After more than a week-long of very foggy sunrises, we finally woke up to a clear, albeit very cold, morning!
With a temperature of 28F ( -2C ) everything was frozen crisply and white:

 

                                          

One of the ponds had a nice layer of ice on it  .. but not enough to skate (be still my dutch heart)  .. yet!

And guess who celebrated his 66th?
                 
               

He'd requested a Crisp for a birthday-'cake' so that's what he got .. a quite delicious apple-blueberry one!
(That little (musical) candle should have played 'happy-birthday' but unfortunately the battery, after faithfully doing just so for 15 years, has finally given up the ghost!

                                                           

Despite the fact that this was still one of those foggy mornings, he took his chances and drove to Newberg for a celebratory birthday-round of golf with his golf-buddies.
As luck would have it Newberg was fog-free and he played a decent round.

That evening we drove to the Riverside Cafe in Sheridan for a tasty meal of Prime-rib.
No photos, but take my word for it, it was good!

Still not much to report about any interesting wildlife coming through.
This Crow was 'croaking' at me on one of my walks. I'm always impressed by their size, they sure are BIG birds!

Just like last year, when they came by a couple of times in January, the pond has attracted some Canadian geese again lately:

                                         

And on today's crisp, frosty morning a couple of Mallards and 'our' local heron spent some time in the back of the pond, soaking up what little warmth these wintry rays of sunshine give off ..

    

And look, who do we have here?

Yes, there's a new kid in town.
Say hello to Samson!

Now they're officially retired from their roofing-business (per January 1st), our landlords have acquired another dog!

He is a Turkish Boz/Anatolian Shepherd, a giant breed with the height of a small pony and of which the males can weigh around 180 pounds!
(Just for comparison, their dog Cocco, who is a half Maremma/Great Pyrennee, weighs 'only' half of that ...)

Isn't he the cutest? He looks like a little bear to me. He's sweet as can be .. for now .. but he's definitely no submissive dog, he's game for anything !
We're going to make very sure he's going to see us as part of  'the pack' though .. I don't think I want to be on his wrong side when he grows into his older (and bigger) self!