Our weather is warming but we are having our winter rains. I don't mind the rain...I don't like the snow.

And of course the dog doesn't care if we have both..she just wants to go on her daily walk-abouts.

We encountered another Blue Heron not far from the house today.

As long as the dog keeps moving along the trail the bird doesn't move a feather. And because of his stillness, I don't believe that the dog is even aware of him.

Now, the ducks and the large Canadian Geese...that's another story. As soon as either of them see us coming along the path, they all launch into a loud chorus that half the city can hear.

And of course she is going to go running their way to see what all the commotion is about.

Dumb birds!

Smart dog!

I "borrowed" this post from my other blog..thought you might enjoy it.

Four young Sitkablack-tailed bucks fell upon good luck Sunday as they were pulled from the icy waters of Stephens Passage, Alaska by a group of locals on Tom Satre's 62-foot charter vessel.

The four juvenile Sitka black-tailed deer swam directly toward the boat.

Once the deer reached the boat, the four began to circle the boat, looking directly at the humans on board.

Clearly, the bucks were distressed.

With help, the typically skittish and absolutely wild animals came willingly onto the boat.

Once onboard, they collapsed with exhaustion, shivering.

Here the rescued bucks rest on the back of Tom Satre's boat, the Alaska Quest.

All four deer were transported to Taku Harbour.

Once the group reached the dock, the first buck that had been pulled from the water hopped onto the dock, looked back, then leapt into the Harbour, swam to shore, and disappeared into the forest.

After a bit of prodding and assistance from the humans, two others followed suit, but one deer needed more help.

Here he is being transported by Tom Satre.

Tom, Anna and Tim Satre help the last of the "button" bucks to its feet. They did not know how long the deer had been in the icy waters or if there had been others who did not survive.

The good Samaritans (humans) describe their experience as "one of those defining moments in life."

I'm sure it was for the deer, as well.

A WONDERFUL DAY WITH FAMILY

We all ate way to much...

But it was so very good

during another wonderful

Thanksgiving day!

But we really did eat to much!!!

IT MUST BE TIME FOR A LONG SWEET NAP!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

This picture was taken in our front yard when we lived in Montana.

 Not something we will ever see walk through our yard here by our new home by the sea!

We hope you have a wonderful day.

SIGHTS ON MY WALK

Gosh, when I awoke this morning I really didn't feel any older than I was yesterday on my Birthday.  Well, I guess that's good. 

 And I am beginning to feel much more rested after our return from our home by the sea.  I did a lot more exploring while on my walk this morning.  And M.O.M. took this picture of our neighbors cows and though how much alike these two looked.  I guess it is "Like Mother, Like Daughter"!

I did wonder if I looked that much alike of my own mother.

It wasn't quite so warm today so M.O.M. and I went on two walks today.  On the second one all the chipmunks in the neighborhood seemed to be in the trees by the road just to taunt me.  So I had a lot of fun chasing them back up the trees.  Yeah, they thought they got away from me but they didn't seem to realize that I wanted them to get back up in those trees.  So I won!!

I THINK I AM FLYING!

M.O.M and M.O.D. took me for a ride in our new Ford Explorer and I got to ride in the back with the window down..Wahoo!!! With the wonderful breeze blowing all of my hair back I feel like I am flying...it is wonderful.

In our truck I wasn't able to stick my head out the window so this is a whole new experience for me...and I love it.  Of course it kind of drove me crazy when we drove by a herd of deer but I didn't try to jump out although M.O.M. was a bit worried.

So now I have even more reasons to want to climb into their vehicle with them.  Now if I could just get them to head back to the Pacific Ocean I would be a real happy pup!!

TAKE MY PICTURE PLEASE?

Now that's what I call a real friend!

As you can see, M.O.M. has been busy on the Internet.  But I must also add, that she and I have been going for walks on our dirt road twice a day this week.  And I am loving every minute of it. So I really don't mind very much that she does the computer thing cause I love the time we spend together on our walks.
 And I did overhear her say something to M.O.D. about "Mistaya is getting a little broad in the beam."  I have no idea what they are talking about but if it means I get to run through the forest twice a day they can say anything they want. 
Of course, it may be better that this pup doesn't know what they are talking about.

Early this morning M.O.M. put my collar on me so I immediately knew we were going for walk.

M.O.M. told me that we had been invited to go on the group walk with her friends so I stationed myself in front of one of the windows so I could see when her friend pulled in our driveway. I am so excited cause I love to go on these hour and a half walks with everybody!
So I waited, getting a bit excited every time a car came down our road.

And I waited....

And I waited some more.

After 30 minutes of waiting M.O.M. came to me and said she was afraid that we had been forgotten. But I continued to wait at the window, but by now I was lying down and watching and the excitement and fun were starting to disappear for me.

M.O.M. noticed that I was still holding my post by the front window and she came to me and said that we were not going on the group walk today. She held me close...cause I think she was a bit sad and disappointed too...and she whispered in my ear..."Why don't you and I go on our own walk together?" Of course I was up and running in a flash and got to the front door before she could even get up off her knee's!!!

We walked our usual walk down the road but on our way home M.O.M. and I wandered off the road into the forest and we had the best walk we have had in weeks. I guess sometimes you just have to make you own joy in this world and today we did just that. Thank you so much M.O.M. It was a wonderful day after all!

TRANSPARENT BUTTERFLIES--TRUE BEAUTY OF NATURE

It comes from Central America and is found from Mexico to Panama. It is quite common in its zone, but it's not easy to find because of its transparent wings, which is a natural camouflage mechanism.

A butterfly with transparent wings is rare and beautiful. As delicate as finely blown glass, the presence of this rare tropical gem is used by rain forest ecologists as an indication of high habitat quality and its demise alerts them of ecological change.

Rivaling the refined beauty of a stained glass window, the translucent wings of the Glasswing butterfly shimmer in the sunlight like polished panes of turquoise, orange, green, and red.

All things beautiful do not have to be full of color to be noticed....

AMAZING EAGLE STORY

This post is a email I received a few days ago. I planned to post it just on my other blog... http://seasonsadventures.blogspot.com but for those of you that haven't been there I will post it here on Mistaya's blog. It is quite the amazing photo story of 2 beautiful eagles.
Notice the gentleman sitting on the tailgate of the pickup in the top of the first photo. He has no idea what an amazing act of Nature he is missing right before his eyes!
This American Bald Eagle in the above photo has spotted a small duck on the river and is heading for him...

The little duck watches as the Eagle speeds straight at him at about 40 mph.

With perfect timing, the duck always dove and escaped with a mighty splash! Then he'd pop to the surface as soon as the Eagle flew past. This was repeated over and over for several minutes. I worried the poor duck would tire and that would be the end of him.

A second Eagle joins the attack! You can see his magnificent white tail spread to it's full glory near the top of the photo. The duck kept diving "just in time", so the Eagles began to dive into the water after him!

After several minutes the Eagles got frustrated and began to attack each other. They soon began to dive vertically, level out, and attack head-on in a good old-fashioned game of high-speed "Chicken". Sometimes they banked away from each other at the last possible second. Other times they'd climb vertically and tear into each other while falling back toward the water. (The duck catches his breath at the right side of this picture.)

A terrible miscalculation! The luckiest shot of my life catches this 100 mph head-on collision between two Bald Eagles.

One Eagle stayed aloft and flew away, but the other lies motionless in a crumpled heap. The lucky duck survived to live another day.

It's sad to watch an Eagle drown. He wiggled, flapped and struggled mostly underwater. He finally got his head above water and with great difficulty managed to get airborne. To my astonishment, he flew straight toward me, and it was the most wretched and unstable bird flight I've ever seen!

The bedraggled Eagle circled me once - then lit atop a nearby fir tree. He had a six-foot wingspread and looked mighty angry. I was concerned that I might be his next target, but he was so exhausted he just stared at me. Then I wondered if he would topple to the ground as he tried to dry his feather.

My half-hour wait was rewarded with this marvelous sight. He flew away, almost good as new.

I am sorry that I do not know who the aurthor or photographer of this email is. But it is one of the most amazing email I have seen in a very long time.

THIS POST IS FOR MADI, MY CAT FRIEND

I had read Madi's latest post and in it her mom compared her to a bunny rabbit. Immediately I remembered a photo that M.O.M. had found on the Internet and I just had to post it for Madi and her mom to see. So Madi, we can compare you to a cute bunny rabbit!!

And here is the photo!.....
You can read all about my friend Madi at http://downhomeinnc.blogspot.com/ and see how much she really does look like a bunny rabbit!!!
She writes very interesting daily stories of her life too and even though I am a puppy, Madi is one of my cat friends here in blog world.

OUR ANIMAL NEIGHBORS IN MONTANA AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

M.O.M. and M.O.D. were talking today about all the beautiful wildlife that is here in Montana. We are sure that some of these will not be seen when we move to the ocean.

We have seen....
Beautiful Mule Deer and White Tail Deer...many just outside our windows in our yard....

Many varieties of Mysterious Hawks...many with wing spans up to 2 and 1/2 feet.....

The glorious Golden Eagle with it's unbelievable 7 foot wing span....

The frightening Grey Wolf that has taken many family dogs and numerous new born animals from near by ranches...

The quiet and passive Big Horn Sheep that loves the steep cliffs by the road sides....

And one of my favorites..the Majestic American Bald Eagle. He always brings a feel of excitement and wonder when spotted in the trees along the river as he awaits an unsuspecting fish to swim by for lunch...

And My beloved Moose. My close encounter with this gentle Moose on one of our hikes in the woods was one of my most memorable moments of living in Montana. He meant us no harm just as he seemed to sense that we also meant him no harm. We shared a trail with a peaceful giant that day and I shall never forget how fortunate I felt that day on his trail.

To witness the beauty and grace as 3 amazing Osprey stretched their 5 1/2 foot wing span and glided for a long thrilling moment above me in my yard as they seemed to be dancing together on the breeze that day.

These are sights that will be difficult to find when M.O.D. and M.O.M. and I move from my homeland. But I have no doubt that it will not take the 3 of us very long to find beautiful wonders at our next destination. And of course I can't wait to see what surprises await me at the ocean beaches at our new home. A lot of wonderful adventures for this little pup to share with all of you in the new year!

A NOTE FROM MISTAYA'S M.O.M.....As this fun filled year comes to a close I want to take this time to say thank you to all of Mistaya's blogger friends and their people. It has been a honor to have you follow our adventures...and to read about all of your adventures too. You have all brought joy into my life not just by leaving comments, but by my reading your fun posts in your blogs as well. What a wonderful, fun community this is and Mistaya and I both look forward to sharing all of our mischievous adventures together in the coming year.

May all your days be filled with joy, puppy kisses, kitty purrs and lot's of tail wags...all our love to all of you....Mistaya and her M.O.M.

LOVE IN THE ANIMAL WORLD

This is truly wonderful...here’s to adding a grin of optimism to your day! ...

PORK CHOPS

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cub's, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.

The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species, will take on the care of a different species. The only 'orphans' that could be found quickly, were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops??

TAKE A CLOSE LOOK.........

Now, please tell me one more time ........?

Why can't the rest of the world get along??

THIS PUP'S JOB IS DONE HERE

As you can see, I have this flock of Wild Turkeys very well trained as they no longer wander onto my property to do their "business". They stay on that side of the fence when they do come to visit. I had fun chasing them out of the yard before they learned not to come here. But I didn't realize that once they stopped coming here meant I didn't get to chase them anymore. You see, M.O.M. doesn't allow me to chase them when we encounter them anywhere but in our yard. And I think they know this because they are not afraid of me and many of them make strange sounds at me. Do you think they are laughing at me? Hmm, I wonder...

WE HAD VISITORS AT OUR CAMPSITE

After M.O.M. and I had camp set up we noticed that we had some visitors to my food bowl. They didn't seem to be very shy. M.O.M. approached them with some treats in her outstretched hand and they flew right to her and landed on her arm and started eating the treats!

I wasn't sure just what to do about this but M.O.M. was speaking softly to them so I decided they must be friendly. And she did tell me that I must not chase these gentle birds. I wasn't happy that they were eating my food but M.O.M. did bring enough to make sure I did not go hungry.

But this bird was a different story. It is a Stiller Jay and he constantly chased away the friendly birds whenever they came to visit. So M.O.M. didn't stop me from chasing him away from my food bowl. It you click on the photo you can see the blue colored robber making his escape in the middle of the tree just ahead of me as I raced after him. He did keep me busy for quite awhile that first afternoon.

But I did win!