BLIZZARD!!!

Hey Everyone!!! I got to experience my First Blizzard yesterday!!! It wasn't as bad as the one over Christmas when I was in Mommy's tummy, but this one was still a lot of blowing snow!! It started early morning yesterday, there was already over an inch by the time we woke up!

Then by 10 o'clock we had nearly 5 inches!!

Mommy had planned a babysitter for me weeks ago so that she could get her hair cut and run other errands, so we had to go out and brave the storm!! (Mommy said she wasn't going to give up her "Me Time" just for some snow!!) So at 10:00 we left for the sitter, and it took Mommy over an hour to drop me off and drive to her appointment!! (needless to say she skipped the running errands part!!)

When we got home after 2:00, it didn't look like much more snow had fallen, even though it had, because it had all blown around!! We got up to 50 mph wind gusts, and the whiteout conditions mixed with the 2 in/hour snowfall is what made this a "Blizzard"!!! And the snow just kept on Falling!! Daddy got home early, at about 4:00, and it took him over an hour to shovel our driveway and side walks. By that time we had about 9 inches. When he was done he took me out to play in the snow - but I didn't like the wind too much!!

Then Mommy made Chili for dinner!! MMMMMMMM!!!! Even I ate every last bit of it!! It was good to warm up, but not enough for Daddy!! He wanted to go Snowshoeing!!! So he strapped on his snowshoes and went tromping around the nieghborhood playing in the snowdrifts!! Mommy and I stayed inside where it was warm, I think we'll go out today though since the wind has stopped!! It snowed all the way up until this morning!! I don't know what the total is, but it looks like we got another inch or so last night after Daddy shoveled. It was so much that Mommy got today off work!! Her boss said that most likely it won't be busy since the foothills got way more snow than we did!

Well, let's see, other stuff to tell you about! Mommy and Daddy have spent the last couple of weekends painting! They painted their bedroom and bathroom. Here are some pictures of the finished products!

They still have to hang some stuff up on the walls in their room, but overall they turned out really good. Mommy thinks that the bedroom is a little bit dark, but hopefully getting some other colors on the walls will help with that. And the bathroom was a pain to finish, mostly because they had to fix some texturing that the warranty guys didn't do right, and then paint ALL those corners!!

One more thing to tell you about!! Mommy's Friend from school Erin came over on Wednesday to get some Mary Kay make-up from Mommy. I liked watching them play with it all, so I took some brushes from Mommy and pretended I was like Erin putting on the make-up!!

Mommy said it was so cute that she gave me a Mirror too!! Daddy wasn't too happy about this, but I don't care, I had fun!! And all I can say it it take a real man to be this in touch with his feminine side!!

Have a good weekend everyone!! In 2 weeks, we will be in Indy for a VERY short visit before Mommy and Daddy go to China with Grandma & Grandpa Louie, Uncle Dale, Uncle Stan, and Aunt Tina. I get to stay with Aunt Janice and Caleb, Maddie, and Vanessa!!! I'm so excited!! I'm sure I'll miss Mommy and Daddy, but I'll get to play with my cousins ALL THE TIME!!! YAY!! Talk to ya all later!!

New Haircut

Well, we finally got Riley's Haircut!! Here's a before and after picture, just excuse the grilled cheese teeth in the after shot! The only time I can get face shots are when he's strapped in a chair!! Such a wiggle worm, and the lady that cuts his hair is starting to realize that (note the snakelike bangs)!!

As you can see from the pictures his black eye is getting better too. Although now it's more of a "Green eye" - just in time for St. Patty's day!

I thought you guys might like to see some of the pictures of my new "office". Most of my patrols have been focused on the Southern District of the county, because that's the area that I need to learn the most. My Headquarters are now at Fossil Creek Reservoir, a Bird sanctuary where there are a lot of Bald Eagle winter nesting sites. Here's a sunset over the Reservoir a couple of weeks ago.

Also at Fossil Creek we had a pier collapse. The ice and wind were so bad this year on the reservoir that it sliced the concrete pillars holding it up in half!! So we had to bring in a crane and remove it.

This picture is taken from Rimrock Trail looking south over Devil's Backbone Trail. Rimrock and Devil's backbone trails meet about half way between Loveland and Horsetooth Mountain Park.

This picture is taken from the Hunter Loop on The Devil's Backbone. The rock formation you see is the actual "Devil's Backbone".

Another shot of the Backbone:

This is a shot of the Backbone from the northern end of it.

The Devil's Backbone is really a fascinating formation if you've never seen it. There is one area called the Keyhole where the trail goes right up to the rock (and there's a hole to see the other side). But that section is closed off right now because there are some ravens nesting on the western side of the Keyhole. So I'll try to get some pictures of that later on when it opens up again. The open space is about 10 miles long and connects the "Devil's Backbone" in Loveland to Horsetooth Mountain park. So you can actually hike or mountain bike from one to the other! And if you don't want to go the whole distance, Coyote Ridge (a Fort Collins Natural Area) is connected into it by Rimrock Trail near the halfway point! (so that's a lot of trail for me to cover in my patrols!!)

I'm really enjoying this job!! There is so much to see and do! Last weekend I hiked over 17 miles in 2 days and didn't even realize it until I got home and tallied it up from a map! I loved working at Horsetooth Mountain, and I'm glad that I still get to be there, But I'm so excited about see the other Open Spaces!! More pictures to come!

New Videos!!

Hey all!! Guess what - Mommy FINALLY uploaded some new videos of me!! Check them out! Some are pretty silly! Not a whole lot going on here, it's been really warm out the last week. So we played outside a lot. We even ate lunch out there quite a bit!

And I got some new stuff, cuz I'm growing up to be a big boy!! I got a Booster seat instead of my high chair now!! (cuz I kept using my highchair as a stepping stool around the kitchen to get on stuff - hehe) So now I sit at the table with Mommy and Daddy, and eat off of plates instead of trays - that's the hard part - keeping my food on such a small area!

And I got some new shoes too!! They are sandals for spring and summer, so I can't wear them yet, but they were so cute that Mommy just couldn't pass them up (especially at $3)!! Don't worry - I don't usually wear flood pants - they are just rolled up so you can see my sandals in the picture!

And as you can see from the pictures, I'm due for another haircut! Mommy's working on getting me an appointment for next week. Other stuff going on: Mommy started working on Fridays, so I got to play with Greg all day at his house last Friday!! It was so much fun!! We got to play outside most of the day in his playhouse, I can't wait to go back this Friday!!

Also, I gotta say Happy Birthday to Aunt Anna and Grandma Louie!! Aunt Anna's Birthday was last week, and Grandma Louie's is Tomorrow!! Happy Birthday!! Well, I guess I'll say bye-bye to you all - Don't forget to watch all the new videos!!