Saturday, March 2, 2019

More snow pix

The snow remains here in north Idaho. One good thing is it smooths out all the potholes in the road.


Another good thing is we can let Mr. Darcy off-leash (he's the little black dot waaaay down the road).


Lately he thinks it's fun to ignore us and chase after whatever catches his fancy -- resulting in some unwarrented hikes down steep canyon sides after he gets stuck -- so we have to keep him on a leash when walking off the property. But for the moment, he can't run fast or far over fields because the snow is so deep. (Besides, he adores chasing snowballs we throw to tire him out by making him wallow through the snow even more.)

C'mon! Faster!



Good boy.


To tire him out the maximum amount possible, we pitch snowballs. This means he has to LEAP and bound through the snow to get them.




He wins if he can find the snowball.




Good boy.


This is the usual aftermath of such walks.


Early one morning I got up to see the full moon setting across the snow. It was bitterly cold out, but almost bright enough to read by. Tough to take a photo, though.


Everywhere we go, we see great sweeps of field unbroken by any tracks.


The only thing marring the smoothness is the occasional tall weed.


Mr. Darcy and I went walking one afternoon and scared up a white-tailed deer (another reason to keep him leashed).


She made her way up a steep embankment...




...then turned and peeked at us from behind a branch. Can you see her?


Here she is.


The moment after I snapped this photo, she dashed out of sight.

Another time I took Darcy just around our pasture (on snowshoes, the only way to go). It managed to be sunny and snowing at the same time.


When he comes back from these excursions, he's covered with "jingle balls," as we call them.


He chews these off, and then we go around collecting the jingle balls and putting them in the sink.


Daytime temps have been just at freezing, then dropping to bitterly cold at night. This results in all kinds of odd icicles.


Sometime we get hoarfrost, which is always spectacular.


Yesterday morning the sun rose through fog.



For the time being, we're just huddling down. Outside work is limited or impossible, so our focus is inside. We're unseasonably cold and snowy for early March, but this too shall pass and I'll be able to get to my garden. Someday.

13 comments:

  1. Such beautiful pictures (albeit very inconvenient). Thank you!

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  2. I love your photos...Such beauty, but such COLD...Glad to just look at the snow covered land waiting to come alive after the winter...So glad I live in the South ex Northerner), even tho we are getting way more rain than usual and colder weather...But no freezing cold and huge amounts of snow...

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  3. Another ex Northerner from CT and MA down here in NC. Love your posts and look forward to them. I wouldn't mind seeing 4-5 inches of snow before Spring arrives as it usually is gone in a few days. Best of everything to you and your family.

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  4. Awesome pictures. Thank you for sharing. Got to love Mr. Darcy.
    Montana Guy

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  5. I loved your moon scape photo. It had a soft feel that I liked. Of course I have always liked black and white photography better than color.

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  6. We do the sunny and snowing thing here alot. Its a side affect of living next to the Great Lakes. Its a bit impressive when its gusting windy causing intermittent whiteout conditions and sunny at the same time.

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  7. A tired golden is a happy golden, imo. We used to stand about 50meters apart, preferably with one of us on the top of a hill and the other at the bottom. The game was to call the dogs from one to the other. I fell in love with the breed about 20 years ago and wouldn't trade my current guy for anything. He's all sugar-faced now and slowing down but still a character.
    Cheers, SJ in Vancouver

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  8. Dear Patrice and Don,

    Please forgive me for using this format to contact you about something off the topic of you post, but I don't know of anyone who has a national platform that is as approachable as you. Besides, I've been following your blog since well before your sign-canvas substructure to your tire garden and your hay barn, so I feel very comfortable in approaching you. As well, we have a lot in common: My wife and I are long-time Christians, have been married (to each other!) since 1984, homeschooled two daughters (now in their early/mid 20s) who are both doing grand. We had two Grand Piers while we had goats and chickens, but are now down to one. We are also staunch conservatives that are saddened by the turn our nation is turning. And there is one issue on that point that I want to address today.

    I am, as I assume many other are, well beyond my saturation point with all the absolutely stupid controversy about whether someone is a man or a woman. The answer is so simple I can't believe that this issue hasn't been put to rest long ago.

    Male bathrooms should no longer be labeled "Boy's" or "Men's" but labeled "XY" and the women's rooms labeled "XX". This is not only totally unambiguous but scientifically and biologically accurate. The same goes for all these cheating men who want to compete with women in athletics. In order to be fair to both sexes, all the participants absolutely have to be categorized as either "XX" or "XY". Again, unambiguous, accurate and mostly FAIR! As for people getting sued because they don't want to participate in some confused, and confusing, individual being addressed by the wrong gender identity; when a situation occurs where there is some danger of being bullied (and that is just what it is, bullying) by one of these individuals who insist on everybody participating in their fantasy (and that is also just what it is, a fantasy) just substitute their chromosomal actuality in place of "Mr. or Mrs., Miss, etc. "So, XX Jones..., or XY Jones... That would take some getting used to, but it could be done.

    Now, you may not want to wade into, or rather weigh in on, this issue, but you have a good mind and I'm sure you'll make a good choice.

    Please contact me at "wordwrangler3@yahoo.com" if you would like to.

    Best, WCR (aka California Willie as posted to your comments before this.)

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  9. Mr Darcy sure loves the snow. My dog is not crazy about it. Thankfully we haven't gotten that much this year. Did I just jinx it?

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  10. So jealous. :) We have always had pets around, a variety of dogs and many cats (My wife has stated many times that she would never turn away a stray. I think it made it out over the Cat News Network.)

    But one special dog we had was a Golden retriever whom we got when our last boy was born, for their reputation for being gentle. He WAS gentle, as well as being intelligent and big and beautiful (118 pounds and not an ounce of excess fat.)

    He died over 12 years ago and I still miss him terribly. I had to fight very hard against going out and getting another golden. I knew I would want him to be the same, and it wouldn't have been fair to him.

    Thank you for the pictures.

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  11. Terrific pics! Makes me really miss my beloved Wyoming, but life on the ridge is bitter cold this week, and makes me rethink that western wind! Thanks for sharing Mr. Darcy!

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  12. Beautiful pictures. I used to live in Northern Canada for 11 years. I built a two story log cabin. I do not miss the snow! Northern California means year round garden. Still harvesting a few tomatoes, onions, chard and nettles. Next years tomatoes are started and I rooted cuttings off of the couple of plants that are still alive after all our frosts. Almond blossoms look like snow on the trees and when they fall. I live in the middle of 60,000 acres of almonds. Absolutely gorgeous. I would prefer it if you use the word pictures not pix. It seems like using Xmas instead of Christmas.

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  13. Beautiful pictures. I used to live in Northern Canada for 11 years. I built a two story log cabin. I do not miss the snow! Northern California means year round garden. Still harvesting a few tomatoes, onions, chard and nettles. Next years tomatoes are started and I rooted cuttings off of the couple of plants that are still alive after all our frosts. Almond blossoms look like snow on the trees and when they fall. I live in the middle of 60,000 acres of almonds. Absolutely gorgeous. I would prefer it if you use the word pictures not pix. It seems like using Xmas instead of Christmas.

    ReplyDelete