SHEEP!

 The weather is still not cooperating, but we did have one fun adventure

We drove smack dab into the middle of a herd of sheep.... being guarded by their awesome Sheep Dog..Look at the collar on this guy. 

The dog sits, stands or lies in the road so cars don't run down the precious sheep 

 Soooo cute.

Rain, Sleet, Snow and Hail

Well, Things are going from bad to worse, weather wise

Last night the elk had a little Partay after the snow stopped .  We've never seen the mountains like this in September!

 Today we went for a lovely drive. 

This place below was featured in Bus Stop  -- the movie with Marilyn Monroe-- it was a blizzard in that movie also.

Fred sure would like to play in the snow, but that's a no-go....it's leash only til November. Too bad.

Snow??

 Yikes, the weather has certainly been strange this year!

 I've  never seen snow here this early before

So we read the newspaper at the local hamburger joint

Gotta love a small town newspaper!

Yo Momma's a Llama

 What with the Fred being a gimp situation and all, my activities this year are very different. Mainly I'm lying on a nice leather couch in a lovely sunroom watching "Love It or List It" and "House Hunters International" while surfing Ancestry.com. 

Sometimes I watch the elk in the backyard, but there are not as many this year, and they are coming around later at night. I gave up on the hot tub after the Ranger at Sawtooth Ranger Station looked at my photo and told me he thought that my snake was a Water Snake. I am not so interested in hot tubbing it with a snake who probably just had 18 baby snakes.

Funny thing about  the Ranger, he is yet another long lost relative. I saw his unusual name and we determined that we are related about 7 generations back. He is good stock. 80 years old and driving 3 hours each way to work!

After 3 weeks of this, I decided to get out of the house.  We drove down to Hailey, ID  past some of the fire damage. We saw burnt posts and  burnt scrub and timber on one side of the road, and the other side looked like nothing had happened.

How do you keep a giant Wildfire from crossing a small country road? I sure don't know.

 But then there was this Llama

 Cute ears,

 Very picturesque

 But, oh my, look at  those teeth!

 So long Llama. Highlight of my day. No, maybe my week.

Someone's Getting the Photo Bug!

 These guys have no fear ..this is the younger group that precedes the Reaaalllyyy Big Boy with the arrow scar.   In fact, Fred's surgeon was the one who removed the arrow from the BIG BOY 2 years ago. And he did it for free!!! Sigh, my hero.

They just mosey into the yard while I'm in the hot tub enjoying the evening's Single Serving.

 Yummy Lawn Grass

 Lazy teenagers can't be bothered to get up and eat properly

 Awfully interested in that Single Serving

Nature's Apology

 After all the dangerous and destructive wildfires, including the evacuations of hundreds of people, the storms came.

 We were leaving our favorite local Sushi restaurant (Stanley Roll is a fave--smoked trout and mustard!) You can even see the reflection in the street. Good job, iPhone.

 And here was a double rainbow,

 And not just a double rainbow, but look! THERE IS the end of the rainbow!!!

Beware the 2 year old Labradoodle

 You've got to be kidding me.

After 4 whole days in the car we went to the most awesome dog park in the world. This is the place that is a defunct golf course, but the owners keep it maintained as a dog park.  They must truly be saints.

So, while at the dog park we ran across a 2 year old Labradoodle who ran Fred ragged--in circles, across the park, even down to put paws in the river. It was so fun while it lasted. 

But the fun couldn't go on forever, not even one day.

His ACL tore -- this was his second one- the first was done 4 years ago.

Fortunately Sun Valley is home to one of the best TPLO surgeons in the country.  He follows human protocols for surgery, so Fred was given all the pain relief that a human would get.  I have to say, as a result of that, and probably the fact that this guy has done 5,000 of these surgeries,  the first few days were not as bad as normal post surgery. It also helps big-time that there are no stairs to navigate.

Boy, I sure hope this is poor Fred's last surgery, but the vet told me that his hip is 50% gone.

Poor guy. It's just not right.

Youngster's Got an Itch

 The mom with the radio collar and her two children are back. Mom is looking very skinny this year

 Mom would probably not be very happy to see this photo posted. I think I caught her just as she was shaking her head....there were lots of bugs pestering all 3.

Baby is practicing its cute pose.

 And itchy pose too.

Annual Pilgrimage to Pioneer Cabin

 I don't understand people who get off a plane and then hike up 9000+ feet the next day, but I guess that's just me

 Anyway, reports are that things were lovely, no wildfires in this area

 This is a new camera- a pocket camera with an optical viewfinder, which is like finding hen's teeth

 The sheepherders are on their way down to Hailey for the Sheepherder's Festival in October. 

 The sheepherders have awesome and giant dogs. Last year I saw a sheepherder's dog stop traffic on a 2 lane highway all by itself!