Snow

I've been a little unimpressed with the weather as of late. Mud?!? Seriously??

But....FINALLY!!!!



And it's supposed to snow for the next couple of days!!!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Update

Hi!!!

I haven't been around much lately as Mom has been busy doing 'stuff' (when she's not hogging the computer), and I'm apparently not allowed to use the computer unsupervised after I purchased Carl Sagan's Cosmos series on DVD... Sheesh. A girl tries to get a little education, and she's not allowed free access to amazon.com any more. Hey, it's not my fault that Mom has enabled the 'one-click' purchase option...

Anyhoo, when Mom hasn't been off doing 'stuff', she's been working on the 2011 calendar. See, as a Christmas present for all of our relatives, Mom uses the Kodak site to make calendars using a selection of pictures that she's taken over the past year. And no, I'm not spoiling the surprise; Mom has been doing this for the last 6 years - if our relatives can't figure out what the calendar-shaped object in wrapping paper under the Christmas tree is by now, well, I don't think I'll be ruining the surprise now.

So, Mom has been sort through pictures from the last year, and so far, she's only made in into March - apparently there are about 500,000,000,000 ("billyuns and billyuns"... heehee... can you tell I've been watching my Carl Sagan DVDs? At least Mom didn't make me return them...) pictures of Abby as a puppy. I was going to be all insulted until Mom pointed out that she had an entire external hard drive full of pictures of me as a youngster. Anyhoo, Mom has been busy working on the calendar so she hasn't gotten too many recent pictures of me.

But, here's a very slight preview of potential pictures for the calendar...

Heehee. Can you believe that my hippobottomus sister used to be that little fluff ball?

Snow!!! (Apparently we're supposed to have a HUGE storm this weekend. I hope so because this mud is really cutting into my Abby-smackdown time.)

D'oh. Me and TaiChi, doing what we did best!

Heehee. Anyhoo, that is just a small taste of the pictures that might make it into this year's calendar. I say 'might' because Mom picks out about 200 pictures and there are only 12 months in the year...

One final thing; thanks (on Mom's behalf) for the comments about her cross-stitch. She didn't actually intend for them to be direct depictions of us. She does cross-stitch to help her 'unwind' (whatever that means) and she likes doing doggie stitches when she can find cute ones that "aren't too sappy or ridiculous" (direct quote from Mom). However, she did think that the sleeping doggie sort of looked like me... What do you think?

Mom sees similarities in the squeezy-eyes and snooter. At least she knows that my butt isn't that big! ;-)

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Wordless Wednesday: Mom's Amusement

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby (neither of whom are as rotund as Mom's stitching might imply!)

Let it snow! (Already - enough with the mud!)

Seriously, let it snow!!! After some wonderful early season snow, it's been warm-ish and dry-ish. Meaning we have a lot of mud, and not so much on the snow front. Sure, we've had flurries, and even some wet gloppy stuff that fell last night, but not Serious Snow. (And Mom won't let us play in the wet gloppy stuff - something about mud and how there aren't enough towels, and fresh sheets and blankets in the house to sop up all the mud, and how she doesn't want to be Bisselling the carpets to get muddy footprints out. *sheesh* Talk about No Fun.)

Because we can't really indulge in our usual backyard shenanigans, we've been going on a lot of walks. Which is fine.

Oh. Wait. Before I get into the walk thing; let me just state that while my big little sister can be a royal pain in the tuchus at times, I do not want to trade her for a goldfish. Mom pointed out that playing bitey-face with a goldfish wouldn't last very long, nor would it be particularly exciting (no matter how tasty it might be), so I guess I'll keep Abby. But if she starts to get too out of hand, I'm going to start lobbying for a Yorkie or something. I'm just saying.

Okay, so back to our walks. Yesterday it was windy and cloudy and damp.

This was the best 'flag picture' Mom could get - we were at a stoplight, and no she didn't dash in and buy cheeseburgers for Abby and me. I don't know why not.

As you can see, the snow on the lower hills is vanishing, except for where they are making it. The Olympic Park (where they do ski jumping, bobsled, luge and skeleton) was actively making snow when we walked past, despite the damp air.

And while the ski areas are making/holding snow on the runs (you can see part of Park City Resort) in the background our hiking trail is snow-less.

This is at the start of our walk; it's paved for about a quarter mile and then we get onto a dirt/gravel thing that goes for miles and miles and miles and miles.

And even though I'd rather have Abby than a goldfish, it doesn't mean that I can't blow raspberries at her when Mom tries to get photo ops...

Heehee.

Because Mom and Dad think that we don't get enough exercise, they had increased the length of our walks. Apparently 5 miles is not enough to slow Abby down. (Kids today... *sigh*) So we have all sorts of farmland and mountain views and stuff.

Apparently this is called 'scenery'. Okay, we've seen it. Moving on...

Seriously, moving on... There is important stuff to sniff here.

Our pond has been closed for the winter. I guess they are trying to put down more grass and stuff; by the end of the summer many of the banks of the pond had been worn down to the sheeting they used to make the pond in the first place (the stuff is really slippery...). Mom says it's too cold to go swimming anyway.

Just because she's all dressed up in a coat and hat and gloves and stuff...

We're so not convinced about this closed pond thing....

Anyhoo, after the walk yesterday, it clouded up again, and we observed the Worldwide Moment in the middle of a snow squall (apparently Abby needed to walk a little more... I'm thinking about talking to Mom and having Abby signed up to run in the Iditarod this year....). And then we came home and lit a candle for all those who have crossed the Bridge and for all of those who are ailing.

And I think Dad said a little prayer to the Snow Gods.

If it snows, Abby and I will be back to our regular backyard zoomies (in addition to our regularly scheduled walks, because, if you haven't noticed, Abby has a lot of energy... if we could figure out how to harness her energy, I don't think Mom and Dad would have to pay an electric or gas bill ever again... I'm just saying...). In the meantime, we'll be walking. And driving Mom and Dad nuts, because we can...

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

De inimico non loquaris sed cogites*

There are times that I think I might have been better off if Mom and Dad had gotten me a goldfish rather than my evil, monstrous, terrible dear sweet sister. But what can you do? Other than convince Mom and Dad to adopt something that will terrorize Abby. I know, attempt to keep her in her place. But it's getting tougher. My fat-bottomed sister is getting speedier.

And she's in my face...

Drastic times call for drastic measures...

And she's got crazy eyes.

I don't think a goldfish would be quite so crazy-eyed. I'm just saying...

Anyhoo, other than dealing with my crazy sister (honestly - she will get on the bed and wait for me to come in the room and then try to pounce on me when I want to get up on the bed; a goldfish would not do that...), we've been going on a lot of long walks. The weather is in limbo - it's not really snowing, other than some flurries, but it's cold at night and cool and windy during the days. Unfortunately, it warms up just enough that the backyard gets muddy, so my chances to put Abby in her place are limited. But we're walking a lot.

And Mom and Dad are hoping for snow...

Me? I'm just hoping for some more backyard time so I can remind Abby who's boss.

I'm just saying...

*kissey face*
-Fiona (and Abby the evil, vicious, non-goldfish Hippobottomus)


*Don't wish ill for your enemy; plan it.

PeeEss: I should amend this to say that I really do love my little sister, I just love her more when she's asleep, or running errands with Mom while I'm home with Dad... Heehee!

Wordless Wednesday: The Snow Bootie Edition

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

PeeEss: Mom started off with just the front feet so we could get used to the booties as some of us (possibly me) are a wee bit reluctant when exposed to new experiences... By the end of the adventure we were quite happy with our booties!

Like sands through the hourglass...

Heehee. Forgive the title. Mom has been 'writing' a lot lately, and she's prone to the dramatic and the ridiculous at the moment. And her 'writing'? It seems to consist of her tapping away on her computer, giggling to herself occasionally, and then making some obscure comment to anyone who will listen (which is usually Abby) about public latrines in ancient Rome. Seriously, my Mom is crazy.

Anyhoo. Enough about my crazy mother. Today's weather has gone downhill, and Mom is threatening to cart us both off to daycare (particularly since a certain large-bottomed sister of mine doesn't get the concept of just kicking back and enjoying a mellow day curled up on the bed next to Mom while she taps away on her keyboard). Daycare is fun, so I won't complain, but I would rather be playing in the snow, or like this weekend, running around in the last nice days of fall...

Mom says the following pictures would result in serious fines in the NFL. I have no idea what she's talking about. (As usual.)

Yeah, um, whatever, Mom.

Blame the blurriness of these next couple of pictures on the fact that the sun is not as high in the sky as it should be as it is in mid-summer.


The next two are in sequence (Mom's little camera doesn't get fast-action shots like the big camera does...)

Yep, I was waiting for her to make her move... Heehee.

And here are just a couple of random zoomie shots...


It is now officially sleeting, and Mom and Dad can see snow about 500 feet higher up, so we'll have snow soon. My Hippobottomus sister is creating havoc and mayhem, so we'll go off to daycare for a few hours to give Mom and Dad some peace and quiet, and to give Abby a chance to work out her Puppy Crazies. Seriously, I may have had my moments as a youngster, but this monster sister of mine puts the Energizer Bunny to shame; she's got the Puppy Crazies from first thing in the morning until late at night. She just Doesn't Stop. I wonder if Mom and Dad could exchange her for something with a little less energy... Or go get her a Yorkie to keep her occupied... I'm just saying...

I'll leave you with this picture of me; Mom caught it in the late afternoon sun, and she particularly likes how the light highlights my natural red hair...

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus