All quiet here for a while. Before Christmas I was spending most weekends travelling to help my aunt, who lives about 100 miles away. I bailed out of a couple of agility shows because of that. And then just before Xmas we had heavy snowfall. It was the coldest snap in 30 years, and the most snow I’ve seen since I was a kid (when we had proper weather – listen to me, young’uns!). After four weeks we were thoroughly fed up – we’re not geared up to protracted snow; our street didn’t get gritted until 3 weeks in, for example. On the plus side, we had a very quiet snowed-in stay-at-home Christmas. Then I slipped on the ice, landed on my head and am only just getting back to rights.
At first Jake loved the snow. New snow is like sand you can eat, and short of it snowing actual ice cream I can’t imagine he’d have been any happier. There were crazy puppy antics, catching snowballs in mid-air, finding snowman’s noses (carrots) and blissfully sinking into soft snow to eat, eyes shut …
With the temperature dropping to -10 C for a while, the canal and even the Water of Leith (usually a fast flowing river) froze. For a while Jake was simply fascinated, staring at the place that’s usually water. Then he realised that well-meaning people were throwing bread on for the birds – and he wandered onto the ice for a snack. He wasn’t the first – there were plenty of footprints of all species. Even so, after that, he was on the lead near water.
By the end of the freeze, Jake was just very fed up with
• the compacted ice – it’s nippy on the paws
• semi-frozen melting snow in the park – uneven to run on
• paw washes after every walk to remove grit & salt
• more frequent pedicures – it’s pavement pounding that usually keeps his claws down.
Almost all the ice has melted now. I don’t know which of us is more relieved!
Ouch! Sorry to hear about your head!Jake looks like he's having fun in the snow…I would love to know how Honey would react to it but don't think she will ever see any in her lifetime!I have lived in countries with snow in my childhood and can totally relate to what you said about how it's all lovely and wonderful to start with – and then a pain a few days later!
HSin-Yi
Oh, sorry about the fall and your no doubt sore head. When I was in Britain I was terrified of falling over on the ice. I remember I visited a castle somewhere in Scotland, at evening. (Three pm in the afternoon, no doubt, ha ha!) As we came down the cobbled street afterwards I was so terrified I went down on my bottom like a baby. Talk about an Aussie in Britian!
It's easily done, unfortunately!