My Monthly Diary for January, 2014

Snow. Cold. Snow. Cold. Snow. Cold. Rain. Beautiful day, HIKE! Snow. Cold. Snow. Cold. Snow.

That pretty much sums up January.

The polar vortexes came in and gave us dangerously below normal temperatures then they went away and gave us normal temperatures with snow or above normal temperatures with rain. Then they came back and repeated the cycle. We had a -16 degree day (without the windchill) and a week later we had a 44 degree day. A week after that we had a 9 degree day. When I was younger I'd have loved this weather, but with my arthritis in my back these wild shifts have not been helpful. Also, the ice that forms over everything after you go from 44 degrees and rain to 20 degrees in a 24 hour period makes walking really hard when your back feet tend to go wherever they feel like no matter what you are telling them to do.  I've had to wear my lifting harness and boots a few times and I've been wearing my coat and boots a lot. On the below zero days Mommy had me me wear socks under the boots. On the -16 day Mommy even wrapped a scarf around my ears so I wouldn't get frostbite on the tips. We got a lot of looks and honks and comments that day.

I refused my coat and boots one below zero morning and then, when we got about two houses down I was so cold I started shivering and picking up my feet and glaring at Mommy because it was all HER fault that I wasn't wearing the right clothes. When I smiled at her and dodged she should have chased me down, tackled me and forced my boots and coat on me and not just said, "Fine. Go out without your coat and boots and freeze."


We got about 17 1/2 inches of snow in one snow storm

 

It was so deep that when I tried to go out and potty in the backyard I fell and got stuck in the snow.  Mommy had to shovel a path for me to a tree and then a big spot for me to poop in and another for me to turn around and head back to the door in. Even though she made that potty area for me I did mostly decided it was easier to poop in the house. Mommy was not pleased.

Because of the cold days Mommy got a couple days off work which was nice. I always like it when Mommy stays home because of bad weather because that means I get to walk as slow as I want in the morning and then we stay inside and there is a lot of snuggling in bed time.

The 19th of January was my Gotcha Day and would you believe it MOMMY FORGOT!!!  I've been with her for 13 years and she FORGOT!!  I didn't get any special treats or even a "Happy Gotcha Day" from Mommy.  I had fallen out of bed the night before and landed really hard and Mommy spent my Gotcha Day rearranging the house so that our mattress is now on the ground and not on the box spring (Mommy took away the bed frame about a year ago so I could get in and out of bed easier).

The new bedroom arrangement

 Little known fact: box springs can be used as bulletin boards

Since Mommy was so busy that day she bought a chicken at the grocery store and I always get a lot of meat from a store chicken on my meals and as treats so Mommy said that should count, but I don't think it did since she didn't know it was my Gotcha Day.  So a few days later when Mommy realized she had forgotten she gave me extra treats and some more chicken that night and we celebrated then.

Finally this month a couple days after my FORGOTTEN Gotcha Day Mommy came home from work early. I was sound asleep in the bedroom and I didn't realize she had come home for about a half hour.  When I woke up and heard noises in the other room I came out to see what it was and there was Mommy, but she smelled weird and she looked like she had been fighting with a big dog or something. I refused to come near her and say hi and I avoided her the whole rest of the day.  She told me I was acting silly because she had only gone to the dermatologist to have a growth removed from her lip and they decided that two moles on her face had to be removed too. I didn't care. When I had to poop I refused to tell her and instead went into the puppy room (dining room) and pooped.  Then later that night when Mommy tried to get me to go out in the backyard and potty I refused to go because I wouldn't walk past her while she held the doors open and it was too cold outside to leave the doors propped open for me. Instead I went into the bedroom pooped on the bed. After Mommy cleaned up the bed she went to sleep and I waited until she was asleep before I went into the bedroom and joined her in bed. 

The next morning I got up and avoided her as soon as she woke up and then I refused to go outside again. A few minutes after Mommy gave up on getting me to go outside I snuck back into the bedroom and peed on my bed and pooped on hers. Mommy got mad at me and I got locked in the puppy room for the day. That night Mommy was allowed to take a shower and after she did she still looked kind of scary, but she smelled normal so I wasn't afraid of her anymore and we went back to being friends again. If she was smart she would have just rubbed her face against the couch until the lip thing had fallen off and then we wouldn't have had all that drama.

Beautiful Winter Sunday Hike

The weather was beautiful today, so, after Mommy and I took my morning walk and Mommy did her chores, and scraped all the ice off our driveway, we were happy to have 1 1/2 hours left before sunset for a hike.  We went to the preserve closest to our house as is our habit when we don't have a whole lot of time.  We knew the trail conditions wouldn't be great because of the big New Year's snow and then the warm day of rain followed by a cold night and another warm day, but we were surprised that there were only three other cars at the trail parking lot because the day was so nice.  Then we saw the trailhead.

Solid ice (The building is a bathroom. I hope nobody had to use it really badly today!)

Mommy hadn't brought our ice skates so we picked our way past the hockey rink, um trail head, on the snowy sides. Once in the preserve we found that the trail was icy, but not Zamboni smooth ice like the trail head, and after about 50 feet (which we figure was the average walker's tolerance level) the trails became much better.

Much better trail conditions

Lots of good smells.

You can see that the snow was still rather deep just a little way off the trail.

We headed for the one mile loop, but because we were walking much slower than normal we ran out of time before we could do the whole loop.  So after finding a lot of coyote poop and peeing on everything I could reach and waiting while Mommy watched a red tailed hawk hunt, we turned around and headed back to the car. We were passed by two other people and a dog on our way back and when we got back to our car there were still two cars in the lot and an impatient ranger waiting for us to leave so he could lock up.

It was a nice, if slippery .86 mile, 1 1/4 hour hike on a beautiful warm winter day.

My Monthly Diary for December, 2013

Well, this month we had some really cold weather and some ice storms and some warm weather.  Since I'm not allowed to sleep under the covers anymore because of my sleep pooping issue I started waking Mommy up in the middle of the night on the really cold nights to complain that I was cold.  So Mommy got an old nightshirt of hers and fixed it up so that I could wear it.

It has loons on it if you can't tell

I really like it and will whine until Mommy puts it on me on cold nights now.  On Christmas Eve I refused to let Mommy take it off me and I spent the whole day in my jammies. I wanted to keep wearing the nightshirt on Christmas Day too, but Mommy said I was not allowed to wear jammies for two full days in a row.

Speaking of Christmas, Mommy and I went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Day. Usually we go down on Christmas Eve and sleep over, but Mommy's youngest brother couldn't make it into town this year so we stayed home.  When we got down there my cousin Missy and her family were already there. Missy came running up to the car to say hi to me. She was worried when she got there and I wasn't there. Mommy helped me out of the car and we went inside and Missy and I talked for a bit and then Missy got an itchy ear and sat down to scratch it.  I went over to sniff her ear and see what was wrong and SHE SNAPPED AT ME!! Well I don't take that kind of behavior so I roared and snapped back at her and she roared and snapped back at me and then our mommies came to separate us and I fell over.  We both got in trouble for having a slapfight on Christmas Day and we had to sit on opposite sides of the room for awhile and we didn't get to open our presents until the very end of the present opening.  We kind of avoided each other for a while. Then Missy ate my dinner after I left the bowl and I didn't argue about it and at dinner Missy called me over to see if I could get the turkey off the sideboard, but Mommy saw what we were doing and we had to move away from the sideboard and lie down. We did both get some mashed potatoes after dinner though and even though Missy was rude and shoved me aside so she could eat the first batch Mommy put down we didn't fight about it.

Because of my lack of feeling in my hind end ice has become very hazardous for me. I fell over three times just trying to walk to the neighbor two doors down to bring her paper to her door. So Mommy went out and bought me Pawz.  I am NOT overly pleased with them, but I have to admit that I fall a lot less on the icy days when I'm wearing them.  Also, people tend to smile at me and talk to me when I'm wearing them, so that's not bad.

Why do the large sized Pawz only come in purple? 

Big dogs should get black or white or red or something.

On the Saturday after Christmas we had a really warm day in the upper 40s so Mommy and I went for a hike. Then the next day the temperatures dropped to the low 20s and everything that had melted the day before became a sheet of ice.  Even with the Pawz on I couldn't walk that day.  In fact, when I went out in the backyard to go potty I got stuck and Mommy had to come out with my lifting harness to help me get back to the house.

Finally, Mommy calculated out our walks and hikes this year and we did 701.9 miles! We had fewer regular walk miles this year, but thanks to my stroller we nearly doubled our hike miles from last year and, at 111.55 miles we actually passed 2010's, and 2011's hiking totals! That brings our imaginary walk to Alaska and back to Vancouver, Washington if you have been keeping track.

Random Winter Hike

It was a beautiful day today, upper 40s and sunny, so, after Mommy and I took a 3 mile morning walk, we decided that I should take a couple hours nap while Mommy got a few chores done and then we'd go for a hike. Since there is snow on the trails we can't use my stroller now, so it is in storage.  Mommy wasn't sure how far I'd be able to hike in the snow without a stroller break so we went to the preserve that is closest to our house.

 Before we could start I had to check my pee mail

We weren't the only ones who thought a hike sounded like a good idea today. 

The preserve was more crowded than we've seen in a long time.

But even with all the people and dogs we still had times when it seemed like we were the only ones there.

Mommy says that is because we were walking so slowly, but she didn't mind. She watched the birds and looked for deer while I sniffed and peed on everything.

The snow on the trail was kind of hard for me to walk on because it was very uneven and a bit icy from all the people's tracks, so I mostly hiked slightly off the trail. When we got to a short path (not an official trail) that leads to a small neighborhood I said I wanted to go that way. Mommy said we couldn't because she didn't want to have to walk back by way of the streets. She gave me the option to continue walking the regular trail or head back to the car and I chose to head back to the car.  So we went back.  The hike took us one and half hours and we did 1.25 miles which Mommy thought was quite good all things considered.

It is always nice to be able to take the time to stop and smell the coyote urine.

Santa is On His Way!

Good reindeer can be so hard to find.

Here is hoping everyone has or had a great holiday this year and best wishes for the new year!

Thanksgiving Hike

Mommy was trying to remember when we got to do a Thanksgiving hike last. We think it was back in 2009.  See, Thanksgiving hikes used to be our tradition because Grandma and Grandpa would go have Thanksgiving with Mommy's grumpy oldest brother and his family and Missy's family would go to Missy's mommy's family and Mommy and I would be happily left all alone for Thanksgiving.  Since Mommy had a whole day off Mommy would put a turkey in the oven and we would go out to the state park and take an all day 15 mile hike and then we'd swing by Mommy's friend from work's family gathering at dusk and have pie and then we'd go home and eat turkey.  Then Grandma and Grandpa stopped going to Mommy's grumpy oldest brother's house for Thanksgiving and instead had Grandpa's college roommate and his wife over to their house and Mommy and I would go down there for Thanksgiving.  But this summer Grandpa's roommate died and Mommy's grumpy oldest brother and his new wife decided to go to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and Grandma and Grandpa went up to join them.  So Mommy and I decided to go to the state park for our Thanksgiving hike. Mommy changed the tradition a bit though and, since she had Thanksgiving Eve off work, she made turkey yesterday and we brought a turkey sandwich on our hike.  Also, since it was only 24 degrees when we woke up this morning Mommy and I decided an all day hike wasn't going to happen and instead we opted for a shorter 1/2 day hike and let the temperatures warm up to 30 degrees before we left.

Deer hunting is allowed in the state park, but not on Thanksgiving week. Just to be safe Mommy had me wear a red bandana (she realized she had brought all our blaze orange equipment up to Wisconsin when we stopped our Thanksgiving hikes).  Mommy wore a red hat, red scarf and red gloves, although she said that, what with her pushing a red stroller if anyone shot us because we weren't wearing red or orange they would have to be aiming for us.

Mommy had planned to hike one way which would have been a 6 mile hike, but when we got out of the car I decided I wanted to hike my favorite trail because I had a whole lot of pee mail to catch up on.  Mommy tried hard to get me to go towards the other trail, but I refused, so we did my trail.

There was snow on the trail, but not enough to impede the stroller.  Everywhere there was snow there were these strange markings.  Mommy figures it had to be something pulled by or under a truck, but can't figure out what it could be.

Mommy has always liked this spot. No matter the season, she always wants to stop and take a picture of it. We must have 30 different versions of this picture.

Normally, this is a small lake or large pond. Today it was dry and full of red vegetation. We don't know what that was about. Did it dry up on its own, or did the DNR drain it?

Mommy was shocked to see a house at the 1.5 mile point. There didn't used to be a house there. You could also see a small barn a garage and another large building that may have been another house or may have been some kind of large outbuilding. The house is on state park land, so the only thing Mommy and I can figure is that maybe a ranger lives there full time now.  We can't imagine that some developer had the guts to put up a house on public land, but around here anything can happen.

Around this point Mommy asked me if I wanted to ride in my stroller. I told her I did not.  We kept hiking and around the 2.5 mile point we stopped and ate our turkey sandwich.  Mommy asked me if I wanted to ride, but I said no.  When we got to Lake Defiance we went down the boardwalk (Mommy and her boardwalks) and at the loop back I wanted to go back to the trail and back to the car, but Mommy said no, we were going to do the whole boardwalk because she wanted to see her favorite part of the lake.

 Here it is. All frozen and no ducks or fish to be found

After the lake we got to the ranger station and the temperature suddenly dropped about 5 degrees.  Mommy suggested that since my trail and her trail meet up at the ranger station we should walk down part of her trail, but I refused to walk it with her. I also refused to get in the stroller. Mommy said I was lucky the temperatures had dropped or she would have argued longer. Instead she agreed to head back to the car.  I was very tired and fell asleep almost immediately upon getting in.

You can see I'm about to nod off.

Mommy and I drove to Mommy's friend's Thanksgiving and I was sound asleep when we arrived so Mommy left me in the car.  She ate some food and pie and talked to some folks for about an hour and I slept the whole time. I woke up when she got back in the car and started it up. So I got no pie, but I did get two milkbones when I got home.

Total miles hiked by me 3.6!!!! Total miles riding in stroller: 0!!!!  Mommy says she is predicting total days spent sleeping after this: 3.

County Hiking Challenge: I Got My Shield

Well, we didn't get to one challenge trail because the weather turned bad with thunderstorms and tornadoes and stuff, but we had hiked far more than the required hikes so Mommy went and got my shield. I also got a dog tag/zipper pull and Mommy decided that it needed to be put on one of the zippers on my stroller since it hiked all the hikes too.  Here is the shield:

The tag has the same design only it is round. Our friend who also does the challenge tells us that that dragonfly is called a Halloween Pennant.  We looked it up and she sure seems right!

Mommy is going to sew the shield on my backpack tonight even though I don't wear it anymore.  It will be the 12th shield on my pack. I have done the challenge with Mommy every fall since she got me.