This is Rion’s crate. Both dogs have crates in the bedroom, but neither dog goes into Bandit’s crate during the day. This is only the second time that I’ve seen Rion and Bandit share a crate, and I was astonished that they stayed put long enough for me to take the photo. Usually, Rion forces Bandit out of the crate by staring until Bandit leaves, but I suppose that strategy didn’t work yesterday.
We are currently getting some snow. Since it is wet and soggy, it is curling off the roof in this photo.
With the recent precipitation, our south pasture (aka as the “new field” these twenty years) has enough green stuff that I let the horses out on it for two hours for the first time since last fall. With his age (thirty-two) and chronic conditions, I expect Rags’ next non-routine vet call to be his last, so I was amused when he managed a few crow hops to celebrate being let out to graze. He even achieved a little altitude, though not as much as Lily.
From the road, I could see this abandoned structure in Cibola National Forest in a valley below the road. I found a path from a parking pull-off and was able to reach the ruin with an easy walk. The house contained one main room and two small rooms. A stone wall enclosed the area.
There was no marker indicating its age, but I did notice that the windows had a strip of iron or steel across the top. I cautiously explored the inside as there was no building debris or trash. The stone shell looked quite stable.
I was baffled by the stone wall. It looked like a lot of work for not much protection.
Monday I went for a walk in Cibola National Forest near Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a perfect day to do so: a little too much wind but warm enough that my hoodie was sufficient. I had planned to go up on the tram to the top of Sandia Crest but it was closed due to wind. I found a few easy walks instead.
One year ago today, Bandit came to live with us. It’s been occasionally exciting, and not always in a good way, but life has settled down recently. He is doing well in agility class. His missing eye doesn’t seem to interfere with doing courses: his main issue has been getting overly excited by the other dogs. However, he is doing much better now at staying calm.
He has learned to sit politely and wait for an invitation before jumping up in my lap. He had some minor housebreaking issues when he arrived, but I am starting to trust him almost as much as Rion finally.
I hardly ever feel like I am trying to walk a small, uncooperative tank on the leash now. I don’t know if we will ever break him of his counter-surfing habit, but Jack and I have learned that we absolutely cannot trust him with food when we leave the room for more than thirty seconds.
For years I heard the phrase “too cold to snow” but decided it was a lie after moving to Colorado.
Jack’s personal weather station this morning:
Notice the minus 4F which was the outside temperature and the humidity of 86 percent. It’s not showing any precipitation because we are getting a very light, dry powder snow at present.
The view outside our house:
I googled the phrase “too cold to snow” and found that is is almost never too cold to snow. However, very cold snow will not hold as much moisture as temperatures closer to freezing. Another mystery explained, courtesy of Google.
…at least until the sun comes out and it burns off.
Jack and I put the tree up Tuesday. This is the earliest we have ever done so. This is a new tree: our previous one was shedding so badly that Jack bought this one on clearance after Christmas two years ago. This is our first self-lit tree: Jack doesn’t miss wrangling the strings of lights at all.
I had an observer as I fed the horses this morning.