It was a great trip, good to see everyone, but it was nice to be headed home.

A great blue heron even said hi while we stopped breifly in Cataldo, ID.

Bailey and Gator summed up the journey quiet well...

Louis and Natasha sharing a sun spot in the camper agreed with the puppies.

Funny thing about the kitties.  We thought they would be sick of the camper after being gone a week...  We keep finding them wanting to nap in it... go figure. 

It is good to be home, but we are excited about more adventures... 

While in Montana we swung by Great Falls, so of course we had to take a peek at Eagle Dam.

We stopped by and saw my old friend Chris, we have known eachother since 1st grade

She has lots of pets here are some she also has more fish some birds, 3 kids and 4 grandkids!

After that we went by the graveyard and saw another pheasant:

On our way back to town we saw several birds:

Including this Bald Eagle:

And a Pheasant:

The cats were entertained in addition to the squirrel by numerous birds:

Including Skip the resident Raven...  This photo does not do Skip justice...

Here Skip is enjoying a piece of buttered bread...

He is named Skip because he skip/ hopps thru the front lawn

This squirrel was quite entertaining trying to break into the "squirrel proof" bird feeder.

After falling on the ground numerous times he finally made it! 

Suzi took some great shots on her walks on my folks property.

She got this shot of a sand crane down by the pond... she how ever did not get a shot of the moose she "claims" to have seen from inside the camper... 

Louis found a great spot to hang out on the balcony inside the house.

Here Natasha is peering down on us from the balcony.  eek glad I'm not a mouse!

We stopped by the lake on our way to my parents to wear out the puppies

Bailey is quite the pro...

 

Gator looks a bit worried to me, but she has only been swimming for a couple of weeks.  The first time she went into the water to fetch a ball as she grabbed the ball and turned around she went completely under the water.  I never realized how complicated a simple grab and turn in the water is... 





While in Idaho Ken and Dianne took us to Falls park.  It is one of the outlets of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Bailey took the oportunity to show off her frisbee skills.  Dianne took this shot.

We next stopped by Idaho to see some family.  This is Zoe 3, and Dominic 8 they are my niece's kids.

My brother showed me his weed whacker got taken over by a robin.

Complete with eggs...

We just got back from our annual trip to Montana. I will blog it over the next few days.
We started our tip at the Wild Horses Monument arriving just after sunset.
This was the day before the super moon.


In the morning Suzi and the puppies Gator and Bailey hiked up to the top for a closer look at the metal sculptures.



Bailey thought this was a wierd angle of the horses.

Gator and Bailey are looking down the hill that they came up. the small white box on the right hand side of the screen is our camper.

 

How rednicks water plants:

We often see Great Blue Herons at Marymoor doggie park.



This year however they have chosen to nest in the park near the water. It is evidently the first time in 20 years they have nested in the park.


Look closely below and you can see the branch being brought to the nest the grand birds are building.

Gator does not care about the herons, there is far too much fun to be had here...

Ginger the Brave: Warrior Princess
July 1996 - March 2012

A whirlwind of puppy energy bounded into our lives as a golden dog with floppy ears and a heart of gold.


At night, exhausted from play, she would always sleep touching her mentor, the incomparable eight year old who was very patient with this new whipper-snapper: the one, the only: Shetara Dog.


Under Ginger's new guiding, unerring influence, we saw the egregious error of our ways and moved expediently from a small condo to a proper house with a large grassy and acceptable back yard.


Then as our Ginger let us know that one boy, one dog and two cats were not enough to keep her appropriately exhausted, we got her a puppy named Samantha and there was much rejoicing, chasing, and jumping through swimming pools.





Well travelled, she enjoyed the states from Pennsylvania to New Mexico to Florida, making friends and receiving multiple treats from said friends wherever she went.








Camping was a joy, and at the warm night fires, she enjoyed having her own chair properly placed between her two moms.



Log jumping with her boy was brought to a new art form at the beaches.





She accompanied her mom on an expedition to find a new home. Together they founded our current home with far more appropriate acreage and adequate romping room for her ever growing family.



She also got two new Black Kitties



and two new white puppies,



who are beyond redemption, and have yet to learn the proper doggy roles. I'm sure she is watching them from above and giving them pointers on how to deal with the high maintenance people of this family.

Although we never caught on to feeding the correct amounts and times (human's are frustratingly dense), she knows wherever she is, there is still hope for us.




Ginger your heart was pure gold, and when you smiled, you lit up our world. Thanks for being with us, for your herculean attempts to guide us in the right directions. Most of all thanks for your unconditional love, which I know goes beyond the confines of this brief life.

May all the grassy fields open up before you, the wind to your tail. I know you and Sam are together now and I know you are both running free.