pax brought lots of snow and we spent most of the snow day shoveling and 

playing in it.  we got between 12 and 13 inches!  poor bella :)

here's a 35 second video of the girls and i having some fun.  bella's bunny hop is the best.

there's no doubt that winter is here.  the whole country is freezing cold!  

i don't know how it is already december, the year has disappeared before my eyes.  and it wouldn't be december in dc without some interesting winter weather.  we had some lovely snow sunday morning that turned into lots of ice overnight, and by monday morning our yard had transformed into a surreal ice-scape.

i went outside to check out the all of the ice, and it was actually very beautiful.  the ice had evenly applied a shiny glistening layer of itself all over every branch and berry.  so i took some pics of course, and they are below.  the girls are loving crunching their paws through to the grass and then smelling whatever scents they release under their feet.

it's so humid here, i know the ice and snow won't last long and will soon turn into the dirty mush we always complain about.  but i'm glad this storm is providing some short lived beauty.

 when it started snowing on sunday, i tried out a macro technique i saw online to take snowflake pictures.  it didn't work, but i did get this picture of a frozen bee that i thought was interesting.   poor bee.

 ^^this is part of a huge tree that fell into our backyard and broke the fence.  that should be fun to clean up.^^

after the ice came the snow, and it just keeps coming.  it got me a snow day off of work and we've been playing outside lots today.  i even built a snow woman.

eric's in new zealand, so she's my new friend.  sad i know.  but he'll be back just in time for her to melt.  and just in time to help me clean up these huge pieces of tree that crashed into the yard yesterday.

our ice-scape has turned into a winter wonderland and we are loving it.

and in other wintery news, our tree is up!  we don't really do too much decorating, but the tree and the snow sure make it feel like christmas.

if you want it to rain, give your dogs a bath :)  it rained cats and dogs yesterday and a tree in our yard was even half blown over.  but so far it was my most enjoyable furlough day yet.

first i'll go back to the end of day 6 (sunday night).  in preparation for the start of the workweek (ha) i gave our dogs a late afternoon bath.

giving bella a bath usually looks something like this.  at some point during the bath, she always manages to escape (soap is slippery) and i end up chasing her around until i can finally break her spirit long enough to hold her down and rinse her.

 belle, on the other hand, stays exactly where you put her until you are finished, and then glistens in the sunlight for a picture (perfect dog).

 one of the best things about bella being a basset hound and getting a bath, is that she runs around like a wild and crazy dog after her bath (like most dogs do).  i usually have the camera ready for some post bath basset hound running pics.  and she never disappoints.

oh man, she's funny.

then eric prepared us a wonderful sunday night dinner of smoked salmon steaks with a white wine veggie pasta.  we ate outside and then drank wine by the fire pit and talked for a while before heading in for the night.

with clean sheets and clean girls we were ready for a full night of snuggles.  

furlough day 7 started by sleeping in with those warm, snuggly, clean girls, just as a rainy cool-front came in that lasted most of the day.  nothing is more energizing for me than to have a whole rainy day to myself to drink hot tea, to sit on our porch and listen to the rain, and then to watch pride and prejudice with all of the windows open.

the girls and i spent a few hours on the back porch enjoying the rain and sipping tea.  between that and the movie, the day quickly disappeared.  eric calls time spent this way "dilly-dallying" and i'm proud to say i'm very good at it.

 i could really get used to this not working thing.

we spent a lot more time up at peron this summer with a second film crew trying to get footage of the dolphins beaching.  i talked a little about beaching when the first film crew was came, but basically beaching is when a dolphin is chasing fish close into shore and then traps the fish between itself and the beach.  it will then swim really fast and hydroplane out of the water, up onto the beach, grab the fish, and then slide back into the water.  it's a very cool behavior to see in real life.  if you can see them doing it.

we think dolphins beach on an incoming tide, or at least around high tide, but you never know when they might decide to do it.  and you never know how the weather will be, or if the mullet will be in.  that means that in order to film them doing it, you basically need to be on the beach, all day long, with lots of patience.

this is point peron from the boat.  some of us can hop off the boat and wait for beachers while others stay on the boat watching dolphins out away from shore.

 the other way to get to peron is by truck.  it's an hour and a half of off-roading through thick sand like this.  you don't want to drink your morning coffee before this ride! (it's very bouncy)

 once you get there by car, you hike down to the beach, and it's an incredible landscape.

 and once you're down on the beach.... you wait.  some days you wait all day long and never see a dolphin.  it can sometimes be boring, but usually there are lots of other things going on to check out.  like sea stars washing up that need to be thrown back out (unless they're already dead).

 or all the birds! there are so many birds at the point and they're fun to watch and take pictures of.  seagulls are so annoying and common, but get them in their element on a remote beach with other birds and they're actually pretty beautiful.

 another common bird in the bay is the shag.  here are some shags on the beach.  they are funny and quirky little guys.  they should have british accents.  "i think i'll go for a swim" "that sounds like a fine idea, shall we?"

 and sometimes while you're waiting, a big rainstorm comes!  it looks more ominous than it turned out to be.

 the beach ofter the rain was really pretty.

 and then guess what happened?  this amazing rainbow!  eric is out on that point under the rainbow looking for dolphins.

 and THEN guess what happened.  double rainbow all the way! i've never seen a double rainbow, it was quite exciting.

for all of the waiting you sometimes get lucky.  the fish are there, the weather is right, and in comes a dolphin.  here is fred getting some footage!

 this is what beaching looks like.  cha cha is getting speed and beginning to hydroplane.

 and here she has got the fish and is gliding back into the water.

 it isn't as exciting in photos as in real life or video.  if you're interested to see all of the action there's a very cool BBC movie that eric helped make a few years ago.  they got beautiful shots of the beaching plus lots of behind the scenes footage (eric and others on the beach).  here's the link, the beaching part starts at 8:28.

peron is really a beautiful spot in the world.  we're lucky to get to spend time there.  if only we could bring the girls! they would love it.

^^heron at point peron^^ :)  one of my favorite pics from the summer.