I turned on the light in Elisha’s room. She was curled up with the other “animals” and had her head on the Labrador retrievers back.

Doin the Things We Do

Our HSS student recognition night was held last night. This is an annual event for our department and it is hard to believe another year has come and gone. We had 101 students (43 present) who were recognized for participating in professional activities throughout the last academic year. That's over 1/3 of the students in our department. About 25 parents and family members along with almost our entire faculty, our Dean and the President of the College were also there for the event which included a cake and punch reception afterward. It was a late night but we all had a good time.

An Abundance of Digital Photos

1) Getting digital photo files under control is not more complicated than film!

2) I've only been at it for a day and I'm almost done with 2009!
3) You're almost done editing every picture we took through the end of 2009?!
4) I'm almost done editing the 2009th pictures of our dogs in their 1996 Halloween costumes!

I have about 6 - 8 gigabyte flash drives full of digital photos and another 12 gigs that need to be backed up. We have been sorting photos and discarding so when Andrew saw this comic on line he had to share it with me. We got a laugh because the characters could well be us. We bracket a lof of exposures to ensure one image with correct lighting. That makes for a lot of photos.

Winter Canoe Trip

Today was a perfect day weather wise to enjoy a canoe trip down Big Walnut Creek. The scenery was spectacular and the wildlife was abundant.

Downhill canoeingCanada GeeseBald EagleMuskrat

Down Big Walnut

Sycamores with snow

Geese in flight

Frosty scene

Andrew & Annette

More Snow Pictures

We've got about 12 inches of snow and it's still coming down! We went out this morning and shoveled the drive and sidewalks and played for awhile.View down the street

Daisy (not feeling well again)

Andrew

Ok here's a little Daisy smile

The street in front of our house

Big Kids...

...like to play in the snow too. We had about 6 inches of snow on the ground when I finally got off work this afternoon. The day just dragged by at a snail's pace. We had about an hour to clean the walks and play before it got dark. I love the snow when I don't have to drive in it!!

Beautiful Girls

I groomed Garnet and Sienna tonight. They are beautiful.GarnetSienna

Ground Hog Day

When I worked for the parks my friend Kim, one of the naturalists, wanted a ground hog outfit to use in conjunction with a children's program to be given on Ground Hogs Day. I told her I would sew one for her and we went to Hancock Fabrics and got a pattern and supplies for the animal suit and then I used a picture from a field guide to design the head which I made out of chicken, wire, paper mache, and fabric. We've had a lot of fun with this outfit (which I donated to the parks) over the years. I recently came across this photo and thought I would share along with the hopes that Phil doesn't see his shadow tomorrow morning.