SADIE

February 4th we celebrated Sadie being with us two years! She was a foster dog the first year. We adopted her officially the second week of February, not certain the exact date we sent in paperwork. Her she is just back from the hair dressers. She is 13 1/2.

Bald Cypress

I planted 5 Bald Cypress about 20 years ago. They were all about 4-5' tall and pretty skinny, trunk wise. They are planted in a very wet area, some years it is flooded, not just all winter but all summer too.  Two of them were gnawed down by beavers, after that we wrapped the remaining three with chicken wire about two feet up, that seems to have saved them.  We have not bushwhacked our way in to see them in years, at least 5 years. We can see the tops  (25-30 feet tall) up above the scrub willow so we knew they were still there. Today we whacked our way back to see them, and boy howdy have they grown. The chicken wire has almost grown into one, I will cut it off soon, before the rains start, but the others seem to have a bit more growing room. I looked, but couldn't see any Cypress Knees, I don't know how old they have to be before they get Knees, or what conditions are necessary for them to form. Anyway, here are a few photos, one with Sadie, (for scale). One tree is still skinnyish, it has always been smaller. I bought the young trees from several different nurseries, so I guess the small one came from inferior stock. The trunks are really interesting, they're staring to look like swamp trees! I hope they don't attract any Swamp Monsters!

The last couple days we have had a little snow, a few inches at a time. Total about 3". This morning the sky was blue and the snow was still on the trees and bushes. Muy Bonito. Here are a few snaps we took. LOTS of birds in the backyard.

There is a thin layer of ice on the lake, and of course the water is way up in the backyard from all the rain we have been having. Makes for pretty in the snow.

The Centennial Trail, Most of these tracks were made yesterday, some by Sadie and I when we took our afternoon walk.

Sadie posing for me. What a pretty snow dog.

I threw some snow balls so she could show off her agility. Not bad for an old girl.

She enjoyed trying to catch the snow balls. If she caught one or not she went ahead and ate a little snow.

Jim and I decided to adopt our foster dog, Sadie. She has been with us for a year, she's 12 1/2 yo. She likes it here and we have gotten attached to her too. She had a not so good life before she came to us and doesn't need to go through the new home process again. So as a welcome to our family gift I made her a place mat for her food and water dishes. I used left over fabrics from the aprons I had made for Jodi and I for dog walking at the shelter. It is approx 16x22, has a thin layer of batting inside to help soak up the water from her chin, (she is a very sloppy drinker!).