January Thaw at the Dog Park.  What a gorgeous day!  Luckily there were some piles of snow to cool down in nearby.

I glanced outside while feeding the dogs the other day and saw a herd of deer in the yard.  Good thing the little Scottie girl dog didn't see them or she would have gone ballistic (she had to run a big buck out of the yard not long ago). The last count was 15, though I only caught a few in the photo.   I'm pretty sure the reason they dropped in was because there was a fire nearby the night before:

This was taken from my upstairs room, looking northwest.  The winds were 30-50mph by that time, down from 100mph gusts earlier.

It doesn't really convey, but the whole Front Range north of town for several miles was burned down. Luckily, it was mostly grasses with a few sparsely placed trees and homes. 

2009 ~ we've turned a corner.  The year in my mind goes left to right from January to May, then down to about October, then curves around to December - sort of a right angle but not really.  January is definitely up and and the front.    

We spent the afternoon putting up some lattice on the back yard fence to help us pretend that we're invisible on our highly visible corner lot. Hoppin' John, hoecakes and greens for lunch should ensure a properous year for us.  It was 50º today and will be warmer tomorrow.  Hope everybody remembers to hope and dream and make the dreams come true this year.