Well I figured I should at least pop on and end the year with a post since my blogging (and photography) have been in the toilet this past few months.  So I wanted to take you all (and probably more for me) through some highlights of 2015 and a preview of 2016 things to come!

I can say one of the things I love about having the blog is being able to go back and remind myself, especially if I'm feeling a bit defeated, how wonderful things really have been.    Those aren't as easy to just dig up in my very busy head (yup I'm one of those that lives in my head wayyyyy too much) and bring back to the surface.    

January 2015 was pretty warm and I spent some weekends driving down to Bozeman for training classes with the poodles.   Since we had lovely weather we also were able to get in some lovely walks during those trips and some side trips coming and going.  The month ended with a highlight of my first ever sighting and P&S photo of a Norther Saw-Whet owl.  I still have more owl photos on my bucket list.

February was a busy month and WARM!   That wasn't a bad thing though since it allowed me to get out into my new trailer (remember it arrived in the dead of winter 2014) and work on projects.  Some building and sewing and fitting out the trailer in preparation for our maiden voyages.   I did my first ever "quilt" project in the form of curtains and it must have been the month of "creative juices" as I worked on pysanky designs and did some knitting.   I was able to get Epic back into the pool at the vet office for swimming - his most favorite thing ever which was a weekly commitment for us.   The dogs and I got some lovely walks in and I see in my blog posts something about the "world spinning and spitting poo"!   haha   I think this entire year has been somewhat that way.  Oh yes, and I got rid of my beloved van and got my new little Scion after fighting with electrical issues for months with the van!   Another highlight of the month was being able to go photograph my good friend's collie puppies - her first ever and they were adorable!

Well March must have been either really busy!  I see I actually did a whopping 21 blog posts that month!   Ahhh yes!  Another good friend of mine and fellow photographer took off and did an early spring trip to Yellowstone!   What a fun trip and the highlight (besides being able to road trip with a friend) was seeing up close, a herd of bighorn rams and THEN - the wolves!   Be still my heart and yes, she seems to have good juju when it comes to finding awesome wildlife (they just show up when she is around).   The middle of the month I took off a day and went up to Freezeout Lake to see the snow geese migration.  It was a last minute thing on one of the few clear sunny days and the poodles and I took off at about 4 a.m. and were home by noon.   It was amazing and the first really REALLY good shots I've gotten of the migration in about oh 6 trips I've made up there over the years.  Work continued at home moving some of the logs down to the house from the fire mitigation (yeah, they still are laying where I put them waiting to be cut), work on the travel trailer and of course playing with dogs!  We also started seeing the first signs of spring!  YAY!

April blessed me with some time and warmth so that I could get into the garage and do some woodwork.  I built my first ever bat cave and did a couple of projects on the scroll saw as well.  A couple more amazing photo ops were presented with friends.  My new camera arrived and a friend and I went off in search of star photos.  Still working on perfecting the technical part of it but I actually got a couple that I loved AND got to test out my new super wide angle lens!   Ahhhh new toys!    Later in the month a friend from Canada came down for a weekend and we went off for an amazing adventure in the mountains with her poodle and mine (& Teddy).   Such FUN!   The spring gardens started popping out great colors too.

May was a busy month for travel for sure! I made plans for a long road trip with truck, trailer and dogs for the end of the month but really wanted to take a closer to home trip before that!   My photog friend Robin was game for a long weekend trip (she was such a good travel sport and I thank her hubby for letting me steal her away) and a great friend of mine offered us a spot on their property to park and plug in.  Dragonfly was amazing and we spent a fabulous weekend exploring the Bitterroot Valley, an area I will be returning too to explore more.   The end of May, first part of June I took off for Oregon and visits and hikes with good friends and the chance to see an actual draft dog test (something Sterling and I are training for).   A quick few miserable wet days at the Coast were also in order and the trip overall was AMAZING and the dogs and I figured out our "trailer jive".  At home my gardens went into overdrive while I was away in Oregon and I came home to fabulous blooms and colors!   

Abiqua Falls June was fairly quiet after all the travels in May but I did manage to get the kayaks down and got out on the water for the first time to check on the great blue herons and all the other water and shore birds at the reservoir.   My Mom arrived from Arizona for the summer and we started working on a few of the projects still to be done around my place and Mom as always made my gardens even more beautiful each day.  She has a lovely green thumb!

July started off with a bang and a surprise visit from my brother Kent!   We managed to keep his visit a secret from my Mom and she was so thrilled (as was I) that he came to spend a week and the holiday with us!    The month flew by with mucho stress at work as well as a very ailing Paqui who we then lost the end of the month.  It all pushed me to take a weekend trip to Red Lodge and try out some dock diving with Epic.    He loved loved loved it and I made plans to go back in August.  Yes, the trailer was getting a workout!   Mom and I also made a quick trip to Bozeman one weekend for a draft dog clinic!   Sterling rocked it!   Yes projects at home continued as well of course.  We had fun putting together a pot sculpture out front and fixing the steps to the back of the property and Mom kept up her ongoing work in my gardens - making them beautiful.

August arrived and the bad news at work just continued with the elimination of my 2 bosses positions as well as 11 other jobs that had moved over from our original department when we got "reorganized" earlier in the year.   (As of this writing my little team is still without a boss).   To help with the stress I focused on things at home, dogs and my Mom.  We loaded up and took off for a second dock diving competition and a long weekend with some sightseeing along the Beartooth Highway.   It was glorious!   

by Ingrid Bored yet?   I look back and am just amazed how freaking busy I was and how many amazing experiences I had.  September wasn't going to disappoint either!   I motored along with the stress of work and focused on the upcoming Oregon trip the middle of the month.  Fate stuck its big nose in though right before we were to leave when a murderer ended up on the lose in the are of my home and we were on serious lock down for almost a week.   Mom and I were seriously relieved when they located and arrested him not 2 days before we were to leave on our adventure.   The trip was a long leisurely drive to southern Oregon to meet up with my brother and camp with him for a week while taking in the sights around the Crater Lake area and just having a bit more family time.   Mom and I traveled through some amazing country, some outstanding HEAT and enjoyed the visit with Kent.  We spent a few days with friends of mine on the way back and logged over 2,000 miles all toll - truck, trailer, dogs, Mom, me and all arrived home exhausted and happy!

My Mom left the week after our return and October started off rather sad because of that.   The dogs and I are always sad to see her leave and her time here seemed so short this year!   I decided to get back to some dog training and entered the poodles in the Halloween agility trials the end of that month.  We had great fun and it got me back into the dog show state of mind.   Not a bad thing at all!   Sterling and Epic also got back into harness as we work with the cart and of course Sterling still continues his monthly therapy visits.

November was the month everything seem to catch up to me and I got really sick which lasted most of the month as well as part of December.   As busy as I had been and more so the stress from work finally took a toll.  It sucked!   So to lift my spirits I did manage to wrangle a friend to go up to one of the holiday craft shows in Great Falls with me and we had a fabulous time shopping and came home on the frontage road where we once again saw the power of her wildlife juju when we came across the local herd of bighorn sheep (I'd heard about them, seen the signs up on the road but never ever had seen them)!

Still trying to get my health back in order, December has been very quiet.​  Not much in the realm of blogging, photography or anything but work and the holidays.   Definitely feels like a winding down of the year for sure.   We've gotten snow, managed a walk or two and have been busy inside working on projects for Christmas, trailer curtains for my brother and an afghan for me.   I got the message from my body .... slow down or else!

I am very much looking forward to 2016 and have much of my vacation time scheduled out.   There will be more dog showing going on than this past year and once again Kent, Mom and I are planning a trip for September to go camping.   Agility is on the docket (and training for it), Rally Obedience, Dock Diving and Sterling's Draft Test in September.   June we are signed up for Dog Camp in Red Lodge with a boat load of other poodle folks and I am beyond excited to meet them all.   I am hoping to manage a camping trip in May as well once it warms up.     Yes it is gong to be busy and fun and I am praying that work politics calm down.   I do still love my work a great deal but the chaos of jobs lost and reorganization is just an unproductive stress!   Just keep plugging along in that area and hoping for some new opportunities in my job.

Here's to 2016 intentions!    Happy New Year Everyone and thank you for continuing to humor me reading and commenting on this blog!  I do so appreciate it!