A deer & bears

I changed the angle of the camera & got lucky. 3 very good pictures in this download

Look at what we just got

A new 2007 leftover Jeep Patriot. What did we trade in? Nothing. We wanted to keep both the Hummer & the Dodge Ram. I just decided that we needed a "bring home the groceries" runaround vehicle that would use a bit less gas. The Jeep has a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine. It's a 4x4 of course. I've never had a Jeep before. The color is called "light khaki metallic" It seems to change from silver to gold depending on the lighting.
No, I'm not afraid to get my new Jeep dirty. We hauled a few logs. The back cargo area is not carpeted, but has a vinyl nonslip surface-a detail that I heartily approve of.

Dogwood climbers

This Red Dogwood tree was planted about 50 years ago. Last month, I drove to my parents' house with my niece & her 2 children. Rowan couldn't wait to climb the tree that she remembered from her last visit. Here she is-as happy as...a kid in a tree.
Later, her 2 cousins, Rebecca & Liam came over & joined her in the tree.

In the top of the tree is Rowan's big brother , Rubin. Just after this picture, a dead branch broke sending him plummeting towards the ground. His legs caught on a limb just long enough to flip him upside down & he landed on his face. Poor kid. The next day he had a black eye & a scraped & swollen cheek.

Animal self portraits-bear & deer

I think that we finally found a bear who knows how to take pictures. Of course, I did need to wade through many butt pictures to get this one, but it's the best picture so far. Mona Lisa eat your heart out. It looks like we also have a Cinnamon Bear-a not too common color variation on the black bear. We think 4-5 different bears visit our camp. (That's why I have a potty chair for night use.)
Here's a deer who is beginning to get the hang of photography.