Tired Pooch

We took a hike on Sunday.  As most of you know, we live off the Tolt Pipeline Trail.  The Tolt Pipeline goes on for some distance in both directions (east and you go toward Duvall, west and you go towards Woodinville proper), we followed it west and eventually hit the Sammamish River Trail in Woodinville.  We had never walked this far on the trail; it turns out that round trip, it is about 7 miles.  It is a nice hike, although fairly hilly and coming back is a real challenge because there is a VERY steep hill that seems to go on forever.  That being said, we made it with no problems.  It ended up taking us about 2 hours, allowing for some doggie dip time at the river (it is the halfway point and she just has to cool off).  However the show started that evening.  This is what we saw when we were getting ready to go to bed...

Have you ever seen such a pitiful sight!  Apparently we must have worn her out pretty good.  We told her that she better get ready.  Summer is right around the corner and there is hiking to be done.

Kansas Peony Update

As indicated in an earlier blog, Kristina's parents sent her some peonies from Kansas.  She has them planted in three different spots in the yard and as you can see, they are doing quite well.  All three plants even have buds on them.  Hopefully Kristina will get the blooms she is wanting soon!

Another Bear Visit

Our black bear paid us a visit last night.  Kristina was sitting on the couch when she hear a crash in the backyard.  It was dark, so she couldn't see real well.  She flipped on the lights and thought she could see a black object, but she wasn't sure.  Eventually though the bear took the bird feeder and went back to a corner of the yard.  Only after he started moving, the light could be seen reflecting off the plastic topper and it was definitely our friend the bear.

There were no peanuts in the peanut box, although you could tell he took a swipe at it.  One of the suet cakes was devoured and then ultimately he took down the bird feeder.  You can see his aftermath below in the pictures.  When we was done, he just gently got up and walked down our path and back onto the trail -- like he owned the place!  Funny bear!

The bird feeder taken OUT.

You can see from this photo...it was a beefy steel pipe.

The next morning, the mallard was enjoying all of the spilled seed from the bear.  He just sat there while we took photos.  He didn't even move until we grabbed the feeder from him.

Spring 2015 Yard Update

So, Kristina's parents were kind enough to go to all of the bother to pack up some of their peonies and send them to Washington!  Kristina's Dad (George) has propagated these peonies in yards everywhere, so it is time for them to make the trip to Washington State.  We decided to plant two bunches in the backyard and one bunch in the front yard.  Here are the ones in the back!

A few posts ago, we posted a shot of the azaleas and primrose...look at them now...FULL BLOOM!

Here are Kristina's existing peonies...hopefully they continue to improve!

And last, but not least, the finished path.  It now goes all of the way from our bridge back to the yard. We elevated it a bit and made some drainage paths for excess rainwater!  Hopefully it works as good as it looks!

And more cleanup in the area that we continue to work on...as you can see it is very opened up, we just need to get more of the loose ends raked up.  Our hope is to fill this in with some dirt or bark and eventually add some raised beds for Kristina to have a garden!

This view is from our backyard looking towards the trail!

We still have a ways to go, but we work on it a little bit each weekend and continue to make progress!  Woohoo!

Easter Hike

There is no better way to celebrate Easter than to go out for a hike and enjoy nature.  That along with the guilt of leaving the dog home yesterday all by herself while we went to a tennis match for Kristina on Bainbridge Island.  We had to make it up to Indy today -- plus, we needed to properly celebrate her birthday as well.  By the way, Kristina won her match!  :)

It was forecasted to be an "okay" day, so we decided to head to the Wallace Falls area.  You are never quite sure what to expect when you leave the house to go for a hike!  It turned out to be a great day and a great hike!  We used the railroad trail, rather than the busy main trail to explore part of the park that we didn't have much familiarity with prior to today.  We ended up hiking about 6 miles!

As always, Indy had to take a dip at every opportunity!  It didn't matter that she just went to the doggie spa on Friday.  Dogs will be dogs!  By the way, it was around 60 degrees today and she acted like it was 80!

Some random shots of the trail.  There was very pretty scenery and it was quite serene.  We didn't even cross paths with anyone until we were hiking back to the trailhead!

Time for another dip -- at least this was clear water!

Here's a good shot of Jared and Indy on a new bridge that had been built on the trail!  Aren't they just the cutest pair you ever did see!

More shots of the trail and the surrounding scenery!

Our next trip, we need to hit Wallace Lake and check it out!  Maybe there will be good fishing there!

Indy and Kristina posing for a shot against the beautiful backdrop!

And last but not least, the star of the hike -- INDY!  What a good dog she is!  

March Rain

March rain was pretty crazy!  We ended up with a total of 4.66", but the crazy thing is that 3" of that came in the first weekend of the month.  In just one day, we logged 2.53" -- and that day it just rained and rained and rained (it wouldn't have been so bad except that it was a weekend).  Mother Nature had decided it was time to rain and boy did it!  Weather Underground reports that our average March rainfall is 3.62", well we definitely hit that.  We may not have had any snow this winter, but we continue to have rain above the average.

Happy Spring!