Bunny Tracks

I've seen deer and I've seen turkey. I've seen chipmunks too, but since we moved out here, I haven't seen a bunny yet. I was fairly certain they would be around since they are everywhere. We saw them several times at the old place. They are snowshoe hares. Cute little bunnies that are brown in summer and white in the winter.

Snowshoe in the summer.

Snowshoe in the winter.

I hadn't seen any since being out here, and even started to think that maybe they didn't want to be out here for whatever reason... train, too many cars, humans, whatever.

I was ecstatic when I saw bunny prints in the snow! I was so excited that I grabbed my camera and walked around the yard following them. They have been right next to the house - hmmm, that would explain the motion sensor flood light turning on in the middle of the night! The tracks wound around trees, through the bushes and finally into my garden, around the perimeter and back out.

Bunny Tracks!

What's left of my garden.

I knew they were around! Now if I could only get a picture of one in action!

A Hike Up The Mountain

Since we've moved to this new house, I've wanted to explore the mountain behind me. It looms above me, calling me to climb. Okay, so it's not that big, but I've wanted to explore.

Call me lazy, or maybe I've just procrastinated for whatever reason, but I've been here for 5 months now and only went out yesterday.

I'm glad I did and I wish I had gone sooner! It was a nice invigorating hike up, the air was clean and cold and the steepness made it great exercise. Though the hike up was great, there wasn't much to see that was all that interesting. Just trees and rocks. More trees and rocks.

Trees and rocks...

While I don't mind the trees and rocks (they are still beautiful!), I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't see anything spectacular like a waterfall, or even a deer! Though there were TONS of footprints! (Apparently the deer and turkey live up there!)

Look! The turkey prints made a star!

It wasn't until we reached a curve in the path and my son yelled at me "Stay away from that area mom! That's the direction where the mountain goes DOWN!" He's scared of high places now after he broke his leg climbing rocks. I decided to trek through the trees and see what was beyond...

It


WAS


BREATHTAKING!



If it horribly snowy most of the time, I would totally build my house on top where I can wake up to these views every morning. OR if I had a tractor or snow plow.

Obviously the views were awesome, and I really didn't want to head back down, but it was cold. I think the high was only 29, and it was a lot colder up top! So we headed down to the warmth of the house.

On the way down, Dustin found a "Dragon Egg"...


And I spotted a neat icicle!


We'll definitely make the hike again!

Eclipse

No, I'm not talking about the Twilight stuff... I'm talking about a real live lunar eclipse!

Picture from NatGeo

I've been fascinated with anything to do with the sky for as long as I can remember. Stars, planets, eclipses, and the Northern Lights - I have yet to see these!

Today, there's a full moon and a full lunar eclipse at...well, right at this very moment. Naturally I woke up early so I could watch. I even tried taking a few pictures, but my camera is not cooperating. I think it's on its last leg.

I got super lucky this year! Normally, I have to go outside and find a spot where I can catch a glimpse of the moon between the trees and freeze...and that was being up on a mountain. This time, I can watch the eclipse, nice and toasty, inside the house, from my computer desk no less! It's awesome! I've got my coffee and I'm watching as the shadow slowly takes over the moon!

For those of you who can't see the eclipse, there is an awesome website where you can see it online! Check it out!

http://events.slooh.com/

Now if I could just see those darn Aurora!