Coming in like a lamb!

With a high of 63 here at home, it's hard to believe that we aren't in spring. The weeks this winter have been unseasonably warm thanks to El Nino, and the plants, bugs and bees have noticed! Indian plum and flowering red current are well on their way to being fully in bloom. The rhodies are all confused and blooming up a storm at every turn. Bumblebees are buzzing, junkos are building nests, robins are waking us up each morning and I, for one... am loving this sneak preview of the coming season. Today I saw the very first salmonberry flower in bloom! That means the hummingbirds are on their way. The feeder is up and ready when they arrive. Here are some pictures from the scene around here...

Snowmobiling Mt. Baker

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Tiger Mt. with Mom

I'm so proud. Mom hiked 2.5 miles on the Swamp & Ruth Keeys Big Tree Trails on Tiger on Monday! 2.5!! We enjoyed seeing the beauty of the woods and we even were treated to 2 pileated woodpeckers. One flew off when we saw it- the other only stuck around long enough for me to take 2 blurry pictures (but at least we saw them!). It's so fun living this close to nature!

A sure sign spring is coming!

Daffodils are popping up and Summit is romping in the sunshine. Puxsutawny Phil...you are wrong mister, wrong.

Summit's New Cabin

It was either find or build a new roof for Summit's 10x15 kennel, or buy a large dog house. The snowfall in the past years had overcome the small tarp we had attached for a makeshift roof, and one of the roof panels turned concave. We figured we could straighten the roof panel out with some hammering, but what to do about the roof? It was way too costly to buy one and a really lengthy process to build one (behind a million other projects).

We started researching dog houses and just weren't happy with the cost for quality. For a big dog like Summit, the options were slim and the ones that we found seemed to be poorly constructed and feature-less. It made sense that he should have a little porch for hot days and a nice place to snooze and get out of the wind in the cool spring, fall and winter.

My incredibly smart man sat down with paper and pen one night and drafted the perfect cabin. A trip to Lowes, a few days of pounding & sawing and a seriously messy garage led to this beautiful cabin fit for a furry king (complete with a carpet and insulation). Can you say SPOILED?

His way of saying "thanks" for the buildout.

Winter Escape

The month of February is a special month to us. It kicks off with Vil's birthday, then Valentines Day and then our Anniversary 2 days after that. To celebrate all of the events, we rented a cabin in the tiny mountain village of Mazama, WA. Mazama lies just to the east of the North Cascades, also known as the Alps of Washington. Because its climate is a little drier than the west side, it's prone to forest fires in the summer months. Years ago a huge fire swept across these mountains and devastated everything in its way. It's Mother Nature's housekeeping, so I try to keep that in mind, but it is still amazing to see. We found some huge mountains to ride up on our snowmobiles (sleds) and climbed and climbed until we were out of anything that looked like forest. It felt like we were standing on top of the world when we got above treeline and looked out to see the vast expanse of God's gardens in every direction.

Mazama (or dot on the map) has only one store, which doubles as a gas station and very few amenities aside from amazing recreation. It truly is the perfect place to "escape" and fade into the forest. We could snowmobile right from the cabin! So... we packed up some good food, the dog, the sleds and our x-country skis and for 4 days, we enjoyed the snowy winter of the mountains and the warm fire of the cabin when we returned from playing.

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A bird in the hand....how does that go?

It's odd to see Si with no snow this time of year, so I went up to check out the top first hand. While it was chilly and windy, it was spectacular to see it so accessible! As always.. here are some pictures...

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