Monday walk

It's been a while since I've posted pictures of Miranda. That's because whenever we go walking, she's always right beside me, and it's difficult to take pictures of her. She has appointed herself my bodyguard, and she follows me more closely than a secret serviceman follows a head of state. She's 8 and a half years old now, and although she has a problem with a torn cruciate ligament in her knee she is still fit and happy. She enjoys her walks very much. There is always so much to sniff out in the woods, it's a dog's favorite activity here.

I called her over to the house while I got ready -- we had a warm 6 degrees today, so all I needed was my Carhart jacket and my boots and camera. She and Kylie had been out in the front yard sniffing out a fox from the front hedges. The fox often likes to sit on some old straw bales down there and hunt mice.
Mindy came up on the porch and opened the door to see whether or not I was ready.

Then Miranda, Cricket, Kylie and I set off. We passed by these three lovely girls who were having a snack on the hay up by the house. This is Jemima, Black Betty & Brown Betty. They were all born last summer.

We walked to the west, where there is a little marsh where the coyotes like to congregate.

Sometimes we see them sunning themselves along this bank of aspen.

Sometimes we find remnants of cattle who have died nearby. This bone has been here a long time judging by how polished it is.

We also found that a huge number of trees had been blown over by the winds we've had in the last month. I would say that in some areas on the north side almost half of the trees have been felled, some from the roots, and others have been snapped in half, leaving man-high stumps.

We walked for about an hour and half, until magic hour and time for us to go home. The sun begins to set here around 4:30 now. We caught it going down behind a hill.