Don't Lick'em When They're Cold

Ask and ye shall receive seems to be the motto around here lately. I wanted snow, and snow is what I got. First we got a small storm midweek which dumped about 6" on us. Then we got another storm on Friday that dumped a foot. It was supposed to clear up Saturday before another storm hit on Sunday, but it turned out that it never really stopped snowing from Friday until Sunday night. We didn't accumulate much on Saturday, but Sunday gave us another 6" or so.

I really enjoyed the snow on Wed, during that little misadventure. On Saturday I was thrilled that Boss Lady got up early to run errands and then decided to play in the snow instead. She dragged out Boss Lady's Mother's snow shoes and took me down to the Town Farm Trail. She fully expected (and hoped) to be the only person braving the storm for such a frivolous thing as exercising the dog. She hoped that the road to the Rec Center would be at least plowed. She was pleased to find that the road was plowed. She was not so pleased to find another guy with his 3 dogs already down there. The two of the dogs that she greeted seemed friendly enough, but they did jump on the car several times. >:( Once she'd determined that the fellow and his pups were on their way out, she clipped on the snow shoes and let me out.

I hadn't realized just how much snow there was until we started for the trail. The other dogs had broken something of a path at first, but then they'd obviously turned back and just played in the field near the parking area. When I ran out of path, I discovered what 1 1/2" feet of snow feels like. Let's just put it this way: I can honestly say I'm happy I'm missing a certain part of my anatomy, because that snow was cold! I guess I can't fault Arya for not wanting to lower her hoohoo into that mess.

Once we'd crossed the big bridge, Boss Lady decided to take a chance and let me loose. After all, how much trouble could I get in with two fields and a river between us and the parking lot, plus over a foot of snow on the ground. It's not as though I was going to run away, I could hardly run.

Once I was free, I bounded through the snow. I chewed on snow. I plowed through snow. I accidentally took a couple of face plants. I also gave Boss Lady a bit of a scare. There are several small streams that cross the beginning of the trail before you actually reach serious part of the trail. There were some planks and impromptu crossings created over these streams, but they were all washed out in the rain before the snow storms. Well, Boss Lady didn't realize the planks were gone, and I've never been one to be bothered by splashing through a little water. I really thought Boss Lady was going to keel over from a heart attack when I went splashing through the first stream. All I heard was a desperate scream about deep snow and temps in the teens and the potential concerns for frozen feet. I guess her boots aren't waterproof and her snow shoes don't work on water. My feet were fine, but she refused to go any further and actually insisted we not play in the stream at all. What a killjoy.

It all worked out, though. She threw sticks for me for about a half hour and then we turned around and went back to the car.

This is what I call Balls Deep Snow.



Look quickly, now, it's not every day you get to see that Mythical Creature known as The Abominable SnowDog.



I'm telling you, there's some varmint under all this snow, and I'm going to find it.