I had a blast this past weekend!!

My friend Jo, her friend ( and now a new friend of mine ) Jen, and their dogs Gunny and Haylee were signed up for a Sheep Herding Clinic at Downriver Farms about 10 minutes from me. I went as a tag-along and had the pleasure of taking 4 trillion photos.

The night before the clinic we went across the street from the motel they stayed at and let the dogs have some fun time, and I took a few photos.

Here's Jo and Gunny. Gunny is an Australian Shepherd and he is 8 months young. What a freakin' sweetheart this pup is!


The town where I live, Hope, happens to be the chainsaw carving capital in Canada. ( hey, ALL towns are famous/infamous for something! ) The man who began it all is Pete Ryan, his website is HERE

One of my favorite carvings is of a memorial of K-9 Officer "Chip", a German Shepherd Dog, who was killed in the line of duty. Here's a photo of Jo and Gunny posing there....


And one of Jen and Haylee...Haylee is a German Shepherd Dog from the Sable color. She's a stunning beauty!


Here's a closeup of the carving...


And a closeup of the plaque...



Back to the herding clinic....Gosh, there were some truly lovely dogs there. I was in heaven snapping photos of them all. I used Jo's camera, and wow, I now HAVE to purchase one as great.

Here's a couple of picture of an Australian Shepherd, Jessie:



And here's the Old English Sheepdog ( can't remember her name but she was a lovely dog )



More to come tomorrow!

Elephant Artist

Wow. Incredible stuff.

I am awed by the dexterity, and intelligence of the elephant, but it also breaks my heart. Sorta' like when I was a kid and saw an elephant in a lime green tutu at a circus....just not right......

12 lttle piggies, an Alpaca and dogs!

What fun today was! A child, animals, and good people. You can't beat that combination.

Myself, Kelsie and Brianne ( Kelsie is my co-worker and friend, and Brianne is her 3 y/o daughter ) went out to the Fraser Valley to visit my friend Jean, and her menagerie of critters.

The day began by driving past beautiful spaces, Brianne hogging the binoculars:


We stopped at a gas station, and I had to take this photo:


WTF right? Are there gas stations that do charge for air? Anywhere?

Or does this gas station know something we don't?? ACK! Are we going to eventually be charged for air, and this station is doing damage control of a sort? Blew my mind....

A few of the 12 Pot Belly pigs inside their HUGE outdoor *pen* just before Jean lets them out into a yard that still looks like a *human animal yard*....



Jean called them all out to the yard where she had a big bin of veggies and treats:



And then they went into the green green grass, and rooted for hazelnuts that were buried in the ground from last year.



Piglets are cautious, and awful damn cute



One of the piglets seems convinced that Jean's dog Charlie has stolen a carrot perhaps?


Streeeetch for that morsel!


Hey! Little girl! Do you have any more treats??


Sweet sweet babies....


This little piggy is convinced Jean has another treat....look at his gorgeous eye!


Well, hello there!!

Time for a belly rub! hehehehehe!


K, follow the leader back to your yard.....so cute!



Martin, the Alpaca.....is this a Mullet haircut?


What a handsome guy!


Charlie waiting for Brianne and Kelsie on the rise at the back of the property. ( a gorgeous spot to sit and contemplate life Jean! )


Jean also has another dog Sadie, that very closely resembles Charlie, and a wee Sheltie named Belle. Oh, and a cat named Allie. Her blog,"My Life With The Critters" is linked on the sidebar to your right....great blog Jean!

Scotch and Soda, the parents of the piglets ( Soda was pregnant at the time, which nobody knew ) came from a S.P.C.A. abuse/neglect situation which you can read about
HERE

It was a great day, lots of fun and interesting things were learned about and seen. Thanks for having us over Jean and crew!

A Smidge Of Heaven in Yale

Chrissy ( the fisherwoman ) told me about an excellent place to take the dogs, as well as it being one of the most gorgeous spots around here. And on both accounts she was dead on.

I took a few photos of the landscape, but it was pointless really. Photos do not do this spot justice, at all.You have to actually be there in body to understand. I just stood in one spot, with my jaw hanging down, amazed at the natural beauty of it all.

Yale, which is about 15 miles north of me, is the smidge of heaven. That little district is steeped in gold rush history. I will definitely become a regular where we were yesterday, and there are hordes of other spots, including forestry roads, where the dogs and I will be adventuring.

And a few photos from yesterday.....

Flood Falls

Didn't make it to Flood Falls the other day, too much slushy wet snow falling. I'm a pussy I suppose, 'cause the dogs would have gladly trecked it. I can walk in rain, hail, beating sunshine, but I refuse to do wet slushy snow.

Our walk yesterday began at a field off the highway ( Trans Canada #1 ) that we go to a few times a week. It's also a perfect *pee break* spot for the dogs if I'm driving to Chilliwack. It's the old Hope-Princeton Hwy, an old 2-laner that is overgrown now with blackberry bushes, scrub and fruit trees..... I guess the fruit trees came from the old homesteads that used to line that old highway way back then.

Now the "highway" ( barely a one lane now ) is used by fishermen to get to the good spots to fish. ( Oh! sidenote: My friend Chrissy is a fisherwoman, is fisherwoman a word?? does anyone know where to get fishing gear in adult sizes in the color pink? There is one website, but they are kind of limited....)

You jump over the tracks, head down through a well hacked back scrub and brush to get to this:


To the right of that photo is Herrling Island, a Cottonwood tree farm owned by Scott Paper. They harvest the trees for toilet paper. Poor trees.....

The river is the Fraser River, and it was running pretty fast so I kept Watcher and Frankie on shore. There are alot of still pools in this river but this area is not one of them.

Back up over the tracks and wow, what a pretty scene! Lots and lots of wild Rose bushes!



I love spring. Everything is new and happening! I believe these are new shoots from a Hazelnut tree. ( Frankie in the background )


Here's Frankie urging Watcher and I to hurry our asses. With every day he is becoming more brave. He darts ahead, but always stops and makes sure I am heading in the same direction as he is.


It never fails to boggle my mind when I come across scenes such as the one below. What the hell is it with some people? Where I see a lovely pastoral setting, they see a perfect place to dump their used items....grumble grumble grumble.




Off to Flood Falls......
And this was weird because the trail to the actual Falls has never been marked before, but this time there was this sign:

and it's not even marking the trail! Well, it's marking a trail, but not the one that we normally use. The one we normally take is wide, and well worn. This one was steeper, the ground was loose, and it was difficult to make out a trail at all. But we went up it anyway for a change.

See what I'm saying....wtf is the trail?


Follow me!




Cool! Someone built a seat for the weary about half-way up!


At long last ( not really, it was only a 1/2 hour up :-) the falls are in my sight....


Pool at the bottom of the Falls


And another seat! Yippeeee!



The gully from the Falls


View from across the highway....Flood Falls is smack dab in the middle.



It was a nice day and a couple of great walks. On the way home I had to take a photo of this old barn.....isn't it cool!