One of the sensations of our little Zoo is Flöckchen (little Flake), the albino roo.
It’s damn hard to take a picture because the camera has a hard time focusing on white (or black)
One of the sensations of our little Zoo is Flöckchen (little Flake), the albino roo.
It’s damn hard to take a picture because the camera has a hard time focusing on white (or black)
The camels were doing something. We could not figure out whether they were fighting or about to have sex. The whole thing was slow and I hope at least they still knew whose head was whose.
I am still waiting to be struck with an idea for writing, but luckily I got some useful birdie pictures to post at least – a goldfinch, a greenfinch and a siskin. All the same genus, but different sizes. And very different colors.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Our most recent addition are a couple of striped hyaenas. I’m sorry, hyaenas, but nature was really mean to you. Is there any other big mammalian predator that isn’t also really cute? None that I can think of, except for the poor hyaenas.
The forecast is calling for warmer temps (+9º C!) over the weekend with rain. If it’s true, that should get rid of the rest of our snow and all the damned ice so that Jack and I can walk around our own block again. I don’t want to get too excited, though, because the warm is just a blip and not a trend. It’s supposed to turn cold again on Monday (-9º C!) and stay that way right through next weekend. Oh.
These photos were taken at Pittock Lake. The snow and the sand made these really interesting patterns and I thought I’d share a few with you. [Read more…]
Not Charly the Affinity author, obviously. He’s seriously getting old and everybody is dreading what lies ahead. He’s one year older than #1 and our kids and our friend’s kid all grew up with him herding them.
Well, the sun has gone back into hiding and the world is all gloomy shades of gray again. It’s also a double gravity sort of day for me making our walk in the woods more of a slow plod than a walk. Not so, though, for the nimble-footed creature who left these tracks in the snow. I think he hopped, skipped and jumped all the way along with an energetic flourish and a twitching tail.
Our amazing Thuringian billy goat. This domestic breed almost died out in the 1980s and was saved by adding some Swiss goats. Our herd is part of the program to save and stabilise the breed.
Conditions in town are still too dangerous for walking so Jack and I set out for the forest again and had a quiet, contemplative walk in the sunshine. I can finally see that the sun is climbing higher in the sky and even though it’s still cold the air carries a promise of spring. This is the time of year that I get the most frustrated with winter. I’m fed up with heavy socks and leggings and just plain tired of hats and scarves, mittens and boots. Why is it that the shortest month of the year always feels like it’s the longest?
I don’t think that anybody has ever accused llamas and alpacas and vicuñas of looking very intelligent, but they’re sooo cute.
We’ve got a pack of Dholes, Asian wild dogs. While at first glance they can be mistaken for red foxes, their pack structure clearly tells you they’re not. They’ve got a big enclosure and you’re usually glad to spot one or two, but yesterday they all came down to the fence to chill in the sun.
It’s a bright sunny day around here, but the weather remains cold, -7º C which feels like -12º C. I don’t mind the cold as much when it’s sunny, but I do mind all the ice that’s sticking around. We’ve had 2 ice storms in the past 2 weeks with snow in-between. We were supposed to have a few days of warming last week, but we really only had about 1/2 day of above zero temps and all that did was weld all those layers together to make thick sheets of ice that coat the roads and sidewalks. My city has done a poor job this year of clearing ice and snow and our side streets are coated with a 5 – 10 cm. thick layer of ice with deep potholes and grooves where the slush of car tracks froze quickly. They’ve been like this for over a week and the city is doing nothing about it. Driving down these streets is perilous and could easily ruin a car. As for the sidewalks, they are full of thick, slick ice that makes you fall down and go boom. I have cleats for my boots, but they’re difficult to manage because you need to high-step and stomp your feet with every step which is not easy for an old gal like me.
Our river path is also too slick for walking so Jack and I decided to visit our little forest path in the country to check out the conditions and we got lucky. There was packed snow, but ice in only a few places that we could go around. Also, the path has been roughed up by the dozens of people who walk their dogs there and all in all we had a pleasant walk. Best of all we found only minor damage to the trees from the 2 recent ice storms with just a few small downed branches. All of the big grandmother trees fared well. Hooray! I guess this is where Jack and I will be walking for the next little while because ice, ice baby turns out to be dangerous.