We  have been reading a book about how to notice more and have a better appreciation for nature. For example here is a something easy you can try. In your house, sit with your eyes closed and take 10 deep slow breaths. Now go outside in your yard or the woods and do the same thing. You have to really do it, not just imagine it. It’s amazing! Now when I just walk to the mailbox I notice things a lot more.  Here is a tree that has stripes just like me!  I am almost  camoflaged  camouflaged ! 

And  here is a neighbors beautiful paperbark tree. It is so cool!

Here is a conifer in our yard with new growth starting.  It is fun to notice new things!

Also we got the photo of me with the K9 police dog from a couple pf weekends ago!!!  It’s totally awesome !!  I thought it would be funny to have the police dog hold me in his mouth for the picture but we were told I might not be returned in one piece.  Even a Tiger is no match for a professional K9 police dog!

So much has been happening! First our friend Carolyn at work found a Tiger in her car! His name is Ezra and Carolyn brought him to meet me!  He brought candy which we scarfed down as soon as Carolyn left.

Me and Ezra are doing important work stuff on mom’s computer.

Then me and mom went downtown to see the Hello Kitty Cafe van which travels around and sells great stuff like keychains and t-shirts!!  It was crazy busy and the line stretched for almost a whole block!  Mom said we are not going to stand in line for hours we can buy Hello Kitty stuff somewhere else and she said that I already have Hello Kitty things that I don’t use we don’t need any more blah blah blah.

On the bright side I got to meet Max who is so beautiful and looked so amazing!  This is called Harajuku and it is Japanese street style fashion.

Then the next day we went on a road trip with Margo yayyyyyy!  I love Margo she lets me help drive!  She is a good friend mom does not let me drive.

We went to see Palouse Falls but when we got there the park was closed because there was a search and recovery going on. Later we found out that  someone had been swimming and got too near the falls and drowned that is terrible and sad. Here I am with Margo downriver from the Falls Margo is comforting me. I was sad.

This is Carol who works for the park service. We were at Lyons Ferry State Park. The park is named after the Lyons family who used to run a ferry that crossed the Snake River. Carol was gorgeous and super helpful. She works hard to let people know the dangers of the river and to be careful when out on the water.

Here I am in the car while we drove along the Snake River.  In case you did not notice I am wearing my Hello Kitty bandana. See mom!?  I do use my Hello Kitty things!

We stopped at Little Goose Dam!  It is one of several dams along the Snake River. It was very impressive and you can see how powerful the water is.

We passed windmill farms!  They are very big but this was as close as I could get.

Then we stopped at Steptoe Butte!  Butte not butt ha ha ha!  It was a fantastic beautiful day and we had great views of the Palouse. It is always awesome to spend time with my beautiful friend Margo. Who lets me help drive the car. 

Wow!  We went to a Spokane Police K9 event to see a demonstration of the amazing K9 police dogs!  But we did not get any good pictures of them in action they were too fast and we were too far away.  We did get a photo of me with one of the K9 police dogs but it was taken by someone else who has not sent it to us yet. But here I am with Charlie from the Spokane Fire Department and one of their great emergency response vehicles!  Charlie was super nice and handsome and has the BEST smile!

We got to look at and climb in the back of a SWAT truck!

And here I am with the Aqua Duck who represents Education and Awareness about our aquifer!   That is an interesting job. We had a great time at the event! 

Also this weekend we went for a hike in the Dishman Hills Conservation Area!  Notice that I am wearing a button with a photo of Ciro one of the K9 police dogs!

Look at this great rock we saw at the top of Eagle Peak!!

The wildflowers are out!  It’s so pretty.  It was a great hike!

At work our friend Tyler told us we should watch The Walking Dead so mom got season 1 from the library. We’ve only watched a few episodes so far but there are some serious problems with this show! Here are just some examples. In camp when someone says they should put up a sign on the highway warning people not to go to the city, Shane says they don’t have time. But they have time for lots of other stuff like arguing how big the fire should be, and giving haircuts, and doing laundry, and picking mushrooms. Shane also says that there is a rule that no one goes off alone but people are going off on their own all the time! Glenn goes to the city by himself, Daryl goes hunting by himself, and people go mushroom-picking by themselves. And you can’t feed 12 or 15 people with a tiny saucepan of mushroom soup!  Where are they getting food supplies? And why don’t they use some of the thousands of cars on the highway that were leaving the city? They must have the keys in them. At one point someone drives into camp saying “here’s the water”; wait, they have to go get water with a jeep? Why didn’t they make camp near a water source? If they have to drive to get water it would be difficult to get enough to cook and clean and do laundry for the whole camp but everyone looks so clean with nice hair. And why aren’t they better organized with defensive systems? Does anyone even stand watch? Why don’t they all have a weapon to slay zombies and a sheath to carry it with? Why when Glenn took a group into the city for supplies did then take a big bag of tools? Why would they walk all the way to the city carrying tools when their goal was to bring supplies back? If the zombies can break into a department store with a rock, and Glenn has been in the building with the store before why do they need to take tools?  It doesn’t make sense.  But the most ridiculous thing is in the photo below. In camp this lady is IRONING clothes!!!!  ha ha ha ha! 

We went back to hike again at the Iller Creek Conservation Area. Last weekend when we were there the trail guide we were using was not making sense. It said we would hike along the creek for miles (we did not), that we would see some really cool rock formations (nope), that there would be panoramic views at the top (nope again), and that there was great signage for all the trails (we did not see any signs). Later we figured out that we started at the wrong trailhead! Ha ha! So this weekend we went back. Here I am on the trail when you first see the cool rocks in the distance.

Then we hiked some more and got to see the rocks close up. It was a great hike and the rocks are called Rocks of Sharon. I don’t know why. Rocks of Tiger would be better.

There were great views even though it was cloudy and rainy. It was also very windy! 

On the way back down we saw deer!!!!!  OMG they were crossing the trail right in front of us! I can hardly believe mom got this photo of me and one of them right on the trail!

Also this weekend we met Char who was running a workshop for the US 395 North Spokane Corridor multi use trail. It is an amazing project and the DOT is engaging with all kinds of people in the community to get their input on how to make the trail attractive and accessible and interesting and tie it to the unique neighborhoods it goes through. I hope they allow Tigers on the trail. Char was super nice and super gorgeous! .

And this is me with Jerry who was also helping to run the event. He is very handsome but not quite as handsome as me. He wanted to know about me and this blog!

This weekend we went hiking at the Iller Creek Conservation area.  There is sparkly-shiny mica everywhere on the trails!

Here is a photo of me partway up the trail. it was cloudy and windy and we got back to the car just before it started raining!

It was great to get outside and go for a walk in the woods.