Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to show you what things are like after the blizzard. You may remember me from such posts as “Stuff and Nonsense”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
That’s a lot of snow, if you couldn’t tell.
It’s not very cold out, and the snow was really slushy, so it was fun to drag the guy I live with through it when I went for my morning walk.
Of course, me being me, there were times when I had to go out in the snow for, you know, personal reasons. The guy I live with said it wasn’t fair for me to have to go out all by myself, so last night, around midnight, we went out together.
I kind of hopped through the snow to visit my Private Lawn (you can see my hop prints) while the guy I live with stood around, listening to the owls hooting.
Yes, the owls. The guy I live with said he thought he knew where they were nesting, in a tree (possibly a big Abies concolor) behind the lamp post visible in this next picture. (The lamp post is farther away than it looks.)
I guess you’ll just have to pretend you can hear the hooting.
If we went over there and got to see owlets, the guy I live with would be pretty happy.
Speaking of creatures that live around here, I think I forgot to show this picture, which was taken a few days ago. The guy I live with wondered what I was barking at.
Okay, so, back to today.
The guy I live with was pretty worried about damage to the garden, from all the wet, heavy snow, but the only thing he’s noticed so far is this poor juniper:
I had to inspect it more closely.
That’s Juniperus communis ‘Taurifera’, a columnar juniper. The guy I live with totally forgot to wrap it with twine, before the snow.
There was a lot of snow on my evening walk, but it wasn’t too hard for the guy I live with to walk in.
It struck both of us as being kind of weird that the creek had no water in it.
The guy I live with said that when he and his wife moved into this house, there was water in the creek all the time. And frogs and crawdads and stuff. But one year it stopped running, and now only has water in it when it floods.
There’s a smaller creek that had a lot of water in it, from the storm drains in the street.
I like the snow quite a bit.
The guy I live with said if I like snow so much, maybe I could help shovel it, but my paws don’t work that way. So he shoveled and shoveled.
Later on, the guy I live with baked a pizza in the oven, so I had to stay outside. Like if he accidentally decided to bake me, too. Or something. He said that the other purebred border collies who have lived here didn’t like the oven, either, so I didn’t feel so badly about having to stay outside, safe from the oven and its dinging noises.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
The snow really is beautiful. I can see the snow doesn’t bother you and your nice thick winter pure-bred Border collie coat. Nice to see the wildlife up close in your own backyard, so to speak. I thought it was funny about accidentally baking you!
Thanks; I don’t want to be baked. The guy I live with has no idea why the oven, with its dinging noises, is so scary for purebred border collies, but it is. (The toaster is pretty scary, too.) It’s a good thing that he’s used to our peculiar idiosyncrasies.
What are all those small craters in the snow? It looks like someone else was hopping about out there earlier.
The guy I live with said it was something to do with the grass underneath. It’s a complete mystery to me.
Yes; like ‘What is the grass doing down there that we can’t see?’.
I guess.
Umm Mani iss that a C-A-T inn yore fotoss where yoore innspectin THE Juney-purr tree??? Are wee seein thingss?
An LadyMew sayss there iss a Coyote inn other foto; mee said a poochie…..there are treetss ridin on yore answer, mew mew mew….
It lookss so purrty there aftur THE storm!
Iss sad yore creek doess not have water; iss a sign of THE timess it seemss.
You look lovelee inn yore fotoss’…yore so fotogenick!
Did Guy share a bit of pizza with you??? Mee hopess so!
***purrss*** BellaDharma an ((huggiess)) LadyMew
Thanks; no, I didn’t get any pizza. The guy I live with says I already have a heavy winter coat.
It was a coyote in the picture, and that cat is a “French scare cat”. They’re metal, with green marble eyes, and come from France. The guy I live with’s wife bought them, years and years ago.
They’re supposed to scare away birds and squirrels.
Where can mee get mee one of those Frenchie Scare Catss Mani??? Tehre iss a Stinky man cat who keepss comin round here an mee wantss to scare him away!!! Maybee mee needss a French Scare Doggie??
Mee nevurr getss any pizza eether…Mee has tried to steal peppyroni beefore, mew mew mew…
Mee likess THE cheeze too!
An mee hopess Coyote stayss far away **shudderss** Sorry Coyotess scare THE you-know-what outta mee!
**purrss** BellaDharma
I’m not scared of coyotes; they’re scared of me. I can be pretty fierce.
The guy I live with says you’d probably have to go to France to get scare cats, because he couldn’t find any online when he wanted to get some extra ones.
You should maybe take a look at the post that Chess did, called “Do Squirrels Eat Pizza?” (he also says the food I get is better for me than pizza.)
Wee reeleeved that Coyotess are scare of YOU, Mani!!! Then they will leeve you an Guy alone.
LadyMew sayss France iss a bit too far to go fore Scarey Ctss, mew mew mew…
An mee will have to look Chess’ post up fore sure! 😉
The coyotes turn around and go the other way when they see me coming. The guy I live with insists it’s because of him, but he’s not fierce at all.
I think those scare cats came from Smith and Hawken, back in the 1990s, but they were made in France.
Mew mew mew wee let Guy think Coyotess are afraid of him rite Mani?? Mee thinkss Coyoress are scared of both of youss’!!!
An mee wishess mee cuud find a scary sumthin to scare ‘Stinky’ away 😉
**purrss** BellaDharma an LadyMew two
I think they are scared of both of us. Two very fierce creatures.
You Mani an yore Guy are furry feerce!! Those Coyotess they not have a chance ‘gainst youss’!! 😉
Hi Mani! This is the lady that Sampson used to live with. He has shuffled off his mortal coil. He had a pretty good last week. We had some similar “going out at midnight in the snow” moments that week. Then the sun came out and he had some “standing around in the sun” moments, so that was really nice. Maybe he’ll drop by for a visit, not being tethered to this particular garden. Of course I will continue checking in here. It was enjoyable writing for Sampson and I do love your posts and adventures, especially the owls and the snowdrops. I also love the tiny cactus.
Oh, we’re so sorry about Sampson.
The guy I live with said he knows all about such things, and how much it hurts, but isn’t going to tell me much.
It’s snowing here again …
I think we are done with snow here for the year, but up where our Aussie lives (with our kids who think they are her real family) they still have a couple feet and she goes out and digs for little critters who seem to be under the snow but on top of the ground – mice? Imaginary voles? Who knows? But it makes the snow look very turned up. Maybe you should try it.
Our most frightening kitchen appliance is an immersion blender – both dogs squeeze under the bed and quake when it is taken out to be used. We finally retired it to the garage; if something has to be blended in the pan, the pan just goes out to the garage. Seems like the least we can do for our housemates.
ceci
The guy I live with said he thought he needed an immersion blender, but it sounds totally scary.
I bet that Australian shepherd likes to hunt for voles. The guy I live with has a Facebook friend who has an Aussie, and she likes to hunt for voles, too. Vole hunting is a lot of fun. (The guy I live with said maybe not so much for the voles.)
It snowed here last night, and this morning, and it’s supposed to snow again next week.
But there were a lot of crocuses in flower today.