Cougar Creek

A first for Retired Mountain Man's game camera.

It's a dog's life here.

Maggie has inherited dog house accessories from her cousin Sophie.  She is a very happy dog.

She now has a new dog house pad with an air mattress inside for extra comfort....

.....and a heated water dish and a heating pad that will go inside her dog bed when the weather gets cold.  

Retired Mountain Man was so envious that he decided he wanted an electric blanket.  He actually starting searching online to buy one.  (Note:  Retired Mountain Man does not shop online.)

Maggie says she is ready for winter.

Yes, Retired Mountain Man is getting an electric blanket.  It's been ordered and is on it's way.

The herd.

The latest photos from Retired Mountain Man's game camera.

We've had two days of sunshine and warm temperatures before the next batch of rain heads our way.  I have been trying to finish planting the vegetable garden even though it is really too wet, but time is up!  Yesterday, after working in the garden until mid-day I decided I needed a few more bags of compost and manure so I made my last trip to the Home Depot gardening department. (It probably wasn't my last trip to the garden department, but it will make Retired Mountain Man happy if he thinks it was my last trip)

While I was at Home Depot Retired Mountain Man called me to find out what the settings were on my camera so that he could take some pictures.  This is unusual as he never takes pictures.  There must be something very interesting to shoot if he is asking how to use the camera.  A bear?  A mountain lion?  A moose?  The Goshawk?

It turns out the camera needed to be on the macro setting to take the photos.


This is what he ended up with.

He's kind of a cute little guy.

Natural disaster caught on game camera.

After five inches of rain in two days Cougar Creek was more than gushing down the hillside.  There are several culverts along the route but all of them started to overflow as they became clogged with all the debris washing down the creek.

The water has overflowed the culvert and is cutting a new channel for the creek down the road.  The water is moving fast enough now that it is activating the game camera.

Travis realized that there might be a problem up Cougar Creek and goes to check it out. Here he is caught on the game camera trying to unclog one of the culverts.

He decides he needs a longer tool.

 Mama and baby cross the new creek.

 Travis and Adam return at 5:00 in the afternoon to check for more problems.

 The following day Travis and Alan return to try to clean up debris.

 Mama and baby are back the night of the 10th and on the 11th.

May game camera photos

Retired Mountain Man's game camera took some very nice photos during the past few weeks.

New baby- hours old

Need a mood booster?

They say that having a dog is very good for your health.  I think it is true.  Every day when Mr. Dylan comes from a long day working for the USFS, Maggie is here to welcome him, sitting on the front porch wagging her tail as he drives up.  She knows that it won't be long and Dylan will want to play with her.  She has been waiting all day for that time to arrive.   

She still makes little pig noises when she gets cuddled, just like she did as a puppy.  Funny!

Dylan's "best friend".

Miss Maggie:  loyal, intelligent (except for the retrieving disability), devoted and affectionate.

Playing and cuddling with your dog is supposed to lower your blood pressure and reduce stress.  

A dog can make you laugh even when you've had a bad day, which would include cold, wet, rainy days cutting down trees for the Forest Service. 

A dog's only wish in life is to make you happy.  How cool is that?

There should be a Dunkin' Donuts around here somewhere.

This gal was looking for breakfast in the field this morning.  She spent a couple of minutes digging in the the dirt but always managed to stay behind the apple tree and the fence.   

Say goodbye to the Queen of the Border Collies.

Mollie Burkhart, one awesome dog.   She was born on April 1,1998, on a dairy farm near Chatteroy, Washington.  She tolerated only one cat in her life, and that was Jones, pictured below.

 

What does it take to be an awesome dog?  

She only barked when there was something to bark about, such as a deer in the yard.  That required one bark.  A bear, on the other hand, required several barks that became known as "Mollie's bear bark".  Her job was to keep deer, moose, bear, raccoons and any other varmint, out of my garden and that is exactly what she did.

She stayed home and patrolled our property daily for those pesky varmints.  She liked being outdoors and preferred it.  At night she slept on the deck underneath our bedroom window.  She was always on the job.  When she did come in the house, she had her rug by the door and that was where she would be, especially in her senior years.  She loved sleeping on the rug.  

She absolutely loved to play with the Frisbee or any toy that could be retrieved.  She was very good at it.  She also loved the Old Cougar Road version of golf.  She was just positive that golf ball was for her.

She was very gentle and patient with kids and never tried to herd them but kept track of them all the time to be sure they were safe. 

 

Mollie and Collin

She loved the "Firewood Game".  Jon would use the wheel barrel to bring in loads of wood to the house.  He would throw her toy and Mollie would retrieve it and drop it in the wheel barrel for Jon to throw it again. 

April 1, 1998 - May 8, 2012

In memory of Mollie, a rendition of Tom T. Hall, singing "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine".

Happy Birthday to Mollie and Maggie.

Mollie and Maggie just had a birthday on April 1st.   Remember when Maggie first came to Cougar Creek?

I certainly remember the first time we had to leave her for more than a couple hours.  We painstakingly cleared everything out of our bathroom and put her cage, food and water in the bathroom.  We only missed removing one item, the roll of toilet paper.  When we came home and opened the bathroom door, the entire floor (5 x 10') of the bathroom was covered with torn up tissue.  It turns out she was quite a chewer.

She chewed up everything.  Every toy, every ball, flower pots, rugs, towels, blankets........  Here she is chewing up a wine bottle box.

Meanwhile, Mollie spent her days tolerating the little thing.  One year later she still wishes it would go away.  "What a nuisance that other dog is," says Mollie. 

Today, while it was snowing outside,, both dogs got their Easter bath.  They are getting ready for the Easter Bunny and the grandkids to visit and wanted to look their best.  Tomorrow after they are both brushed and beautiful, I will take their birthday/Easter photo for 2012.

Regarding the fresh snow, it amounted to about three inches today.  The snow is also to welcome the Easter Bunny.  We always have snow for the Easter Bunny.  That is why you color the eggs those bright colors to that you can find them in the snow.

You can't get there from here.

On day two of our Vegas experience we decided that we would drive to the strip and go to the Mandalay Bay Casino so that we could see the Shark Reef Aquarium.

We made the mistake of parking at the Luxor Casino which meant we had to walk through the entire casino to get to the tram that would take us to Mandalay Bay.  That mistake would make it about a two mile walk just to get to the Shark Reef exhibit.

After the Shark Reef, the plan was that we would take the tram to the Excalibur Casino, walk to the MGM Grand Casino and take the Monorail to Caesar's Palace. It all sounds pretty easy, but it's not.  As you start to walk through a casino you realize just how big they are. 

Outside the Luxor Casino

At the end of our first two mile walk and we were finally at the Shark Reef.  The Shark Reef is set up as if you were in a sunken shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean.  The tanks are all around you, above and below. 

Boy, I would really like to touch this guy.

My favorite

This guy was cool though.

Lion Fish

They were feeding the swordfish.  See the man with the long tube?

We finished viewing the aquarium and head back to the tram.




There are escalators everywhere in Vegas which is a good thing because all of the walking is on concrete or marble or something similar.  There is no grass, except the kind that you smoke and I don't think they call it that anymore?

 Escalators.  They are even outdoors.  You take the escalator up to the bridge, walk over the street and then take the escalator back down.  There is no climbing up the mountain in Vegas.

Going up

Going down

The Excalibur

We are on the tram!

We're off the tram and notice we are getting closer to the MGM Grand where we will take the monorail to Caesar's Palace.  How much farther do you think it is to the monorail?

Another bridge over the street.

Another escalator.

And we're walking....

We walk by expensive looking shops.  Violin Chick would love these boots.

Or maybe these?

As we walk we see a lot of women wearing high heels.  I don't know about you, but my feet are already starting to hurt and we're only halfway to Caesar's Palace.  (When we came back by this store, these boots were gone.  Violin Chick, did you buy them?)

I am not wearing my hiking boots, but I wish I were.