Thursday, March 5, 2015

Snow

 Well, we had a "light dusting" of snow back in November of 2014.

Early last week, we had a bout of ice and sleet that shut down everything for a day. It had melted away by late last Wednesday afternoon, but then we had snow all day that Friday, resulting in a good 3 inches of cover. It was really neat to let the dogs out periodically and see that their tracks from the  previous potty break had all been filled in and covered.

It was also weird, being that I grew up in the part of the state too far for snow to reach, typically, and have since spent many years even farther south, in warmer, more tropical climates that I really miss. It did snow two times while we were living in Houston, once in January of 2009 when we were in that third floor, one-bedroom apartment. That was fun to watch, but it all melted away by the end of the day. We got a very slight dusting at our house once, in early 2014...

Waking up Saturday to find that the pristine front yard of the previous day was now criss-crossed with rabbit tracks was interesting.

It's the melting that is unpleasant. The slush, the dirtiness, the standing water. We've been "drying out" all week, in the sense that the roads never actually did dry, it took days for the residual ice to melt, and it has been alternately misting, drizzling, raining, sleeting, freezing rain... for days.

And then, this morning, we wake to this- a good 5 inches overnight in what the idiot newscasters are calling a "snowstorm" and "record-breaking", "the most snow we've had in the past five years", and bragging "we nailed it!" (Yes, the whole two times any of them have predicted any accurate weather since we've moved here, both within the past week and both regarding measured amounts of snow and the winter weather that brought it. Too easy, if you ask me, and shut up about it, already).











The dogs found a baby bunny last week. I'd had a feeling that the rabbit that has taken up residence under our shed had had babies. Something about the way Airlie kept obsessively patrolling the perimeter. I guess she finally managed to crawl under it far enough (there's really not enough space for her to fit) to snag one. Probably it had moved away from its safe place on its own. It was big enough to be mobile and have its eyes open. I just happened to walk out the back door and hear a squealing and notice Kansas with something in her jaws. She kept dropping it - it was really struggling, and squalling in terror. By the time I reached them, the poor thing (about as big as my hand) was soaking wet from repeated exposure to the melting sleet and slush. I shoved it back under the shed, hoping the mama was there to groom and warm it. No such luck. Airlie hauled it out again. I put it back a second time, blocked off access, and was just going to leave it at that. I ended up telling DH, so then, of course, he had to go out and do his version of everything I'd already done. It did have a pretty big tear in it's skin- seemed to be superficial, but who knows what injuries it had sustained, due to the dogs. DH, for some dumb reason, decided to wrap it in a towel and THEN stick it back under the shed...

It was dead a few hours later.

*sigh* Animals.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Well, DUH...!

I have been experimenting, and I have decided that most of Airlie's intermittent limping/injury issues are due to the fact that she is in a smaller space and I was not warming her up properly for the amount of jumping she was doing.

I know better. I know you're supposed to warm up your dogs prior to athletic activities.

I just never had to do consciously, actively do so when we were in a bigger yard. She had so much time to run from point A to point B before catching a disc that she naturally got prepared for such things just crossing the yard chasing after the Frisbee.

Here, not nearly enough.

Thus, I've been spending at least 3 minutes throwing nothing but rollers for her to chase before I start throwing any discs into the air for her to jump up and catch.

Problem seems to be solved.

Damn, do I miss our old yard, though...