Winter walk with a dog

Got in a little while ago from a great walk with the Creature With Fangs. We had another ten inches of snow yesterday and it’s 14 degrees out so the snow is dry and squeaky. The sun came up while we were out. The only sound was the call of a chilly chickadee perched on a tree at the edge of a field.

(long pause because the CWF realizes that I am writing about her. She licks my slippers. She brings me a ball. She jumps in my lap. Well, she tries to hurdle half of her in my lap because that is all that will fit. I don’t want her to wake up the Beloved Husband who is sleeping because he took care of the 3:30am puppy potty walk. So we attempt to gallop – silently – through the house so she can burn off some steam. While chasing me, she leaps through the air and lands butt-first in her metal water bowl. The noise wakes up the cows in the barn down the road, but the BH sleeps on. I get out paper towels to clean up the spilled water. She grabs the paper towels and runs away with them. I distract her with a ball and retrieve the paper towels which are now paper pulp because they’ve been in her mouth. The little ball bumps the soccer ball and it moves. It’s the notorious soccer ball – come to kill us all! The CWF attacks the soccer ball. I sneak away to type a few words.)

Puppies are like fast toddlers with fur. I’m exhausted. I think I’ll crawl into the dog crate and nap.

(added later) No nap for me. CWF was so wound up I took her outside for another walk. This time I encouraged her to walk (swim, leap, frolic) through the snowbanks instead of through the paths cut by snowplows and truck tires. She looked like a dolphin in the ocean, jumping up, twisting, then burrowing deep in the snow after some mysterious smell.