Forward...into the past!

The dogs and I got a precious, rare invite: to celebrate King Dog Tay's birthday up in Oakhurst!

There are more gorgeous images of the Ranch, dogs and snow here

The timing turned into the most perfect trip we've ever made up there: the day after we arrives it snowed. Just enough fell that the ranch and the mountain turned into a winter wonderland. This was *ideal*: the snow only lasted for about two days-- then it melted and allowed us to drive safely back down the hill and home.

The night we arrived there was also a bit of excitement: on the night walk Carol and I discovered a brush-burn that had gotten out of control (these are supposed to be watched by the burner until the fire dies down). Between the windy gusts and all of the pine needles that hadn't been cleared, the fire had spread well into the brush nearby. A fallen pine was in flames and embers were spreading under the pine needles. We went back to get Eric and shovels...Carol got all of the water jugs (they keep them for pump failures).



With a lot of work we got the flames down and the embers mostly doused. The owners of the lot finally arrived with a tractor and used that to completely bury the rest of the fire. They were grateful that it had been discovered, so it was all good. Plus, bonus activity points for me.



We awoke the next day to a winter wonderland: several inches of snow fell during the night and it was cold enough to stick. Check out the link above to see how beautiful the area became. The dogs (all four border collies) and I took a number of hikes in the silent, white world. I love walking in fresh snow (especially when it's only a few inches deep) and watching four crazy border collies run around on Very Important Business.

There are few places that aren't improved by a fall of snow. Since Casa Coyote starts out quite lovely, the snow transformed it into a fantasyland. R0ndo and Apache loved it: they had experienced a dusting of snow in Seattle a few years ago and had a lot of fun...but this was like doggy-disneyland for them. They bounded through the small drifts and still managed to dig ghost varmints. They loved that it was nice and chill out and if they get hot or thirsty they can just eat the refreshing "white dirt".

Tay was showered with goodies and treats. He enjoyed the ribeye steak he got as a present. As any good tyrant, he tolerated the manic attention of all three of the other dogs. He's well-deserving of his Kingdog title!

Taiwanese Mountain Dog, center. Full Flickr set here!

At the last minute I shot up to NorCal to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. On TG day, I met some good friends and their new Corgi puppy. OMG. Cute! Typically Corgi, she was fearless (but not stupidly so). She will be a GREAT dog when she grows up-- M&K have done everything right: good puppy class, lots of exposure to kids, people and other dogs.

Adorable


I also saw a new life-book dog: a Taiwanese Mountain Dog (aka, Formosan Mountain Dog). Amazing! She was one of the dogs adopted from a group flying Taiwanese street dogs back to the US to be adopted (very hard life for a dog in Taiwan). She is probably a mix-- but look at that tiny, thin body on those legs! It's like they ran out of whippet body parts, so they stuck a spaniel body on those whippet legs. She is beautiful and sweet, but those proportions are startling! Also, notice the spaniel-like head and stop. Smart, sweet and agile. Really interesting!

The first thing we did when we got back to L.A. was take a hike up the Newhall Pass to work off some of the turkey. This is pretty much a straight-up hill climb, with the usual fantastic views. We started the hike at Golden Hour: the point around sunset when everything glows as the sun sets.

We discovered that the heart rocks circle had been greatly expanded since we last were here. I love seeing these informal rock groupings and stacking. Perfect place for pics of the dogs! Much love.



I also found a cindar block at the turnaround of the hike. This is exactly what I'd been looking for as something for a project I'm trying, so I tried to lug it back the two miles to the car. Just when I thought I'd hide it in some bushes (about 200 yards later) and come back and move it a little at a time, I realized that this weighed about what I'd lost in weight-- so as an experiment I determined to lug it all the way back to remind myself of what it was like before. Success on several levels: I got the block back to the car and got a stark reminder of what that much weight does to you. It's amazing what a little OCD can accomplish!