Cute cat pictures, horseradish sauce, ice fountains, photography, raptors, SephiPiderWitch, snow geese

January 2017

Yeah, she’s a little topsy-turvy, but she says it helps the blood flow in her head.  And its also a retaliation for her not being offered copious quantities of treats to be the CoverGirl of the post.
Since I have been very negligent on my blog, I am just going to run a Cliff Note version for January.  I admit that I allowed myself to get sideswiped by politics last year.  And I have come to the conclusion that if you allow yourself to get too caught up in things such as that, you forget to live and laugh and have fun.  By the end of it, I was totally burned out.  The chips will fall where they will in the aftermath.  There will either be traces of green earth or it will all be scorched.  But, I shall take a lesson that I learned a few decades ago.  The greatest revenge you can inflict on a force attempting to control you is to simply live your life.  To not let that force interfere.  To smile, to laugh, to make good art.  Because, if you do that, they ultimately lost.
  So, the first day of the year, I began it by going on a 1st day hike.  The ranger running the group didn’t want to wait for me to use the restroom, so they all took off without me.  I decided I was fine with that and could make it a picture day and take my own sweet time stopping wherever I wanted to.  And along the trail, I found this wonderful driftwood elephant trying to grab a tree limb. Note:  If you click on the picture, you will go to the gallery of pictures I took on the hike
I stopped at Fir Island on the way back and was treated to a number of herons playing in the vicinity.  If you go to the gallery (click on photo and it will take you there) you will see a large heron with a great beard.  He was totally indifferent to my presence.  Actually, most of them were someone unbothered by it.  I do believe they are aware that they are on protected lands there.
I saw snow banked along the side of the river driving home one day and figured I had better get some shots before it melted.  Most of our snow is on the mountains and it doesn’t often stick for long when it does come down.  The really cool thing when I got down to the river’s edge was the ice sheets floating down the river and crunching into each other.  My timing was perfect too as the sun was starting to set.  No alterations have been made to the color in the photos.  That is the color being cast by the setting sun.  Took “Golden Hour” to a new level. Again, clicking on photo will take you to the gallery of photos I took at the river’s edge.
This, is a juvenile red tail hawk.  It was captured before a raptor class I went to.  You can’t really tell what the gender is.  Mature and in a nest with their mate, you can.  The female will be the larger of the two.  During the class, they measured, took vitals and banded the leg of the hawk.  And this was when I learned that their legs are full size at 3 weeks old.  And that is why they can band the leg of a juvenile and not worry about it.  They also said that if you find a band, you should call it in to the local bird watch.   It was an amazing class with a field trip after.
While we were out looking for more birds, they caught this merlin.  They caught it while we were distracted looking for other birds in the fields, so I didn’t get to see how they are catching these birds so easily.  But, look at the feathers on this little one!  Just gorgeous!!!
And isn’t this the cutest face you have ever seen???  And if you click on the pic, you can see all the shots from that day.
We had a wee bit of a cold spell here a couple weeks ago.  Cold enough that it managed to freeze the fountains at the Tulalip Casino.  We don’t get sustained colds around here very often, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get some shots of this.Again, click the image to see the rest of the shots.  )
  I got distracted by the way the sun was coming through the clouds and took a turn onto one  of the back roads to try and get some pictures of it.  As you can see, it was worth the side trip.
But, there was an additional surprise when I went down the road.  The fields were full of snow geese.  And I was lucky enough that after parking the car, I got to witness them taking flight.  I couldn’t begin to guess how many were there, but it was well in the thousands.Yes, there are more pictures if you want to click on the image.
  Just a little example of some of Seattle’s graffiti.
I know.  Its a bit glary, but I really liked this painting and had to take a picture of it.
THIS!  This is a jacket I found in a local second hand store.  I am beside myself with glee over adding this to my wardrobe.
And the back view of it.
A present.  Its a tortilla warmer.  Isn’t it awesome??
New  Watercolor Brush.  Don’t know what it will do yet.  Will play with it this weekend.
And this is a horseradish sauce guaranteed to clear your sinuses, make your eyes water and possibly give you coughing fits.  Yumm!
And it  is the year of the rooster, so the post wouldn’t be complete without an impressive cock.
And her little Princess Cassie Flooferpants says it is time to go for now.  She says she will need at least 4 treats, no, 6 treats for waiting for me to finish.
   
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