Let's Think Spring

Boy, most of us have been experiencing some wild weather lately, from deep snow to floods, mudslides, cyclones, volcanoes, etc. You name it, it seems to be happening somewhere around the globe. Are you all as tired of winter as I am? Let's think about spring today.

If someone asked me to describe how I imagine spring, I'd say lots of pale green, pink, yellow and lavender.

I'd say flowers.

Baby birds.

More flowers.

Bunnies.

Even more flowers.

And of course puppies at play.

Does that give you some hope that Spring is actually on the way and this crazy weather won't last much longer? Of course, we're still covered with snow and ice, so I've 'borrowed' all the springtime photos from Google Images. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

You'll notice at the top of my sidebar there is this badge.

It's a wonderful honor given us by a blogger friend, Dog Foster Mom. Each month she picks a few blogs to be featured for the month. For February she chose us. Please check out her blog to see the other blogs featured. While you're there check out the work that goes into fostering deaf dogs.

Our good friend Twix is very sick. her mom is terribly worried and her doctor can't find an explanation of what's wrong. Twix needs the "Power of The Paw". Everybody keep her in your thoughts.

Now go forth into the raging winter weather with happy thoughts of Spring dancing in your brain.

The Day The Snow Came

On Tuesday when we let the dogs out in the morning, they were delighted to see the snow. This was possibly the most snow they've ever seen and they had a lot of fun chasing each other around thru the drifts.

Noah seemed pleased and somewhat surprised that he could catch the snow on his tongue.

Norma Jean found a ball and decided to play with it.

They seemed a little confused, mainly because the wind was so strong and the snow was blowing around.

After chasing each other around for a while, they came to see what we were doing.

Fudge let us all know that he approved of the snow.

Tsar tried to tell Rob how happy he was with the situation.

He wanted to play, but the others were ready to go inside and warm up.

He was the only one left outside, but he wouldn't respond to our calls. Instead he found a stick to fight with.

He jumped around and swung the stick in the air. He'd let it go, then pounce on it.

This stick needed to be subdued and he couldn't come in until he had it under control.

Mission completed.

Now, how about a cookie?

Today is a different story altogether. The temperature this morning was 0 degrees and although I told them to hurry, they went out the door expecting to play in the snow. Immediately their feet started hurting from the cold. Some came limping back to the house, a couple sat down or dropped down to the ground to protect their feet. I had to race around escorting them back to the garage. They're now all warming themselves in front of the fire. Our outings today will be few and quick.

Who's Been Sleeping On Our Porch?

Yesterday it snowed all day. We wound up with about ten inches on top of a layer of ice. We didn't see the squirrels all day. I guess they stayed home in their snug little nests and played video games. The birds, on the other hand came by in large groups looking for food.

We put seed out several times during the day as it kept getting covered with fresh snow. All day we had bird visitors. At one time during the late afternoon we had six pairs of Cardinals eating peacefully together on the porch railing.

When I opened the blinds in the morning I noticed there were a number of doves sleeping on the chairs, on the dog bed and on the door mat. I'm sure the porch afforded them some shelter from the wind and being close to the house may have provided some heat.

The snow had drifted against the gate and it was impossible to open it. When we went to put out seed, we grabbed a rake to clear off part of the porch and deck.

Of course, my nosy buddies had to see what was going on and check out their surroundings.

First they had to see if the squirrels were on the deck.

No squirrels in sight, they came back to check out the porch.

Wow, this snow's a little deep here on the porch.

Somebody was here!

I wonder who it was!

They were up here, too.

I think there was more than one.

Maybe they're hiding back here.

Wow, look at that, you can see a lot of things from up here.

They're not here anymore.

How did they get up there?

 Let me see, too.

It's getting cold out here, Mom.

 Yum, this snow tastes pretty good.

 My feet are cold, can I go inside?

 Those sneaky squirrels and birds have some nerve sleeping on my porch.

 This is fun, can we stay out for a while?

The birds were back this morning and will probably sleep on the porch till the snow melts. My fearless hunters are still looking for them.

Blizzard

I'm from Central New York in the snowbelt. I expect February first to be  snowy and cold. I've spent many birthdays snowed in with no way to get together with family or friends. I'm told that the year I was born my Mom and I spent a couple extra days in the hospital because we couldn't get to our house. The roads weren't plowed. Once we did make it home, the snow continued and friends brought supplies to us by snowshoe.

  

My cousin's house in Mexico, NY

I remember several February first snow days when I was in school. Of course, my friends and I didn't let a little snow stop us from getting together. When you're a teenager, no amount of snow keeps you in.

I was scheduled to start a new job on one February first, only to get up that morning and find that about two feet of snow had fallen and we couldn't get to the driveway. It didn't matter because the company closed for a couple days due to the snow.

 My cousin's house

So here we are on February first again and here we are with snow again. It started about 4 AM with sleet followed by snow around 7 AM. The wind is blowing hard and it's bitterly cold. Even the dogs aren't arguing about coming inside after a run around.

 

 This is Lake Ontario.

 

Four year ago when the pups were little, we had an ice storm that knocked out our power for 12 days. Last night I took some precautions by lighting the gas stove and charging all the flashlights. We're stocked up on dog food and biscuits, the important thing, so we're staying home and staying warm.

My pups were happy to see the change in the weather. Saturday it was 65 degrees and sunny, now it looks like the Arctic.  Here's a little video of them this morning. Excuse the background noise, the wind is very strong.

Let's go in and dry off.