Snow Puppy

Being a year and a half, she's no longer a puppy....but you'd never realize it when you see her frolicking in the snow. The media has been calling this the "long and brutal winter". We're like... "Really?!" True, we don't have a driveway to shovel. We don't drive our car around and therefore, we don't get frustrated being stuck on bad roads. And even though, I've done my share of complaining about unshoveled sidewalks and the hidden deathtraps of ice underneath the snow, exacerbated by the fact that I've fallen about four times this winter, I've had a lot of fun.

Nori and I walk the 4.5 km to work together a few times a week; blithely passing by the grim looking commuters fighting for a street car on King Street. I've learned to bundle up and even with a minus 30 C windchill, the only part of me that has frozen are my cheeks. R thinks I look cute with red cheeks. (Kindly overlooking the runny nose that is usually accompanied by the red cheeks...hey, I never said I looked pretty.) After work, we walk back and I must say, the very best walks have been during a snow storm. It's SO peaceful watching the snow fall.


Nori is in her absolute element when there's freshly fallen snow at the park. She loves to eat it. Roll around in it. Wrestle in it. Eat some more. Lie in it and rub as much of it into her fur as she possibly can. Actually, all the dogs do. They don't run as much when the snow packs down into hard ice. They don't run as much when the snow starts to melt and the ground is soggy either. Lots of sighing and dogs that start to resemble snooty princesses in that instance. Another reason why a snow fall excites us. It means that all the dogs will get a good workout and be tired. We have since learned that the aim of a good dog owner in Toronto is to completely and totally wear out their dog. As evidenced by the hours we spend at the dog park encouraging them to "run! run! run!"

Anyways, since everybody has been badmouthing winter. I just wanted to say that we've thoroughly enjoyed it. R was even thinking that it didn't seem particularly long either seeing as it really only started to come down in January. But what do we know. I'm sure people will argue with us.


And does anybody else remember a winter where there has been thunder and lightning during the middle of a snow storm? I don't. The best is how we all marvel about the phenomenon while standing in the middle of the dog park. There was one particular storm where the lightning was so bright, we all thought we were getting our picture taken.

Hey. I never said we were smart.