Weekend with My Crew and an Interlude at the Ark

This weekend I spent some good quality time with my crew: Bodie, Casper, Coco, Dusty, and Renee. On Saturday before ultimate, Renee and I went out to the Animal Ark for the first time. I was totally won over when I learned that all of the animals kept there permanently cannot be released into the wild—it is most emphatically not a zoo. It was a unique day because the Ark is generally not open in the winter, only for a couple of days. The bears were hibernating so we didn't see them, but we did get to see Whoopi, the peregrine falcon, and Ari (short for Aragon), the gyrfalcon, up close on their handlers' gloves. Effie the Arctic fox was adorable and mad props to Rayna the gray wolf for sleeping balanced on a log and to Moyo and Jamar the cheetahs for posing perfectly despite their obvious disdain for the bit of remaining snow. The displays' emphases on the animals' names and stories in arriving at the Ark affected me a lot, they became a lot more than just exotic animals. They, for the most part, however, were sleeping. We caught a few glimpses of a new baby mountain lion although the exhibit wasn't officially open. It seems like a really interesting place to get involved in.

Hey Rayna, is that really comfortable?

Meeting Whoopi

Cheetahs obviously do not love snow.

On Sunday I had thought to go on another bike ride with Johnny, but Dusty and Coco wouldn't let me go, and instead walked up behind the house with everyone. We dropped a bit into the canyon to our southeast, I especially love the old rock sheep wall (and so did Bodie and Casper), and Renee and I invented a new game mixing two of my favorites—rock walking and disc. We picked a large distant rock across a rock field from us and raced to it advancing only one rock step/jump at a time throwing the disc back and forth between each advance. Stepping on the ground or dropping the disc meant you had to go backward. Even though I think I can take credit for its invention, Renee was definitely the champion of its first contest. Someday it will be in the Olympics!

All smiles!

Just a goat on a rock

On President's Day we borrowed Nero's old crate again and were able to finally take everyone on a bit of a trip. We went up past Verdi to Old Quilici Ranch road and hiked along the southeast bank of the Truckee along the water access road. It is one of my favorite places around Reno. There is so much joy in playing outdoors with my family!

Thanks for a great weekend, from forefront to background: Coco, Dusty, Renee, Casper, and Bodie