Donkey Rebuttal

Like I was saying.....Mules are much smarter than donkeys.....

We don't mess around.....we know how to handle situations....if you know what I mean.  

Uh......wait......I hear someone coming......

Oh NO!!!  It is May the donkey!   Just pretend like we were talking about something else.  La la la la.....

Hi May.  We were just hanging out....we were not talking about donkeys.    I mean we were just talking about the weather.  

Otis...Otis....Otis.....I know what you said.  I also know that Donkeys are smarter and nicer than mules.  We like to keep ourselves clean and we are not afraid of anything.  Not even a pink blanket.  

Not to mention the fact that we are also really cute.  By the way Otis.....you are half donkey!

Yeah Otis didn't you know that???  Ha ha ha.  

Be quiet Ollie!

Come on Otis....let's all be friends again.  

Yes Otis we can be friends again.  

Okay......If you say so and if I have to.....

Cookie......did someone say cookie??????!!!!  

And they all lived happily ever after.....

Someone please rescue me from this crazy place!  

Interview with a Mini Mule

Well, well, well.....We are getting ready for more snow!  This is the calm before the storm.  A beautiful view of The Peak.  

The sky is getting a little angry.  Angry, but beautiful.  

We are supposed to get about a foot of the white stuff starting this afternoon.  

The poor dogs were just getting used to being able to run around without getting bogged down in the snow.  I was enjoying it as well.  

Were are the deer!  Come here little deer.  I want to chase you.......

There they are!!!   Hey! Deer!  Run!

I think I am being ignored....

INTERVIEW WITH A MINI MULE

Excuse me sir....What do you think of the impending snow?

You talkin to me???  I think that I dare it to snow!  Us mini mules are tough.  It is not like we are stinkin donkeys.  We can handle it.  

Donkeys are lightweights....they have to wear blankets and stay in the shelter.  But not us mini mules.  We are built to take whatever the weather hands us.  Speaking of handing something over.....where is my cookie?  

Sorry...no cookie.....no interview.  

What did he say????  

Oh Brother!!!!!

More Ice!!!

Yippppeeee....Blue Sky!!!

 (this was taken last week...I am a little behind in posting)

What a beautiful day.  Mid 40s and no wind.  Great day for a nice long walk.

We have been sticking to open spaces because the crust on the snow is so abrasive and there are still some places where the snow drifts are difficult to get through.  Most of the open areas are melted enough to walk in without too much difficulty.

Hey....wait on me!

This guy is so sweet.  He is my neighbor's horse and he turned 30 years old this winter.  In great shape for an old man.   The picture looks a little strange because I had to stand in a ditch to get all of him in the shot.  His head looks huge.....and it is, but not as big as it looks in this picture.  Happy Birthday buddy.

Well the blues have hit again.  More ICE!!!  Go away ice.  Blue dog does not like the ice it makes her look rabid. (taken yesterday)

Poor Blue dog.  I made this blue dog as a memorial for Comet.  I sure do miss her.  

I do not know what it is about these guys.  My little mini mules love the rain and ice.  They have a nice shelter but for some strange reason prefer to stay out in the bad weather.  Notice how dry May is.  She only came out of the shelter to see me.  She HATES the rain.

Silly mules!

The Most Beautiful Day

January 12th 2010 was one of the most beautiful days that I have ever seen.  We had a small snow the day before and the low clouds had created this beautiful rime ice on the mountain tops.  Also there were the most beautiful pastel colors in the sky.  The clouds had this pinkish orange glow with sections of baby blue sky coming through.  WOW.  The best word to describe this day is the word "soft".

I knew that I had to get outside.  I worked very hard to get all of my office duties done early enough to get out before the sun set.  Here is a close up of the ice.  I want to say that it is very difficult to work when it is this pretty outside.

It looked like someone took powdered sugar and sprinkled it onto the trees.   Do you see Zippy?  I had no idea that he was even in the picture until I saw it on my computer.

As you have probably noticed....I really love this tree.  I have pictures of it in all seasons.  I am not sure what it is about this tree, but I just have to take pictures of it.

I think maybe it is because it is a survivor.   It lives in a tough environment and thrives.  It is shaped by that environment and lucky enough to be in such a beautiful place.

Here we are sledding at a more safe location.  While you can veer out of control; you are LESS likely to fling yourself against a tree or rock.  Also there is no barb wire fence at the bottom of the hill.  Just look at that cloud over Elk Knob!  I waited and waited, but never got to see Elk Knob without the cloud.  Snake Mountain was also covered.  I finally gave up trying to get a picture and decided to sled.

Zippy was happy that he could chase me.  Sledding with Bumble and Zippy is not easy.  One person has to hold both dogs while the other person takes their turn down the hill.  Then....you let one dog go.  If you let them go at the same time; there could be trouble.  Too much excitement will only be trouble.

It was getting dark, so these shots are a little grainy.   I think Zippy was going about 55mph.  You can see where I wiped out on some ice and only made it halfway down the hill.

Put on the brakes Zippy!

Weekend adventures

This is the road that goes past our driveway.  It is an old farm\ logging road and it is quite peaceful and beautiful when it snows.  I love to walk down this little road.  Zippy really likes it here because he can be off leash and not run into another dog.  This is one of the only places that he can do this and I love to watch him run.  He is so graceful and full of energy.

Friday afternoon we decided to take a walk and then decided to try sliding down this hill on the ice.  Bumble is giving Brian a push.  Notice at the bottom how there is a fairly flat place.  You would think that this is a great sledding hill and it is.  Except we did not really factor in the ice when we came back here on Sunday afternoon with our Swiss Bob sleds.  A Swiss Bob sled is basically just  a small plastic square that you sit on and it takes off at high speed and flings you down the hill with no steering or brakes.

Well......luckily I let Brian go first.  The landing strip at the bottom did not work very well and Brian took a left and continued down the hill and he was very lucky to have hit a large snow drift that stopped him before he smashed into the large stand of trees below.  After that we found a place that was not so steep.  See that little white dot on Brian?  That is Bumble she enjoys sledding too.

Here she is getting ready to go out.

Here she is slightly upset that I made her wear ear muffs.

Here is Gus wondering if he can turn me in for animal abuse.

Zippy is thinking the same thing.

It is a good thing that my neighbor came by because we needed to have an adventure and it kept me from actually dressing the dogs up in ski outfits.   Ha ha.

So I had been down to my neighbor's house making tamales.  We had a great time and after making the tamales my neighbor had to steam them to finish the process and then he was going to bring some up to our house.  Our driveway is a "little" steep and "slightly" slick from the ice and snow.  I looked out of the window and saw my neighbor walking up the hill.  He looked very cold (it was only 8 degrees).  We got him into the house and then realized that he had walked up the driveway in open toed bedroom shoes.  He did have socks on though.  I am not going to mention names here to protect the innocent.  He had to walk because he got stuck at the base of our driveway.  So we trekked down to see what we could do to get the vehicle out.

Well we thought that maybe if we got the rear of the vehicle straight that we could drive it up to the house.  So we pulled it parallel to the drive and I might add that on the side opposite of where I am standing....is a pretty respectable drop off into the pasture.

We got it straight, but still could not gain enough traction to get it moving.

So......we had to get out the heavy equipment.  Of course our tractor is broken down (hydraulic problem) from all of the snow removal duties.  So unnamed neighbor had to go get his tractor (Big Blue).  You can see here how the pasture drops off on the left and also the "slight" incline of our drive.  My neighbor did give up his bedroom shoes for some boots at this point.

After Big Blue came over to help all was well and my neighbor was mobile again.  Thanks Big Blue.

Note to neighbor.....please do not be upset that I posted you on my blog.  I even blurred out your tag to hide your identity.  Love ya!  Thanks for the tamales!  Que sienta mejor.

Please quit! I have had enough!