We went to the WV place for the first time since the two blizzards hit. It was a last-minute decision, made only after we got word late in the week that our road and driveway had been cleared. Since we’d already promised Amy to help her with the kids on Saturday, we couldn’t drive up until Saturday evening.
Despite all the snow, the dogs were thrilled to be back. I was, too.
Digging for Treasure
K was digging and digging and digging. I figured it couldn’t hurt to let her dig, what could she find under all that snow?
Treasure Found
I guess she showed me!
Belle says, "I like turtles."
Once the turtle had been uncovered, I knew the next step would be one, two or even three dogs eating a turtle for lunch. Unless I intervened.
Upon closer examination, I decided the turtle was actually dead, not just sleeping (aka hibernating).
I had three disposal options.
Toss the turtle into the woods (the dogs would just go and get it)
Carry the turtle back to the house and dispose of it there (the dogs would be fighting me the whole way to get at the turtle)
Place the turtle out of reach
I elected option number 3. When you are in the woods, the most convenient out of reach places are the trees.
Mama, look! A tree turtle!
Hubby is convinced the turtle is not dead, but hibernating. It’s going to wake up in the Spring and be all like, “How the Hell did I get up here? That must have been some crazy Winter.”
Wet and Muddy DrivewayThat is One Dirty FloorThere Are Muddy Footprints EverywhereMeg Pauses in the SnowSnow-covered PatioThe Road to Town
As much as I love our WV house, I am totally dreading the next visit. Some heavy-duty cleaning will most definitely be required.
Hopefully, by then, the snow will be gone and the ground will be dry. I know the girls agree. Walking on snow that either has a slippery frozen crust that they crash through or, mostly during midday, has the consistency of a giant slurpee really wears them out. Here’s some video proof.
The next snow storm, which is pending as I write this, has shifted. Latest predictions have us getting between 5 and 8 inches. But it’s one of those storms where there are an awful lot of different variables at play. We won’t know how much snow we’re talking about for sure until sometime on Friday when part 2 of the storm has passed.
I, of course, hope for a foot. My friends in the northeastern part of the US might really get walloped this time. We’ll just have to wait and see…
Do you ever look at your dogs and wonder what they are thinking and/or saying? Sometimes their body language and various vocalizations are easier to figure out than others. Take my dogs as an example.
For those of you wondering why I post such riveting videos, it’s really so Belle and K’s foster families can see how well they are doing. Fostering dogs is tough, because you can easily get attached, but also very rewarding. I know foster families often wonder how their former charges are doing, and I believe they deserve to get good and frequent updates.
I’ll try to do a post with more mass appeal tomorrow…
I woke up this morning, all excited, thinking I was going to see at least a foot of new snow.
I was disappointed. There was only about five inches of fresh white stuff, judging by what was on top of the poo can.
Things are changing, however. The storm is now officially a blizzard. My office actually closed. That doesn’t mean I get a snow day, which really sucks. But I will enjoy the snow nevertheless. It’s really picked up. I’ll have snow pics to share later. For now, you’ll just have to enjoy some new Meg images.
I like chocolate chip muffins.
She’s our chocaholic dog. This image of Meg just beyond my chocolate chip muffin shows her classic, “You’re going to give me some of that, right?” look.
Dogs may not speak, but they all have unique sign language and other ways of communicating. Meg has always been a growler. She doesn’t growl to say “I am going to eat you.” She growls when she is playing and when she is frustrated.
This video is a good example of both. Because Belle is so much faster than Meg, when the two are playing, Meg is easily frustrated.
Don’t let the growling and barking scare you. It does not mean she is going to attack. That’s just how Meg communicates.
As I said in My Birthday Blizzard post from earlier today, I love snow. That’s a good thing, because we got a lot of it. Over two feet!
My car under 26" of snow.
I took a lot of pictures. I deleted quite a few of the images I shot, but still uploaded 229 pics to my Flickr page. The pics are from Friday, at the very beginning of the storm, through Sunday evening. I have some good video footage, too, but that takes a while longer to process.
It was actually a pretty busy weekend. When it snows, I like to cook. We started things off right on Friday with Boiled Chicken Potpie. I made the noodles/dumplings extra thick. I also made twice as many as I usually do. It was fabulous.
Boiled Chicken Potpie
Saturday, the first thing we had to do was let the girls out in the snow. If you didn’t see the video, go back to yesterday’s post. They didn’t stay out for very long, yet Meg and Belle were still covered in snowballs, which cling to the very fine hair on their bellies and legs. It was bad. It took a good while to clean them off. Knowing how much the girls like the snow, Hubby and I decided to give them quick haircuts before sending them back outside.
Before we did that, however, we needed some breakfast. I finally made the chocolate chip scones I’ve been wanting to make for weeks.
Chocolate Chip Scones
While I was making the scones, Belle and K were watching the birds. There were lots and lots of them in the yard.
Lots and lots of hungry birds.
The bigger black birds (Grackles) completely inundated the feeders. So Hubby sprinkled some birdseed on the back steps for the smaller birds. Belle and K were riveted.
K and Belle, watching the birds eat.
Meg would look at the birds every now and then, but she was most interested in the scones.
I likes scones.
Belle and K continued watching the birds.
Dark-eyed Juncos
These little birds are called Dark-eyed Juncos. They are northern birds who spend the winter here in Maryland. They are quite social and think nothing of hanging out on the step with two very interested dogs on the other side of the glass.
Me and the girls enjoying the snow.
As soon as the haircuts were finished, the girls and I went outside to play in the snow. It was over my knees by then. But I plowed my way through it anyway, helping to make paths for the girls and knocking the heavy, wet snow off as many of our pine trees as I could reach. I was out there for a long time.
Belle and K playing in the snow.
Meg wasn’t running around with the young girls, but she was enjoying the snow just as much.
Meg, full of birdseed and ready to go inside.
K doesn’t have a coat here. The only reason Belle and Meg were wearing them is because the snow sticks to their fur. The haircuts helped, but didn’t take care of the problem completely.
Belle, bird watching.
The girls spent hours chasing the birds, who seemed to know the dogs couldn’t reach them very easily. Look how close Belle is to the bird feeder. By the end of the day, all of the dogs were exhausted.
Blizzard Monster
The storm actually ended sooner than expected. But not before this blizzard monster crashed into one of Hubby’s hammock posts.
Post-blizzard Sunset
It cleared up just in time for a pretty, colorful sunset.
Onion Strings
Before I knew it, it was time to cook dinner, which was steamed shrimp and onion strings (really super-thin onion rings that are to die for!).
Steamed Shrimp and Onion Strings
After dinner, we watched several episodes of Sons of Anarchy, a TV series on DVD that Hubby got for Christmas. We also ate my special birthday desert.
Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Brownies with Peanut Butter Icing
Store-bought brownie bites with peanut butter icing are really good. Homemade brownies COVERED in peanut butter icing are sinfully delicious.
This turned out to be a pretty long post. So I’ll stop here. Maybe tomorrow I will talk about digging out.
According to my parents, I was born during a blizzard. I tried to find snow totals for that storm on the Internet, to no avail. I’ll just have to trust them. Since they’ve told me the story at least 40 times, and I’ve heard them tell others just as many times, it must be true. Right?
The Predictions, courtesy of Julia Smith
Before the storm arrived, well in advance, the weather guys said it was going to be a big one. As you can see from the map on the left, we were in the “totally screwed” region. We were supposed to get 20 to 30 inches. I was so excited. I love snow. I really wanted 30 inches. Really.
The dogs love playing in the snow, too. But keep in mind, Meg’s back is 21″ high. She’s our tallest dog. Belle’s back is 18″ high. And she’s got short legs. K has longer legs, but the top of her back is still only about 20 inches off of the ground.
I could not wait to see how the dogs reacted to that much snow. I told Hubby to make sure I was awake first thing in the morning before her let the dogs out. I wanted to get it on video. I did.
Throughout the course of the day, I got lots of other pics and video, too. I’ll have to share more of them later. Between playing in the snow, cooking and eating, I just did not have time yesterday. And now I need to go and shovel some snow. I’ll do a longer post later.
