Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Missing that Aussie

On Christmas Eve it started to snow...

And then there was a blizzard...and then it snowed again.

The stray cats still made it to the coontina....

...but the thermometer has still not made it to above freezing.

Brrrr. Cold. Ice. Cold again. Brrr. I've been stuck indoors for days and although I have a full case of wine and lots of enchiladas (not sure why but that's what I decided to make for Christmas dinner), I want to get outside and visit friends or just do something but it's been too darn icy.

I also want to get out because I haven't seen Aussie in about a month. I miss that dog. I'm looking forward to being with her on the Kansas land so we can stomp around and see what everything looks like covered in snow and to see what kind of critter tracks are traversing the landscape... but dang, it's just too cold and icy. I hope she's spending her time in front of a fireplace... which is probably something I should be doing too. :-)

Last time I was out on the Kansas land was about a month ago. It looked like winter was approaching but the weather was unusually warm (in the 60s!) and since I always get out there so late, the shadows were long.

The goldenrod had gone to seed.

And the shadows got longer as I decided to cross one part of the unexplored property to see what was on the other side.

Aussie (of course) joined me and the two of us walked through the part of the woods where the Ents lived.

We walked and walked and walked and then....what the????

Horses?

Horses that were acting like they had never seen anything like a woman and a dog on the other side of their fence.

I'm sure they were just as surprised to see us as Aussie and I were to see them...and just as curious.

Aussie, I know what you're thinking...don't do it.

Oh Aussie!

The horses snorted, hmmphed, had some disapproving looks directed at us, and then galloped away, making as much noise as they possibly could on their 50+ open acres of land.

Gallop, gallop, gallop (not in a straight line, they were taking their time) and that was that. Show offs.

Aussie and I then moved on to the next area to explore. She's a very good and patient scout. This is what I see when I try to catch up because I'm usually tangled up in vines or something. Two legs are no match for four experienced ones.

When I first saw this thing I thought of a tree house. Not sure why because there's no tree and there's no house.

We found an old rotted tree.

I found another down feather from a hawk or owl. It's getting hard to take these close up photos because if Aussie sees me interested in something, she comes running. Feather fluffs move around a lot when one dog is having some good hearty breaths just an inch or so away.

We found a rather deep and narrow ravine and I'm glad there was a pallet over it because I would have had to retrace my steps where I had been if there was no way to cross it...and probably in the dark too because the sun was quickly setting.

It's still so pretty out there, even when there is hardly anything to see.

It has got be some place wonderful when covered with bright white snow. The temperature is supposed to get to at least 32 degrees tomorrow and if things thaw out enough, I am out of here. Besides, I think the birds are tired of me after being confined with me for almost four days. Eddie has been calling out "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" because that's usually what she does when I'm almost out the door on my way to work in the morning. I think she means it now. And I'm anxious to follow her orders. To go and go and go. :-)

5 comments:

Leenie said...

Hope the weather cooperates so you can go see Aussie and that wild property. Loved the view of your last tramp, the Ents, the horses, the shrubs. They should be taking on a whole new look with all that weather. Stay warm, have fun, bring back pictures to share.

Country Girl said...

Hope you soon get to see it all again. Keep warm, my friend!

Hilary said...

Such beautiful photos of a wonderful day. I so get what you're saying about Aussie and the feather. Benny is the same, only he doesn't just investigate it - he must have it! I love the feather. I tend to pick up and keep almost all feathers that I find...

Thanks for sharing this lovely day and I hope you can get back out there again soon!

Maureen said...

Beautiful shots, can't wait to see it with snow. Pacino says See You Later when it's time to go.

Maria said...

You guys talked me into it. I went out into the snow and the roads were completely clear-even the gravel roads out in the middle of nowhere. It was nice to have weather above freezing for one day. If I go out again tomorrow I expect to see a LOT of snowmen and women and animals because the snow was nice and heavy.

Leenie-Still putting the pictures together. Pictures of a lot of snow. A lot.

Kate-How funny you said that. I dressed so warm that I had to roll down the windows in the car. Didn't know that heavy flannel shirts can be warmer than winter coats. :-/

Hilary-Hadn't thought of collecting the feathers. I do collect Eddie's, my amazon parrot's molted feathers. I keep them in some old vaseline glass vases and have them in the kitchen. Not sure what to do with big fuzz hawk feathers. One of these days maybe I'll find a real one.

Maureen-That's cute. Eddie belts out her "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"s which sometimes get followed by a "BYE. BYE. BYE." which sometimes degenerates into something like "BYE. DIE. DIE. DIE." That combined with Stella's imitation of a security alarm...I'm glad my neighbors are hardly ever home.