Snow Time, Means Show Time in Many Ways~

Here is hoping you had a wonderful week, doing whatever you enjoy.  We had 5" of snow on Valentine's Days and the dogs had such a great time.  I love watching them enjoy this white fluff.

If you have ever had too much snow and wondered why...

I think that it is created for children and dogs, that is my theory, but don't take me to the bank on it ;)

The first dog images are of the 8 year old Meaka

Some have mentioned their breed, or what kind of dogs are they.

They are registered German Shepherds.  They also have the long coat gene and thus they are Long Coat German Shepherds~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

Our grand-daughter Maci adores dogs, actually all animals an her she is giving snuggles to Meaka~

Here we have once again our Silveit who turned 3 last month.  She is younger, but quite a bit larger than Meaka~

On Valentine's Day we celebrated Master Braden's 8 birthday at the local Mexican restaurant, surrounded by his brother, sister and twin cousins~

No cake ... fried ice cream for everyone~

A Red-Shouldered Hawk hunting from a retaining wall, along the Gene Snyder Freeway in Jefferson County, KY~

Following a full day of snow showers we had fog roll into our little valley.  I took the images of the female Cardinal at that time, through the glass windows~

A rare visitor to our feeders during the Winter months, an American Goldfinch~

I placed some of those peanut butter nut balls that you can purchase and placed them into a Finch feeder and this way the wee birds like this Carolina Wren can get a nice good for them snack~

I also move the table top umbrella to the ground during Winter months.  Ground eaters can feel a bit of protection from predators.  I usually make popcorn, or use stale breads and crackers as well as some bird seed thrown under here to keep them satsfied~

My husband drove down, yes, without me, huge sigh, to spend a few days with our daughter Ashleigh and her husband Matty.  While there he got to visit with Ashleigh's good friend and mentor Greg Hauptner, who is the founder of G Star School of the Arts, a long running and outstanding A rated school in Palm Springs, Florida. Mr Hauptner has been interviewed as a guest on the "Today" show to discuss this fine establishment for higher learning.

 I sure wish that I could have experienced such greatness in my schooling.  

A few years ago Ashleigh worked with Mr. Hauptner as his Administrative Assistant.  

Bill said that this was a very memorable meeting~ 

Bill also got to visit the set and meet the wonderful people where Ashleigh is one of the VP's with Brandstar.  The Balancing Act is one of their shows that they produce for the Lifetime network.  He said the people were incredible and so nice. That's our youngest daughter with her daddy...note the comfortable feel he had with his feet up ;)

White-tailed Deer come to feed in my yard every evening.  We have 11 to 13 in the herd that we feed~

;) I took this with my not so good phone camera, but still thought too cute of a Gray Squirrel on our deck rail~

Hmm...little Chipmunk has awoken from his hibernation to come out for some bird seed~

I love the intricate and delicate details of birds nests.  I wonder what birds built this, how many young~

OH Canada, I Have Longed to See You~

Last October, some may remember the husby and myself got expedited Passports so that we could travel up into Canada, while visiting Glacier National Park.  

We also spent quite a bit to have the dogs all ready for the border crossing as well.  

You are not allowed to transport their food unless you have special permissions as well as health certifications etc.

Yep, we had to do all of that again at $185.00 clip each time ;(

THEN the Government SHUTDOWN kept us out of our own National Park system...GRR ;)

THEN we were enroute to the Canadian border when we got into a snowstorm, like we had never been in before.  

We had no cell phone service and no way of knowing what lay ahead.  

We travel in a Lincoln Towncar with good tires, but not for road conditions like we encountered.  

HUGE SIGH, we turned around and went back to our lodging in Whitefish Montana, quite deflated, but safe and warm.

We promised ourselves that we would make it next time.

This year we found that the day we were to arrive at Glacier NP, the higher altitudes as well as Waterton Lakes NP in Canada had received 2' of snow.  

BUT ;) on the day we planned to travel, we still could not go through Glacier NP, but we could go on up into Canada~

YEA!

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slide show presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

This was one of our first scenes as we went through the gates entering Alberta, Canada and Waterton Lakes National Park.

GORGEOUS~

Once we had reached the village where we would be staying for 2 evenings, we saw right away, the famed Prince of Wales Hotels.  

We had wanted to stay here and even with the dogs, could have, but the husby scheduled us for a long weekend and even though we book rooms a month in advance, there were no vacancies~

The first sign of wildlife was this lovely juvenile Osprey, trying to get itself perched up in a tree~

Bighorn Sheep were out just about everywhere, as it was rutting season.  

I really love these big guys and they had been elusive to us, until a couple of years ago in South Dakota~

The village within Waterton Lakes National Park was very lovely.  

Great accomodations and restaurants.  

We were very cautious with our 2 dogs, knowing this was big bear country.  

We saw quite a few Brown and Black Bears.  

They just want to keep moving and not bother with mankind, but sometimes mankind acts really stupid.  

Sadly people are killed at times, and a gentleman was the same week we were traveling in the Grand Tetons National Park~

A Bighorn Sheep Ewe.  

Poor things were constantly having to battle the rams, silly boys ;)

My beauties, my friends, my favorites.

Silveit is on the left and is 20 months old and Meaka on the right will turn 7 soon~

A single Daisy in the snow~

This large beauty is a female without cubs.  

Maybe next year~

And another one.  

This one was walking and then running down the road, as it just wanted to get to the safety if the mountains and all of the rich berries that awaited it~

A darling Least Chipmunk surprised me at the park, as there was so much snow and yet there it was awake and alert!

I get happy when we head west for many reasons and one of them is the wonderful Steller's Jays~

This mama bear had 2 cubs, a brown and a black one.  

She was giving people trouble the night before, as she did not want to move her cubs out of the road that leads into the village~

Another ram on the scent of ewes~

Red Rock Canyon.  

Can you tell why ;) 

Really beautiful!

And another Bighorn Sheep, on the prowl~

One of the few lakes within the park, and a young woman taking photographs.  

Several of us, took advantage of the beauty of the moment~

Now then...I spoke about being cautious with the dogs in these parks, knowing of the wildlife dangers.  

It appears that our dogs have no leads on.  

However, trust me!  

They do! 

 I had to retouch them out of the photos, so that they looked PRETTY ;)

A Mule Deer stops in someones front yard to nurse her twin fawns~