2-14-2011

Muddy gray this morning temp at 32 and we are definitely in a thaw. The high was 45. It feels like we may be making the turn toward spring. The birds and squirrels seem to sense it too. When I went out on the deck at daybreak the birds were chirping and the squirrels were chattering. In the dead of winter the forest is as silent as a stone. Oh, we may get another snow or two but my "friends" and I we think spring is right around the corner.

Ready For Spring

This afternoon I walked in my forest. I came across where a squirrel had been out of his hole working his pine cones. Everybody is getting anxious to go back to work. Me too. As I walked around I saw so many wind fall trees I need to clean up.

Squirrels out working in February

I may be on to something with my "My Week In Pictures" idea. I've only done it two times now but yesterday I had the largest number of visitors I have ever had in a single day, over 700. The people have spoken. I have really struggled with this blog thing, trying to find the right mix of doing something that I enjoy and that others enjoy too. All I can say is, when it comes to the Internet, it's a jungle out there.

I found this article this morning. The IMF Calls for dollar alternative. There was a time when such a thing was unimaginable. It blows my mind!

I think I've reached that age where I start remembering "the good old days", just like my parents did and their parents before them. Egads! It is really true, life does go by in a flash and the older you get the faster it flies.

Hope everyone had a happy and love filled Valentines day.

©Kinsey Barnard Fine Art  Photography

How to catch a ground squirrel & other ranch chores.

How can I best describe this week. Oh yeah, I know, BOR-RING! We've had fits and starts at good weather but haven't been able to put two days of sunshine together. This morning it's 40 degrees and there was snow on the mountain behind us last night!

So we pretty much stuck around the rancho. Mom serviced the ranch vehicles, oil and lube jobs. That was akin to watching paint dry. We also went out into our forest and started working on the wind fall. Mom is quite handy with the old chain saw. She puts up five to seven cords of wood each year. That was a little more fun but not much.


The biggest excitement was mom and her ground squirrel trapping project. Those little suckers are as destructive as prairie dogs. Mom can't bear to kill the little buggers so she traps and relocates them. She has this trap she got off the internet and it seems to work pretty good. When she bought it they sold her some stinky gunk for a lot of money and she never caught a thing with it. Then she tried Hoody's, in the shell, peanuts and she can catch 'em like crazy! Funny how people are always trying to sell you a bunch of expensive junk when the best stuff is already handy in the house. Nothing like living in the woods to get you using your noggin.


We did take some hikes in the forest around us and visited some local ponds. This one was kinda pretty.


And we saw this very nice mule deer buck who was in velvet. He really was a beauty. Looked like he was going to have a very nice rack. Oh, did I tell you? I found mom a shed antler and that really got me extra pats and treats! Yea for me!!!!


We had a pretty nice sunset last night. One of the neat things about living at altitude is you sometimes feel your right in the clouds. Well, I guess we are now that I think about it.

That was our week. Hope yours was a great one!

©Kinsey Barnard

An Afternoon in British Columbia

Journal: May 09, 2008

Ok, so how cool is this? At about 1:00 in the afternoon we decide we want to got to British Columbia. Ten minutes later we are there! And the mountains shown in this photo about say it all for us! The snow pack this year is fantastic and the Canadian Rockies are in their splendor!



Since it was late we couldn't go too far so we looked for someplace we hadn't been before and did we make a score. We found the Kikomun Creek Provincial Park. It's a complete mystery to me how this little gem has escaped our attention. There are five little lakes in this park and pictured above is the one we spent the afternoon walking around. Sorry mom didn't make note of the name. Bad on her!




We saw all kinds of critters. I tried to chase after them all but was limited by my leash. Drat! We saw mallards, squirrels, Canada geese, painted turtles and a pileated woodpecker. Mom thinks the pileated woodpecker is the coolest bird around and has been trying to get a fine art photograph of one since forever. She still doesn't have one! This guy flew into a tree right in front of us. These birds are pretty darned shy so rather than take a chance of missing him altogether mom just fired. Not good! Way underexposed and no chance for a second shot. Better luck next time mom!





There is a trail that goes all the way around the lake. Way cool hike. The water was crystal clear and beautiful shades of many colors. There was, quite literally, beauty everywhere we looked. Mom was the only human in the place. All I can tell you for sure is it was one fabulous afternoon! Mom was even talking about bringing Clementine up for a night or two so we could explore in greater depth. Oh, boy, I sure hope we do! We love Canada!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography