At Lac La Hache at a friend's ranch

Chloe and I are visiting our friends at Lac La Hache.It's magical here in B. C.'s Cariboo; even if we've caught a cold spell of -20 for a couple of days.The horses here at the ranch don't care one bit.They have their beautiful velvet coats on.This is Duke. He's the ranch dog and the most obedient, friendliest, snuggliest thing on 4 legs.He loves chasing ice and snowballs. Actually, he'll play fetch forever.Just as we got here, Doug finished a massive hike thru knee-high snow back to the ranch because his snowmobile got stranded miles away.He enlisted Chloe as copilot and they rescued the wayward sled.This was the first time Clove ever drove a snowmobile and she loved it to pieces.We were originally going to ranch-sit for a few days while our friends went on a Las Vegas holiday, but the world being what it is, they decided to be safe and cancel. Instead, they went out for dinner and a movie and a lovely stay overnight in the nearest city.This meant that Chloe had the responsibility of holding down the fort ranch for a couple days.The house is heated via this wood burner which needs fueling every morning and night. This means 4 sledges of wood daily.But there's always time for tea.The horses need tending to and moved from one pasture to another.After their morning feed, Chloe has to try to move them.Happily, all she has to do is ask Duke for help.He barks and herds them to exactly where they should be.Ruby tries to help, but all she wants to do is eat the horse treats.I'm completely in love with these purple shadows cast on this gloriously white snow. I know that purple shadows on snow are a bit ubiquitous, (kinda like sunsets), but who can resist them? I can't.But just as I get a pristine shot lined up, one of the pups runs or digs thru it!Ruby has been a bit of a city dog while Bryson has been in UBC, and is not quite used to the temperatures up here in the North, so we make sure we run the dog around a lot to keep them warm outside.I did have a few hours to dedicate to a little sprig of ponderosa pine in my nature journal. (Note to self: get the photos up there on Instagram!)This is the first layer of watercolour. One or two more layers to go. Intricate little paintings like pine needle branches take so much time!Our first day went by in the blink of an eye.Soon it was sunset and time for all those stars not obstructed by city lights.Tell you something.I could get used to this.