Is there anything cuter than a 3 1/2 week old puppy?

Why yes there is and that would be four 3 1/2 week old puppies.  I decided to take a much needed day off and went up to Nederland for some mountain biking on the West Mag trails.  This time we avoided the new and not so improved Root Canal trail and I was a much happier camper.  Made it down to the Shoshone meadows and they were bashing away with wildflowers-quite spectacular.  Anyway on the way home we stopped at Joy's for a visit and puppy snuggling session.  Her Sheltie had puppies about 3 1/2 weeks ago and they're now the most adorable little sausage rolls.  They're so soft and and calm and no sharp puppy teeth yet.  They stumbled around the kitchen floor for a bit like Strummer when he was drunk and eventually decided they'd had enough and went back to sleep, one of them curled up on my legs.  Two of them fell sound asleep with their heads hanging off the dog bed and mom curled up behind and also napping.  It was so perfect and there's me without my camera.  Oh well, some moments are meant to be enjoyed right there in the moment.

Somehow we got on the topic of Joy's yard and how the pocket gophers were destroying it and I had no clue what a pocket gopher was but I figured that this sounded like a job for Lola so I offered up her services.  Unfortunately pocket gophers only come out at night.  Another problem is that this is what it turns out a pocket gopher looks like:

The exact opposite of a 3 1/2 week old puppy in my opinion.  The 'Hannibal Lecter meets Freddie Krueger' of the varmint world.  How is it that nobody's done a horror movie featuring these things?  And how is it that something that sounds so cute looks so hideous?  It's a good thing I didn't know that that's what they look like while I was walking around on top of their tunnels with nothing but a thin layer of dirt and the soles of my sports sandals between my feet and those chompers of doom.  It gives me the heebies just thinking about it.  No way I'm letting Lola near one of those things.  I think she'd finally meet her match in the rodent world.

Anyway it was wonderful to have a day off and spend it up in the mountains.  Where there are no Russian Olive trees.  My neighborhood is full of Russian Olive trees and the sickly sweet cloying smell is making me nauseous.  Their smell is especially strong this year, don't know why, but it's the first year I've noticed it and it's overpowering.  I'm surprised that I haven't had a severe allergy attack, it seems like I'm right on the verge of it but then no, just nausea, no itching and maybe one sneeze or almost sneeze.  They're considered a noxious and invasive species and it's illegal to plant them in Boulder.  For a while Boulder County was offering free trees from a nursery for every 24" diameter of Russian Olive tree that you cut down on your property.  Not sure if the program is still going but heck I'm ready to borrow my friend's chain saw and start a Texas Chainsaw Olive Russian Tree Massacre in my neighborhood.  The Open Space trail where I walk most days is also full of them.  I noticed them for the first time today and was amazed at how many there are.  I don't know, maybe we can get the pocket gophers on the case, those chompers look like they could take down a whole forest.