WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW….

How does that old saying go?  What you don’t know won’t hurt you?  Well, now I know and I am going to worry a little bit more about where Tippy goes when she’s outside by herself, or just out of site.

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know that my driveway is a hilly, curvy, .25 miles long.  To give you a visual, I have taken a picture of the Google Earth view of my house. The blue dot is my roof, where the lines intersect.  The yellow line is my driveway and the red line is the route I usually take Tippy when we go for our “walk back in the hills.”   When I wog, a term I came up with for jogging interspersed with walking, I usually stop where the black x is on the driveway.  Normally, Tippy will turn around close to where I do, when she is following me.

Where I live and take Tippy for walks.

A couple of days ago, I took her for our walk, then came back to do some wogging.  Tippy had not come back through the gate with me, but I never worry about that either.  As you can see, there isn’t a whole lot of places she can get in trouble back there and she always comes back home in about 5 minutes.

On my second lap, just about at the turn around point, Tippy came running and blew past me like I was standing still.  She went on around the curve.  In a couple of minutes, she came back with her tongue hanging out and rested in front of the garage while I continued wogging.  That is, until the last lap, when again, she blasted past me.  About the time I finished with my wog, she came streaking back up the driveway.

We came in the house and the phone rang.  It was my dad.  He wanted me to know that he had been on his way home from feeding the neighbor’s horses and saw Tippy in the edge of the road!  Really?!  Did she just do that?! Good news is, a car came by and she ran back up towards the gate instead of chasing it.  Then, Dad started to turn the tractor around, so he could make her come home, and he said she flew around the gate and back up the driveway.

She was already in the house with me, so I couldn’t scold her.  She would have had no clue as to why I was mad.  But, I did, in a very calm, soothing voice, tell her that I was NOT happy that she had gotten in the road and that she could get hurt doing that.  This is the reaction I got.

Do you think she knew she was in trouble?  It sort-of looks like it to me.  That, or guilt.

Wordless Wednesday: Tail Feathers

I never understood why people called the long hair on her tail “feathers”, until today.

Tail feathers blowing in the wind.

Wind blown look.

 

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TRUCK RIDE?

I am going to take the truck to have it worked on tomorrow.  In preparation, I went out late this afternoon to get some things out of the console and make sure I had the correct keys.  (It is a 1990 model so does NOT have a key fob.  Instead, it has two keys; one key for the ignition and another to lock the doors.)  Tippy assumed all of this action involving the truck meant an impending ride.  She was waiting patiently.

Anticipation.

I finally coaxed her out of the garage to go potty before coming in for the night.  I always have her go potty before we take a ride, so, when we came back into the garage, she took up her position by the truck.  I could see the disappointment on her face when I told her we weren’t going anywhere and made no move to open the door.

Disappointment

When I had her come in the house, she realized her hopes had been dashed….for today.  Who knows what tomorrow might bring.  We can always dream.

Resignation

 

SNOWED IN

You aren’t seeing things.  You are getting two blogs on two consecutive days from me.  To what do you owe this rare pleasure?  I’m snowed in and have some extra time on my hands.

Yes, I am snowed in with only 4.5″ of snow on the ground.  Those of you who live in Colorado, Canada, Wisconsin,  or any other place that receives a lot of snow, probably think this silly.  However, we don’t get a lot of snow here, so we don’t have the means to get all of the county roads cleared.  Also, in my case, even if they were clear, my driveway is not.  As I have said before, it is a quarter mile of hills, curves, and shade.  Here are some pictures from this morning.  It is steeper than it appears.

Up the hill – it is actually steeper than it appears here.

Top of the hill.

Curve going down the next hill.

Tippy patiently waited for me to have breakfast and coffee this morning before going on our walk.  Well, sort of patiently.  As you can see, she did move to the door to let me know that she was ready and I should hurry myself up.

Waiting to go out for a walk.

Still waiting.

 

Yesterday, the high temperature was 22°F.  It never ceases to amaze me that snow will melt at those temperatures.  Of course, it all refroze last night (low 10°F), making my walk today a bit more laborious than it was yesterday.  It also presented some interesting sites.  My boot prints in the snow had refrozen into beautiful crystals.

Ice crystals in my boot prints.

Close up of the crystals.

Another boot print with crystals.

The only new animal signs I saw were from rabbits and squirrels.  I guess everything else has found a warm place to ride out this cold spell.  Tippy was happy to be out, regardless.

Looking for movement.

I did see lots of birds, trying to find something to eat to keep warm, I would imagine.  In the second picture below, a bird was “walking on water.”  The larger dark object is a log sticking up out of the ice.  The water wasn’t frozen solid around it, so I believe the bird was taking advantage of that fact and getting a drink.

Red bird in a cedar tree.

Bird walking on “water.”

The frozen pond was beautiful, glistening in the sun.  Unfortunately, the picture does NOT do it justice.

Glistening ice.

When we got back to the house, Tippy, once again, decided that she wasn’t quite done running.

Her antics left her with a snow beard.

I think I look rather distinguished with a beard.

I thought she was going to stay outside again, but, she decided to come in after about 5 minutes.  I don’t blame her.  The sunny bed was a much warmer place for a nap.

Resting in the sun after our walk.

Awww. This is better.

 

SNOW! I LOVE SNOW!

Last night, we got our first snow of 2017…about 4.5 inches.  It was the kind of snow that lays on everything.  My favorite.

My view when I opened the curtains this morning.

Tippy loves the snow. When I first took her out this morning, she was intent on surveying the “new” surroundings.

I think I see something down there.

I like the new white, fluffy wood pile.

Even though it was only 14°F, I decided to take her on our walk before the wind picked up.   She was more than ready.

It’s so pretty mom.

We basically had virgin snow the entire way out, with only a few deer and rabbit tracks to be seen.  I hate leaving my tracks in virgin snow.  I try to walk the same path on the way back, so as to save as much of the purity as possible.

Tippy ran ahead. Do you see her?

It’s so quiet and peaceful.

I wanted to get a good picture of Tippy with snow on her nose.  She is the worlds worse to look away just as I snap.  I finally got a decent one.

Missed me.

Missed again.

Close, but I’m sure I think I saw something on your boot.

Nope. Not this time.

So close, but no cigar.

Gottcha.

She was still full of energy after we got back from our 1.1 mile walk/run.  (I walked.  She ran.)

Even after that, she had enough energy to play Frisbee.

This is her kind of weather.  She was out the majority of the day, running around or laying in the sun on the front porch.

We did take another walk in the afternoon.  It started with the half mile round trip to the mail box, where we found the mail person had slid into the ditch right past my box.  It is on a hill that never sees the sun, so was very icy.  She would have probably made it, had she not had to stop to put mail in my box.  When she started back out, she lost traction and in the ditch she went.  It’s a deep ditch, so 2 wheels were up in the air.  She said she was okay and had help on the way.

Tippy ran up to the gate, wanting to walk back in the hills again, so I took her about half of our normal walk.  I was done with the cold.  I think she could have stayed out longer.  I’m beginning to think she is part Husky.