Wild Kingdom

It all started out innocently enough.

But then... doesn't it always?

There was a bit of a break in the cold today and we had been painting so I thought I would take the dogs out, and take some pictures. David had noticed froggy from the window and how even though he was sitting on a big boulder he has been slowly disappearing. Now all that can be seen is his eye which is peaking out towards the lake.

It was a nice enough afternoon outside that Cosmo the Magnificent came out without his coat so that he could make pee-sicles, and of course Delta had to watch over him since we had left the indoor land of Cosmo the Tyrant and he was now in her outdoor kingdom... she is the boss here.

If you look way down there almost to the woodpile there is Cosmo up to his own business and then he trudged back up to the house in the snow that is deeper than he is tall.

Then, all of a sudden...

I could hear Marlin Perkin's voice because Delta decided to get all Wild Kingdom right before my eyes... and camera. Marlin was talking about how in even the stark areas of the earth wildlife can flourish because they adapt, improvise, and overcome. You know... like the Marines.

Do you remember that show? We used to watch it every week. It came on either right before or after a Disney short on t.v. and I could remember sitting with my family watching it. It was quite awhile ago and I am pretty foggy on some of the shows so I dunno how much my sisters remember but I used to love it.

As you will see, Delta suddenly lost interest in guarding Cosmo when she heard some voles... (small mice like creatures... really they are just little mice with long noses) Yes, I said heard them under I dunno how much snow... check this out and as Marlin says, "hold on to your lunch if you don't like to watch nature in action." Well, he never actually said that but you get my drift. Here are a couple short clips of the action. There are three clips... after each one is over just hit the back button to return here and then scroll on down to the next. They are very short.

From Movies

From Movies

This next one is my favorite. David and I were just watching a show the other night about polar bears and the way they hunt. Those creatures (that can get over 1500 lbs) can smell seals nearly 1 mile away and buried 3 feet under the snow. These huge creatures sniff out a seal, listen for movement while standing soooooo still and then in an instant raise themselves up on their back legs and smash through the ice to yank out the seals.

Now... look at Delta:

From Movies

Oh my. She is licking her chops!
Yikes look at the teeny pink feet all splayed out by the teeny tail there.
I bet that was a rude surprise poor little thing!

Now for some indoor sports.

No not that kind.

If it was that kind this would be the point where you would enter your credit card information.

We started painting in the living room. Sheesh.
Here is a shot standing near the south window wall back towards kitchen.
The paint is literally still wet here:



Below is another from the same direction but towards the mudroom and front door.
You can kinda see the flow of color here... olive to yellow to terra cotta:



From the kitchen back into the living room:



Down the stairs...
Hmmm. I hope she does not think I look like a vole:



And here is a couple shots of kitchen:

and then from the kitchen into the russet colored bathroom.
Just ignore the morning prep stuff in there I had not put it away yet.
Just wanted to show you that yellowy-creamy color and the russet.
Just ignore the spackle and plaster tape. Heh.

Anyway... we are keeping busy and it was nice to get out for a bit and not have to go right back in. There is a cold snap coming.. now with our luck THAT forecast will come true! -20 with a windchill of -40! Great.