It has become my tradition to be outside on January 1.  This year found me in the company of two old friends and one new friend – only one of whom is two-legged.  Old friends Terry (2-legged) and Lolli (4-legged) joined me to introduce Terry’s Puppy (4-legged and still without an Official Name) to the trail at Holt Run in Allegany State Park.

Every dog should have a boy.

Puppy is very curious about everything, especially everything that Lolli is doing or interested in. Lolli likes to carry logs around while hiking. She was not very amused when Puppy kept trying to investigate. The expression on her face said it all.

Seriously. Whose idea was this puppy?

Our drive to the Park and the first few steps into the woods were sunny and warm (relatively speaking for a January 1). The further we walked, the colder it got, the cloudier it got, and then came the rain. It only rained off and on, though, so we continued. At the half-way point, Puppy was exhausted. When we sat down to eat a sandwich, he climbed right up on Terry’s backpack and snoozed. Here he is, just barely awake from his slumbers because I woke him up digging my camera out of my pack.

Why did you wake me? I'm still sleepy.

He went back to sleep after the Photo Opp, so I poked around in the dark woods to see what this new camera (Canon Rebel T2i) could capture in low light. I’m still getting used to it, but I like what I’m seeing. The following slide show contains some pictures I took under very dark skies just before the rain really cut loose!

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Happy New Year, everyone! May 2012 be filled with glorious nature adventures for you and yours.