Nature Friday - Dog Days of Winter

 Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event.

Here we sit with the last few weeks of winter. As far as winters go, this hasn't been a terrible one. Overall it was warmer and we had way less snow (of course because it is the first year Lady bought snow removal for the driveway!).  Overall, this winter is probably not a good thing, as it is likely an indicator of climate change. However, as humans and dogs it is hard to complain in the moment about. The only real drawback to this winter was the conditions thus far haven't been great for snowshoeing so Lady hasn't gone much. 

At any rate, we had a bit of extreme cold last week. By extreme cold, we mean below -20C/-4F. These tend to be the most beautiful sunny days. We spent a long time just enjoying being outside (long time at that temperature is probably 15-20 minutes). Generally we just pup around, smelling the ground and smelling the air (especially if there is a bit of a wind).

Looking down the drive way across the field

Sunny winter day

Things got a bit of interesting last week when a helicopter was circling around. Apparently the Hydro teams are doing some sort of assessments from the sky. They are also going to be coming in the next few months to remove vegetation near the lines, which will hopefully prevent the lines from coming down. As the last house on the line any problem before us is a huge problem! (It would cost the Lady and Man thousands and thousands of dollars to get hydro run in from the other side, so not a priority at this time - although as we were very, very cold with no hydro yesterday, maybe we will think twice about this).

The chopper in the winter blue sky

Phod enjoying the sun

We will be starting our when will the snow be gone contest in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Hints for a Bonus Day - by Phod

Deal pals,

Today is the bonus day we get every 4 years.  As a wise old dog I get I need to really embrace these bonus days. 

Here is what I plan to do with my bonus day.

Roll - I love to roll in grass and fresh snow. However, when they are not available this icy snow will do. It feels so cool on my body. 

Sniff the air and if possible enjoy the sun. Even on a cold day the sun can feel warm on your fur. 

However you plan to spend it, I hope you love your bonus day!

your pal Phod

Wordless Wednesday - Winter Shadows

 

Trouble on A Tuesday - Wildlife - by Lee

 Dear pals,

As our weather has been all over the place (one day last week it went from 4C/39F to -25C/-13F), and this has caused the snow against the house to melt.

This is causing a future problem for Lady because something is digging up the bulbs she planted in the fall, meaning she won't have all those flowers. She is trying to be a gardener. 

For now, for me and Phod it is creating some really great smells!

We will see what Lady gets in the spring, if any survived our helpers. 

Your pal Hailey Bug, the garden patroller 

PS after a very rough morning with a sick Man (unrelated, he seems to have influenza) and two dogs that just needed to poop and poop and poop (including a huge poop on the floor as Lady didn't hear the ask while she was working and wasn't expecting because there had already been sooooooo much poop) Lady threw out the expensive poop chews and is back to research. 

Mischief Monday - More About Poop

I realize the Man and I talk about the dogs' poop a lot. We are always asking did they, go, when did they last go, did it look ok, etc. etc.  It may be a mild obsession. As mentioned last week, we have a poop eating problem. Hailey has always had this tendency and if anything it has gotten better in old age. Phod has definately developed this more in old age.

So I did some research and landed on trying these:

They past the first test, the dogs will eat them. They have failed the second test as they seem to have upset the dogs' tummies and made them have to poop more (Phod went 6 times one day - he usually goes 3). We have yet to decide what to do about this.  So we are doing our best to pick up their poop right away and now the snow is solid this is easier. However, even if we pick up all their poop we have the cat poop, deer poop, turkey poop, sometimes' Callie poop to deal with. 

Phod licking up turkey poop

Hailey walking across the snow to look for poop

For now, we will continue to be obsessed with finding answers and the dogs will continue to be obsessed with eating poop. 

Nature Friday - Turkey

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event.

The turkeys are around almost every day. The love the sunflowers at Lady's feeders. The other day Lady heard someone walking on the deck and went to look and this is what she saw.

Either this bird didn't like being on camera or it wanted to dive bomb its friends. We hope you enjoyed our little dinosaur. 

Wordless Wednesday - Nap