How do you survive the winter cold and darkness? Well, you could move south or west.
But here in the Midwest, you can tough it out and go outside anyway…
or grab a blanket and hunker down until better weather arrives.
If you’re versatile like Baxter, you do some of each.
We are learning more about Zeke as time goes by. Such as, he loves spending time outside as long as he is with the other dogs and knows we are nearby. He especially loves the snow, burying his nose in it and snuffling for what I don’t know. Maybe for the sheer joy of it.
We have also learned that he is not above stealing food from the counter and eating all of it. But only when we are not around. For this the fault lies with us for allowing the opportunity.
Zeke continues to move his crate across the room when there are no humans at home. And drool. The weather has not been conducive to walking so no updates on that front.
Even so, we are enjoying our time with Zeke. He is a fine dog.
I have always liked winter. If the roads were just heated so travel was safe, it would definitely be my favorite season. We had our largest snowfall to date for the winter just last weekend. I took a brief jaunt around our property so I could share my appreciation of the snow and the winter season with you. Above is the front of our home blanketed in fresh snow. That majestic old pine is twice as tall as the house. In summer it provides cooling shade, and throughout the year it makes a nice windbreak.
This treeline is our view across the street from our house. Right now it looks like all the trees are covered in cotton bolls. And then there’s the dogwood tree in our front yard. I couldn’t resist including it because it has such beautiful form.
Walking down the driveway, our garden gate is to the left. It still begs me to come in, even through the deep snow. I guess deep is relative. We got about 8 inches over night. I know some people got more. I known I was glad to have the day off work so I didn’t have to drive in it.
This is the view down the garden walkway. It was especially silent inside the protective walls. A winter wonderland.
The view of the workshop and garage relaxes me. It all looks so “soft” with the snow snuggling around it. I do see that I never got around to taking down my hanging baskets. That’s OK, they remind me that spring will come again, and I will appreciate that too.
This is the fenced pasture where the dogs can play for a time when we are home. You can see all the wood we have stockpiled for summer bonfires. It is in the dog pasture because there is no where that we would rather be for a bonfire than with our dogs!
Our trumpet vine has beautiful “bones” when the leaves are gone. It is growing up a light post which makes it look like a tree.
I go back inside and this is the view out my kitchen window. This fenced area is attached to the house for ease in putting the dogs in and out. It is also commonly referred to at our house as the poop yard. I believe this is self explanatory. It is especially appreciated when we have foster dogs and don’t know if they are trustworthy outside. On foster dogs’ first day or two with us, I still stand outside with them or may even walk them on leash inside the fence as it is only 3 1/2 feet high. Our first foster dog at this house was a collie named Saffron. She jumped the fence which resulted in me also vaulting over the fence, in my bathrobe and fuzzy leopard print slippers. I didn’t want to lose sight of her so took off in hot pursuit. Saffron was just looking for a good time and didn’t really want to run away so all ended well.
I notice this writing ends with a dog story, as all things in my life do. So let me say once again, life is good!
Getting a little tired of seeing this. Actually seeing it isn’t the problem. The problem is all the shoveling that comes with it. That and hauling wood through the great white depths. I shoveled for about two hours today. That got the mail and paper boxes clear and enough of the driveway open that I can park within a few feet of the door to the house. The rest of the driveway will have to wait for another day. Oh, snow blower how I miss thee. How cruel of you to give out when I still have need of you. We have a neighbor who lives down the road who was scheduled to plow for us in the event of larger snows such as this. His tractor is also on the injured list. I guess this winter was just too much for them.
Once I was done with the shoveling, it was time to haul wood. We’ve figured out a system using one of the recycling bins. I fill the bin with firewood and attach a heavy dog leash to it and pull it to the house. It works like a sled and I think it is rather ingenious. The snow became too deep to get the tractor back to the wood crib quite a while ago.
I am hoping for a warm up, even a brief one, to lower the level of snow. Looking out the back door, it appears as if the fence around the dog yard is getting shorter. In reality the snow is getting deeper. Luckily the dogs don’t seem to have noticed this yet. Without a bit of a melt off I will have to make the snow less (read as more shoveling) or the fence taller. I think I’ll pray for the melt off. The birds are in favor of the melt off as well.
The good news is that, as a reward for all the work I did today, I made pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for dinner! Oh yeah, and also that spring will officially be here next month.
I took a brief walk outside yesterday so that I could see some of the beauty that nature has to share. I love this little pathway through the pine glade. It is so peaceful with its offer of shelter and stillness. And below you can see the beautiful rusty red leaves of the witch hazel. They provide us with color all winter. The leaves seem to hang on forever and then one day in the spring they just magically disappear. Witch hazel is an odd plant. It blooms in the winter. It is a reminder to me that we can bloom even in the toughest of conditions. And the bench is waiting for us to come and sit to admire the plants that will bloom again the spring.
Sanctuary Acres 