More of the Beastie Update

How's everyone tonight? I had a lovely arthrogram today of my shoulder and I'm trying to ignore the soreness at this moment so I'm throwing up some more pictures.

I thought I'd share my recent hiking pictures. A couple three weekends ago when I was nursing this ridiculous shoulder shortly after the latest injury we took a drive up Bridger Canyon. Found the boyo some snow to play in. He's going to be like our other silly winter dogs, particularly Tucker. You can see how much he loves it.

We found ourselves a nice little trail though muddy and wet at Battle Ridge. Certainly can tell that though we're back west, it's more wet than the Casper area was by all the undergrowth and moss present.

Was able to get even the little one to sit still long enough for a "family pic" here. We ran into some more snow in areas and rain at lower elevation. There was good reason for the mud.

It was pretty even without my handsome boys in the shot.

Then for my birthday I started the day off with a wonderful little walk. I purposefully left the old guys at home as I had bigger plans for them later in the day.

It was a pretty morning with fog and sun. Nothing prettier than a touch of fog; better yet, frozen fog on things.

Including on little boys whiskered faces.

Later in the day we headed up Drinking Horse on a whole family hike. Well, not a whole family, The Guy had to work. It was my regularly scheduled day off, I didn't ask for it off. Promise. I love this fun little bridge on the trail.

Also at the bottom of the trail I snapped this picture. You can't see the Northern Flicker that's on the pole, but I thought the sun glinting in the glass insulators was kind of pretty.

Though the older boys were upset to be left home in the morning, they were happy to go on the hike. Big hike days always seem to be leaving these guys stiff as of late. Poor old guys.

This is at one of the overlooks, looking back West over Bozeman.

And I talked them into another family photo at the first benches.

We also learned at the top that I suck at selfies, which is okay as I never loved having my own photo taken. Don't ask me what Óengus is up to, he's a puppy. He also has an annoying habit of showing his belly whenever you need him to do something.

 Almost to the top!

Practically at the top here, looking down and to the east from Bozeman up Bridger Canyon.

On the way down I slowed down to look at the flowers.

I love watching the spring flowers coming out. I need to get some shots of the pretty little pink aster like ones that came up in the lawn. They're probably weeds, but they are pretty for now. I did figure out we have some hounds tongue and dug that out this last weekend.

This is that bridge on the way back. This side shows the funky roof line better. To bad the shots blurry, I hadn't noticed that until now. In the parking lot the little one did that whole roll on his back again... in the muddy parking lot. So we stopped for a quick bath on the way home.

And then had to dry off like the big dogs do. Pure silly joy. Time to take some ibuprofen, you all have a great night.

A part of the more to come...

And there won't be any new pics taken today because it's raining, it's mucky, and it's kind of cold to boot in the places I tried to go for a hike this morning.

I'm not whining. It is what it is and I'm kind of feeling a bit yucky the last two days and just wasn't up for it. Also, in one of the trailhead lots this morning I stopped my car, went to get out and the car started to slide on the muddy lot and I decided that it so wasn't worth it. Muddy dogs, muddy car, and wet uncomfortable shoes. Some days I'm up for it, somedays I'm just not. Today, I'm not, though I will figure something out for these guys.

How are morning started on the first walk of the day on the day of the hike. Multiple walks? Yep, that's how we roll in this House O'Mutts

So here I am listening to some tunes throwing up pictures from Óengus Og's (let us not discuss how long it took me to learn how to type that with it's correct accent) first real hike, and we should have named him tank because he trucked right along with us the entire time. I'm sure a couple older dogs would have lied him to fall behind. Alas... puppy energy.

Didn't notice until just now, how crooked this one is...

And before someone asks about the ever energetic ones name, read here. Of course I went for the Old Irish spelling. I chose it because the little putz is a complete love when he's not trying to chew on you. Even then he's a love about it. From the moment we met him he was a sweety that really just wants to cuddle most of the time.

Back to the hike.... This is Madison Buffalo Jump State Park. It's a quick drive from our place and typically we're pretty solitary when out there. Mind you, it's not been prime hiking season yet either. My only concern is that it strikes me as pretty good rattlesnake country too when it warms up enough for them to come out. It will probably remain a winter/fall/spring hike for us because of that. We'll stick to the mountains for summer likes where we'll be more likely to find water and cool rather than snakes.

Snakes aren't bad, and those who know me know that I'm not scared of them. What I am scared of is one of my silly dogs getting themselves struck by one. Particularly in the face as I've raised a bunch of nosy little bastards... Okay, only two of them are bastards anymore as we know the youngest twos heritage. How the hell did I, Rescuer of Mutts end up with pure breeds? Life, I tell you.

Óengus Og is an English Shepherd for those who are interested. I know, most aren't but it saves me from having to log on and moderate comments later.

How could I have not fallen for that face? And yes, he's as goofy and fun loving as that face implies, though an absolute joy. He's had some quirks we've had to work through but he's a soft hearted gentle soul so they've been easy to deal with quirks.

Anyway, I need to get to some more things so I'm going to leave the chatty stuff for another time and leave you with these pics. And yes, as you could tell by the last posting, I'm kind of getting over the trying to behave myself with our current administration. I'm still trying to be hopeful and respectful, but it's getting harder by the day.

"Are you guys coming? Sheesh, a bunch of slow pokes..."

"What? I wasn't doing anything... I swear!"

Sorry, I was sweating with the hike up, but the condensation on the lens gave a cool affect. Can you see the little falcon?

A bit closer.

Finally over the lip, and that was a trial finding a spot to get over. Even I can't train dogs to rock climb... At one point I got three of four over but I couldn't get Sullivan up and over with a bum shoulder of my own. You can see Tucks shaved bum form his second knee surgery. His last followup is today. He's doing much better and I think we're going to stop here as we don't want to put him through another, but this is how he earned the nick name, "Half-moon Hound".

Awwwww....

Anyone up for some gin?

I'll leave you guys here with some cuteness. It's what keeps kids, pups, and kittens alive through the times you want to strangle them out of sheer exhausted frustration.

He was beat by the time we hit the parking lot, but he doesn't do this after hikes anymore, he's still got get up and go. Dammit.

More to come, but it's been busy around here.

Sorry for the silence. Yes all, we're here, alive, and still working on settling in. Didn't help that we added to the pack. Blogosphere, meet Óengus Og. 

Or, for us non Celtic speakers, Angus Og. Really, he just goes by Angus. He's a wee shit of a four month old, but that's how it is. Actually, he's a good boy mostly, just drives you crazy at times like all little boys worth their salt are.

We're still working on settling in here. Figuring out where exactly we want things, what things we don't need, what we need to get for the new place, and how our schedules run. Add to that the needs of a new puppy and I haven't found the time I should to get on here.

On that note, there's not much I'm going to say here tonight. I have things I want to get done yet this Sunday evening. There are more puppy pictures to come too, just not tonight. Tonight is catch up from the last couple months. 

Actually it's mostly from the day that Sullivan and I took as a solo day as the pup wasn't with us yet and Tuck and Emmitt were at the vet getting their dentals done. So we had a good day goofing off before it was time to pick them up and bring them home. 

Frost Flowers

Cold days and surging rivers make for icy conditions. Conditions big dogs don't like walking on.

He tried hard to find ways around

Gotta love those ears!

The actual confluence of the Madison and the Jefferson Rivers. And then there's Sullivan... trying to look presidential. And might I say, doing better than our current one, silly ears and all?

Sullivan looking out over the Gallatin river that merges with the other two a bit downstream to form the Missouri.

Welcome back to the West... The reason the big guy had to pick his way around the ice.

Back in the land of the wily Magpie

That's it guys. I promise, I have more pics to share another time, and I say that meaning soon. Very soon.