It was hard to take the forecasters seriously when they predicted 12 to 24 inches of snow this weekend. I had a serious challenge getting the dogs to go outside to go potty this morning. Jack and I together managed to dig a path to an area where the snow had blown almost clear. As of 9:00 am Sunday morning it was still snowing, though overhead the sun was starting to become visible.
We had to shovel a path to get the dogs through the drift by the outside door so the dogs could get to the “potty yard.” We’ll probably have to shovel again twice more before the storm is due to let up. This is a heavy, wet snow with lots of wind so I occasionally hear the UPS click due to what I presume are power surges. The visibility is quite limited but not whiteout, unlike some of the surrounding areas.
When I woke up, the local school district was on a two hour delay. When I checked an hour later, the district had closed for the day. It was very cold when I fed, probably because I have acclimated to the almost spring like temperatures we have been having.
We have had a lot of snow in the past six days, eighteen or more inches with the last few inches falling last night. School was cancelled the first three days of the week, with a two hour delay yesterday and today. I am so glad that the long range forecast is dry, since it is going to take a while for all this snow to go away.
Bandit is a three and half year old, twenty-seven pound Boston Terrier who has had a bit of a rough start to life. His first family dumped him in the backyard and paid very little attention to him for a couple of years before surrendering him to his second family. His second family didn’t have him long before he damaged his left eye, which became badly infected. They couldn’t afford to have it treated and surrendered him to a Boston Terrier rescue group. They paid to have the eye (which could not be salvaged) removed, treated him for tape worms, and made sure he had all of his vaccinations up to date.
A friend of mine was fostering him for the rescue group and decided that he would be the perfect dog for us. He has been living with us since Tuesday. Rion is starting to grudgingly come around on the topic, especially since we have been working to convince Rion that Bandit is JACK’s dog, and not MY dog.
It is hard to get a good photo of Bandit, since he nearly always flattens his ears as soon as he makes eye contact. He is also quite active, and starts moving towards me any time he thinks I am paying attention to him. We are working on “sit”, “stay”, “come”, “wait” and “off”. He is very quick to learn and willing to please.
Although he is quite deferential to Rion his deference seems to be more a matter of good nature than submissiveness or fear. He is very good about being crated, which is invaluable when anyone in the household (including Bandit) needs a time out. In this photo, he is wearing his harness as well as a collar because evidently a harness is recommended in this breed so they won’t damage themselves pulling. Loose leash walking is going to be a real challenge with this guy.
Despite his lack of one eye, I am hoping to do agility with him. He has the energy levels, and is as agile as a cat. The first day he was here I watched him jump from the floor to the dining room table from a standstill.
When I think it’s cold, I wrap Rion in a blanket. He doesn’t seem to mind.
Still snowing, and I am guessing that we already have about a foot or more along with some significant drifts. This is the dogs’ potty yard, and the depth of the drifts posed a significant challenge to small dogs before I did some trail breaking and snow shoveling. I fed the horses and they seem to be coping just fine. We are fortunate that we rarely get more than two substantial drifts between the house and the barn: one of them is just outside the house and the other is midway between the barn and the house. I usually just try to power through rather than dig a path.
Local schools are on two hour delay.
I took Rion for a walk before it got too warm this morning. As I took this photo with my camera phone, a hummingbird flew up to investigate (probably because of my red shirt) then turned to fly away.
For a short while the sun broke through this morning, allowing Rion to do his favorite morning activity (besides eating) of basking in the sunlight. We have all been sulking a bit because there has been so little sunshine recently. According to the weather station at the Air Force Academy, which closely resembles our micro-clime, we have had 9.7 inches of rain this May. The average amount to date is 0.32 inches.