Mommy is Crazy, or, Our Daylight Savings Day Hike

Mommy and I have a tradition of taking an all day hike on Daylight Savings Day.  This started because we didn't do it on my first Daylight Savings Day and when Mommy told me it was bedtime an hour earlier than usual I thought she was kidding.  She went to bed and I joined her and jumped up and down on her and poked her with squeaky toys and bit her feet and stuff and got myself so wound up I didn't go to sleep until 2 hours after our regular bedtime or 3 hours after Mommy TRIED to go to bed.  So, the next year she started the Daylight Savings Day Hike.  We'd get out early in the morning and not come home until sunset.  We'd usually hike between 20 and 30 miles that day and I'd be so tired that night that bedtime couldn't come too soon.

This morning Mommy woke up and looked out the window and said, "Oh, its raining. No all day hike today, but we can go somewhere this afternoon."  When this afternoon rolled around it was STILL raining.  Mommy hated to not take a Daylight Savings Day Hike so she packed up our stuff and off we went to the state park for a short hike.  When we got there there were two cars parked in the lot with fishermen huddling in them and the ranger truck was there with the rangers huddling in it, but Mommy would not be deterred and off we went.  The trail was a combination of ice and slush and besides rain, there was fog.

The beginning of the hike, looking out over the frozen lagoon

Mommy thought the fog was bad when we started but about a half mile into the hike the trail looked like this

 I'm glad it is a new moon tomorrow and not a full moon

or there might have been werewolves in that

When we got to the half way point we heard a bunch of red-winged blackbirds and grackles complaining and then Mommy spotted them up in a tree yelling at this guy.

 See the little bird above him yelling insults?

He is a young hawk of some kind we think either a red-tail or a red-shoulder, but we don't know for sure because the fog obscured him too much.  It started to really rain hard after the bird spotting and about a quarter of a mile down the trail we discovered that the runoff from the snow melt and rain combined to make a small creek for us to wade through.  It was about 24 feet wide and eight inches deep.  It is a good thing Mommy has hooves instead of feet or she might have been cold walking the rest of the trail because her boots did not keep her feet dry at all once the water went over the toes, and in fact her left boot split on the instep when she was half way across so her left boot totally filled with water.  Shortly before we got back to the car the rain turned into more of a solid mist, but that didn't help us much. Mommy stripped off her soaked jacket, hat and gloves when we got to the car and she debated about taking off her boots but decided against it.  I got a nice rubdown with the towel and home we went.

What I look like after hiking two miles in the rain

I'm not talking to Mommy

I think maybe Mommy should reconsider sticking with some of her traditions.

My Monthly Diary for February, 2013

Mommy always complains that even though February has the fewest days of any month it lasts longer than all the others and, even though the days are supposedly getting longer, they sure seem dark to her.

This month We finally got some actual snow.  We had hardly had any snow all year long and then it snowed, and it snowed and it snowed and it snowed.  I love when it snows and I always insist on playing fetch in the snow.  This is because in the summer I tend to get overheated rather quickly when I play fetch, but I don't get overheated in the snow!  This year though Mommy limited my snow fetch games because of my hind end.  Just because I fell over every time I ran after the ball and took three days to recover from each ball game doesn't mean she should limit me, but she did. Mean Mommy.

When it was time for my laser treatment this month my normal vet was on vacation so I had to see the man vet who I like well enough, but I don't really trust ever since he thought he could dry my toe stump with a blowdryer during my amputation recovery period.  Mommy and I got there about 10 minutes early, which is our habit, and we waited.  When the ten minutes were up and they hadn't called me yet I started barking at the receptionist.  She was the weekend receptionist not the weekday one and she seemed a little slow.  She just kind of stared at me and didn't apologize to me or jump up and get the vet.  Shame on her.  Mommy told me I had to quiet down and I grudgingly did so. About 10 minutes after that we FINALLY got called (Mommy said that is because the man vet is just as nice as my normal vet and he sometimes goes over on his appointments answering questions).  Anyway we went into the exam room and I stood by the back door and stared at it waiting for the vet.  Finally he came in and when I saw who it was I went back to Mommy until I was sure he didn't have a blowdryer.  Mommy told him I'd taken a hard fall on the ice the day before and asked that he work a bit more on the hip I fell on and he said he'd see what he could do.  Then he took my leash and I dragged him to the door.  When he opened the door I dragged him out of the room and all the way to the laser room.  When I got in there I lay down on the pad and stared at him until he started up the machine and did my treatment.  As soon as he started I fell asleep and had to be woken up to turn over and again when it was time to go back to Mommy.  I'll admit he did a good job.

Mommy got sick this month too.  It wasn't the fun sick where Mommy goes to bed and I get to cuddle all day with her. It was the annoying sick where Mommy goes to bed and just when I get all comfy cuddled up next to her, she gets up and goes to the bathroom and she keeps this pattern up for the whole day and night.  I find this kind of sick very annoying so I told her towards the end of day one that I'd had enough of it and when she got out of bed I moved and took all the pillows and refused to give them back.  The next day Mommy kind of moped around doing her chores and sitting down a lot which was boring so the day after that, since it was a Sunday, when she let me out in the backyard, I told her I wanted to go hiking.

Mommy said, "No, we aren't hiking today. I've been sick for two days. I'm not hiking."  I stood by the back gate and stared at the garage. Mommy said no. I stared at the garage. Mommy said no and told me to come inside.  I looked right at her then turned and walked out to the middle of the backyard and lay down in the snow.  Mommy said, "Fine, pout in the snow." and went inside.  Twenty minutes later she came back and called me to come in.  I ignored her. She called again. I ignored her. She called again. I ignored her. She finally sighed and said, "Fine, we'll go for a hike later this afternoon." I got up and trotted back to the house and came in.  A couple hours after that I walked up to Mommy and barked at her reminding her that it was afternoon and time for our hike.  Mommy grumbled and got dressed and we went on a 3.5 mile hike.

 There are so many good things to smell when you hike in the snow

 We saw lots of coots

 And some redheads

 Mommy was irritated by the snowmobilers

The sign tells them to use the small path on the left

which turns towards the woods

but see how many of them took the hiking/skiing path instead?

Bad snowmobilers!

Mommy got warm towards the end

and didn't want to wear her scarf anymore

so I wore it for a while

Mommy went to bed early that night for some reason.