Steve's Birthday - Part One

I LOVE getting up early! 

My morning ritual is to get the coffee going, grab the binoculars and scan the area for wildlife, let the dogs out and feed them, get the wood burner going, then grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the sunrise.

Sometimes you can see the wildlife with the naked eye. This morning I had 11 whitetail deer on the ridge. But the binoculars come in handy when you can't see the wildlife. Do you see the deer in the valley - just over the picnic table?

Good Morning!

How about the deer on the hill? Look over the top of the swingset...

There she is!

We were even fortunate this week to have coffee out on the deck in the warm sunshine.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, last week was Steve's birthday, so we loaded up the dogs and the snowshoes and headed up the mountains. It was a beautiful sunny day!

On the way to our destination, this coyote crossed in front of us.

The views were incredible! The above pic is of the ski hills by Meadowlark Lake.

We hiked to the Sitting Bull Campground.

The trail was packed down good, but if the dogs wandered off to check out critter tracks, they sunk in the deep snow. We laughed, but sometimes I got worried we would have to step in and pull a dog out! Off the trail the snow was 3 - 5 feet deep!

At one point, Ike got real stuck. He's in the middle of the above pic.

Bear was concerned and looked ready to jump in and help.

But Ike plowed through, and made it back to the packed trail.

Whew!