Dog's Breath Acres

Tom and Patti Saunders

Dog's Breath Acres 2024 Annual Report

<< 2023 Annual Report

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Here's our annual photo of Dog's Breath Acres, taken 1 January 2024, preceded by the same view in 1985, while under construction. (Clicking on a photo will usually link to larger versions.)

June in New Hampshire:

A week or two in Randolph, birding, hiking, and socializing

October: Fall trip to Oregon and California:

Visiting Carol, Kate and Ger in Oregon, the Redwoods, and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest

We feel pretty safe here at Dog's Breath Acres, knowing Charlie is on guard dog duty. Here are a few more Charlie pics.

On my model railroad, I've been working on little scenery details. Here are many older pictures of the railroad.

I cut a new loop trail around Dog's Breath Acres, through the woods and blackberries. Neary every day we take Charlie there for a walk.

October 25th was the 50th anniversary of my arrival in Seattle. Decided a change from Connecticut would be a good thing, packed up my Datsun 510, and headed off. First across Canada, then down the west coast, across to Colorado, then back to Seattle, took about a month. And here I stayed.

What the news called a "Bomb Cyclone" hit us in November. In the Pacific Northwest many big trees came down and cut power, in some cases for days. In the meantime, I slept through it all and we never lost power. One of our big trees did come down across our new loop trail.

Heading out to do some trimming with a chainsaw: Patti: "Leave the door open so I can hear you scream if you cut something off, like your head. Well, in that case, I guess you wouldn't be able to scream." Tom: "Not for very long."

And few bird pictures, from around the Northwest and Maine and New Hampshire.

Some trailcam photos. When the mountain lion showed up (in the photo), Patti decided that I had to come along whenever she walked Charlie along the trail; I guess she figured once the "tiger" was through with me, he'd be too full for her. A few years ago I wouldn't have worried, knowing I could outrun Patti (if not the cat), but my creaky knees would now forego that particular escape.

December: Christmas Bird Count:

Patti and I took part in Pilchuck Audubon Society's annual Christmas bird count, at our feeders and around the yard. The day turned out to be miserable; very windy (our power was out for a while) cold, and rain, which kept the numbers way down, just 16 species. Notable misses, which we had seen in the weeks before: Pileated Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, American Robin, Bushtit, Pacific Wren, and a flock of Snow Geese flying over. Click Here for the list.