Lions, and Dogue de Bordeaux, and Bears, oh my!

No recent snowfalls or ill weather to report on at all, so spring and outdoor activities are proceeding apace. I invested less time than I thought it would take to rake the entire winter output from the dogs into boxes and hence to waste disposal, so that nasty bit of business is out of the way for another year. Now it's just a matter of keeping more or less current. Doubtless this is more information than anyone wants to know, but it's yet another seasonal milestone and a good one to have behind me. 

I have many plans for the yard this year, and today saw the start of one of these projects, which involves tearing up plant material from an unsuccessful (in my view) previous planting concept and will see the alpine plant bed relocated to this site once I have removed all the current greenery. Grandson Mark is always happy to help rip things out so he assisted me. Since he will be here daily all week due to Easter break, I hope we will be able to get this project completed before he has to get back to school. 

My elder daughter, Jennifer, is visiting here for the week from her home near Nelson BC. She is also a camera buff (and indeed outdoes me in the way of nice camera equipment) so she and Mark and I have plans for photo shoots of one sort or another most days this week. As it was such a nice day today (first day this year into the teens C, mid-sixties F) we headed off to the zoo this morning, the theory being that you grab the nice day for photos while you can, as there are no guarantees that you'll get as good a one any time in the foreseeable future. If you do, bonus, you can head out again, and if you don't, at least you took the opportunity when it presented itself. 

Last week I had a photo session booked with a Dogue de Bordeaux puppy that belongs to a friend of my younger daughter. I've never seen this breed in real life before, and puppy shoots are way too much fun anyway, so this was an especially anticipated event for me. Little Ammo (who already at only 10 weeks isn't that little) lived up to expectations and I have made a good start at documenting his career. The first two shots today are of Ammo, in "classic" mode and in somewhat frantic pursuit mode. For the action shots we had him running after Mark and the little guy was doing his darndest to keep up with the chase. I love those rolling eyes in this shot and the earnest "try hard" expression.

The remainder of today's shots are from this morning at the zoo. All the animal species seemed especially mellow in the lovely spring weather, or as mellow as their basic natures would allow.

The young grizzlies were moseying about their enclosure, looking a little tattered with their winter coats not totally shed out yet. The fellow in shot three backed up to the tree with its rough bark and indulged in a really good scratching session for quite an extensive period of time. You could just tell from his body language that this felt wonderful.

Shot four was from the eagle's enclosure. I don't recall seeing the larger eagle before but that doesn't mean it hasn't been there all along as I've tended to fixate on the Bald Eagle in previous visits. I do know I've never seen the two species so physically close, and I was quite amazed at the size of the one eagle. I think it must be a Golden eagle given the size, although I'm not sure about the coloration. Bald eagles, which I *know* the smaller one to be, are good-sized and imposing birds, but this Golden one (or whatever it is) is enormous by comparison. The captive zoo birds tend to be ones that have been injured in the wild (usually wing injuries) to such an extent that they would not be able to survive on their own. 

Shot five shows the young male lion with his stick. It was very entertaining to observe him as he found this stick in his pen, and proceeded to entertain himself with it in much the same way that a dog would. He held it in his paws and chewed it for a while, then carried it about in his mouth, then back to working at it with his teeth. The young lioness was trying to get his attention by rolling beside him and encouraging him to play with her, but he wasn't having any part of her as long as he had his precious stick to keep him happy. Last time we saw these youngsters was a few weeks ago and at that stage they were still trying to sort out their relationship. She wasn't letting him get anywhere near her then. Now they seem to have evolved a nice relationship and are much more comfortable together. I think he seems bigger and a bit more mature looking already, although from certain angles his incoming mane is pretty odd looking and straggly. 

Other activities this past week included me setting up a small art photo show at the Broadway Theatre (in the concession area) as part of the Broadway Craft Gallery displays sponsored by the Saskatchewan Craft Council. Anyone in Saskatoon that's wandering in the Broadway area is welcome to drop in and check it out until April 19th.