Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to wish you all a Happy New Year and to show some pictures. You may remember me from such posts as “H.N.Y.”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose.
It’s probably obvious what the weather is like here, though it’s not very cold during the day. Or the night, either.

I’m not going to review the year, really; I just thought the title was kind of funny.

The guy I live with took a picture of the sleepygrass (Achnatherum robustum) at night.
It still hasn’t been knocked over by the snow.
He also took a picture of me. Those are my white legs, if you couldn’t tell.
He also took a couple of atmospheric pictures of the willows a couple of evenings ago.
The willows are kind of interesting. They have a tendency to break (I think these are Salix amygdaloides); even very large branches can be broken by the snow, especially if they’ve been drilled by flickers for nests.
The extra-creepy willow got some part of it broken off a while ago.
I had to inspect the fallen part. You can see all the nest cavities there.
I know that right near the creepy willow there’s a spot where the creek can be crossed without the guy I live with having to pull himself up the other bank, which would never work, these days. I mean if he had to, he could, but he doesn’t want to have to.
I don’t know why the creek bed is so shallow here. I guess it just is. The water definitely doesn’t stay in the creek bed when there’s a lot of water; the area where the guy I live with was standing is completely flooded, and soggy for days afterward.
On the other side, where I am, there used to be a big jumble of pretty large branches from the willow tree on that side of the bank; I think the flood we had in June washed them away, and now they’re lodged farther down the creek.

I’d also like to show you how attractive our garden has become.
Look closely at the incredibly artistic skill with which the guy I live with covered the potted snowdrops.
The snowdrops don’t really need that covering but the guy I live with decided to do it anyway. He could have cut the frost cloth to fit, but said he didn’t feel like it, and so now I have this to look at. We aren’t going to have any garden tours for while, fortunately.
The autumn-flowering crocuses (the ones that have overwintering leaves) have their cages now. If they don’t have cages, rabbits will eat the leaves, which is bad for the crocuses.
The guy I live with said that you either put cages around the crocuses, or you don’t have crocuses. I know it’s my job to chase rabbits out of the garden, and I do that, but somehow they get in anyway. We still haven’t figured out how they’re getting in, unless they fly in.

Speaking of protecting plants, the guy I live with wrapped the little roses in “the enclosure”.
He ran out of burlap for the last cage; you can see the green metal stakes where the unwrapped rose is.
These roses came from High Country Rosarium, this year. They all looked green and healthy before they were wrapped.
He ordered some last year, from a different place, but all the little roses died during that really bad winter we had. He should have covered them with soil before it got cold, but he forgot to, and that was that for the poor little roses.

I hear that there’s a plan to replace the fence in the enclosure. I’ve been hearing that for some time now. And talking about it, too. The guy I live with removed a few of the cedar boards for some purpose, as you can see.
It won’t take all that much work to fix; the difficulty is in starting the project. Like with so many other things.
Hopefully by the end of next year you’ll be able to see the new fence.

So that’s all I have for the last day of the year.

Until next time, then.