I almost didn’t take today off. My original plan was to take last Thursday and Friday off to have a 5-day President’s Day weekend with the snowstorm dumping tons of snow on Tahoe. The snowstorm had been predicted by the local weather guys for a couple weeks so I was looking forward to it. Tahoe hasn’t really gotten much snow since I the Christmas/New years craziness so I was very excited to get the huskies (and me!) into some fresh snow. I was going to leave Wednesday night for 5 days of snow!
Then some stuff came at work and I didn’t feel comfortable not being there Thursday or Friday. The CEO said it was OK to take off but I felt like I shouldn’t. Then the weather changed a bit and the heavy snow was coming Wednesday and Thursday so I was bummed to miss that. But they closed the highway so had I left Wednesday night after work, I would have been stuck in the closed highway and probably got up there at like 3am. I would have been tired and grumpy. The CEO insisted he could do just fine without me (that might be a very bad thing for him to realize!) on Friday so I planned on leaving the office around 11am after getting some stuff done and that way still missing any holiday weekend Bay Area traffic plus the snowstorm coming that night.
I did leave at 11am and sailed through the Bay Area (avoiding the as usual accident on the Bay Bridge and taking 92 to 680 to 80 instead) as well as hitting no traffic through Fairfield, Davis, Sacramento, etc. Was actually kind of weird for a holiday weekend Friday. It was pouring rain the entire time so maybe people didn’t want to drive in it? Hit the mountains and rain turned to sleet. A little more up the mountain and sleet turned to snow. And clear sailing turned to loooooong line of traffic inching along at 2 mph. It was traffic created by all the goobers that drive their little tin cans up to the mountains during a snowstorm and so they need chains. Ugh. Go rent a 4-wheel drive SUV if you plan on coming here during a snowstorm.
Anyway, it only added an extra 75 minutes or so. Not so bad considering I was hearing the previous nights’ drives were taking 8 hours or more. Yeesh. So I didn’t get much fun use out of my day off but did get up to Tahoe before the crazy storm that hit us on Friday evening/night. White-out conditions driving around town. And our street had 1 skinny lane of plowed snow through it. It was very Shining-like :) And I think they closed the highway again. BUT, the storm was done by late Saturday morning so it’s been sunny with a mix of high clouds ever since. And no snow falling. Boo. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a complete winter wonderland up here and the snow plows are just now getting all caught up with the roads and there is so. much. snow. But I love to watch it fall too.
So because I didn’t take Thursday off, I decided to take Tuesday off. But then have been going back and forth about it all weekend because the next snow storm coming isn’t coming until late Wednesday or Thursday so I’ll miss fresh snow falling so maybe just use my day off for a 3-day weekend next Monday or another upcoming snow storm. I pretty much decided to not take it off and just drive into work Tuesday AM until late last night. Changed my mind right before bed. Like literally, my mind just switched gears. Had been packed and everything. Decided to take advantage of the snow here and now and can always take another day off if I want for the next storm.
This was a very long-winded, convoluted rambling way to say pretty darn glad I did….
Angelus and I were out for about 2 hours this morning. He was running around back and forth and then we turned around and ran the other way and jumped through untracked snow like a deer! Then rested and “drank” snow and ran some more! I thought I was videoing that too but turns out my gloved finger didn’t press the start on that. Boo. It was damn cute. But I got to see it and Angelus got to live it :) It was 9 degrees when we went out. His kind of weather :) But then it warmed up to 15. We were both pretty hot in the sun by the end of our journey. He had a great time and is now happily sleeping and getting ready for the next outing this afternoon :)
On my way to take Angelus out for his 2nd walk this morning, I took an excellent digger on the icy entry way. I’m sure it looked pretty classic. Knee and hand smacked down on the icy stone. Cut on my hand. The instant sharp pain in my knee made me want to cry but Angelus coming over and sticking his nose in my face to see if I was OK made me smile instead :) Then when I got up and said OK buddy let’s go – he walked slowly next to me as we crossed the icy part. What a buddy :)
Later on in the walk, as we were passing some houses, Angelus started slowing down and sniffing in the air like he smelled something around. Then we came upon a driveway where someone had left their garage door open, either overnight or from this AM, and you could see the garbage can tipped over in the garage next to a car and 2 big plastic bags of garbage ripped open and strewn around the garage and driveway. Oopsie. There is a full bear somewhere. Angelus was walking around slowly and sniffing the air there too.
I got him going again and we went off the street onto a trail that we like that is basically a single track right now going through walls of snow in the forest. But cross country skiers pack down the track well enough so we don’t fall through the snow. About half way into the forest on this trail, Angelus just stops cold right in front of me. And starts growling. I didn’t see anything but trees and snow and didn’t hear anything. He moved up a tiny bit and started growling again and then turned us around. At this point I’m thinking OK, it could be nothing. Or it could be the bear. Or a ghost. Either way, we’re listening to Angelus who has the better sense of smell and hearing. No one is going to accuse me of being the dumb girl in the horror movie you scream at the screen saying “listen to the dog!!!” right before she gets mauled or killed.
So we took the same trail back and as soon as we got back to the road, Angelus immediately took us in the direction of home. I decided he can be in charge of this walk from here! So we got home safe and sound, no more icy falls, no bears and no ghosts. And now I have hot coffee. We’ll try again later :)
This morning the huskies and I had another excellent beach adventure! We wandered through the neighborhoods and then made our over to the beach. Storm’s friend Charlie was there and he seemed pretty happy to see her :)
I don’t let Storm play with just any dogs off-leash. I have to know them or watch them play for awhile. Storm needs the perfect mixture of just out-going enough to be fun and crazy but not aggressive or too alpha as that gets Storm going on his “need to prove I’m boss” (well…under boss really since everyone knows Angelus is the boss dog!) Plus we want to be nowhere near the bitey, agro dogs either. He definitely does better with girl dogs too. No need to be dominant at all.
Charlie is great! She loves to run and play but is super sweet and fairly submissive. So I let him play off-leash with her. This video is the first couple minutes of what was about 40 minutes of them playing today, along with Angelus and their other friend Pearl. Vry happy to see him wanting to play more and more with other dogs and being back to his happy self. :)
This morning on our walk, we came to a point where we could turn and go back to the bluffs we did yesterday (where Storm was attacked) or the other way towards the harbor. Storm always wants to go towards the harbor. That’s his routine. Storm is very much a creature of routine. He does not like when the routine is disrupted. He’s quite funny that way :) Plus, whenever he starts out on his walk he is on a mission. He walks with purpose. Go, go and go. Angelus likes to take his time to stop and smell the roses (and pee on them if he can ;) )
Depending on what direction we leave the house, which streets we take, he knows what the walk will be and does not allow deviations without an argument (he stares at me with a HMPH! look.) So the particular way we went this morning left us with really only one option which was the harbor….in Storm’s mind…usually. We crossed Highway 1 and where we could turn right to go to the harbor, Storm takes an immediate left. This would take us right to the bluffs. This is not the way we go when we want to go to the bluffs. In fact, he usually starts pulling/veering right before we’ve even finished crossing the highway to go towards the harbor. That is his routine. Right turn here Mom.
But not this morning. This morning he knew exactly where he wanted to go. He decided he was going back to the bluffs to find that little putz who attacked him yesterday morning. When I said “Storm – this way”. He just stood there and stared at me, tail high in the air like “I’m ready.” He looked over to the bluffs and back to me. Like “Come on Mom. Let’s go find that jerk for some husky payback.” I said “Come on buddy – let’s go to the harbor beach. That little dog is too scared to come back here and meet you guys again.” He looked back a final time and seemed to get that and pranced right over and started his march towards the harbor.
5 husky snow adventures today – my legs are sore! (plus Angelus got some time at Squaw Village today.)
2 movies watched – Leap Year and All About Steve (love Sandra no matter what!) Liked them both. Not classics, and pretty sure hated by reviewers, but they were cute movies that made me smile and/or giggle. And that’s what I needed.
And only 3 chores done today!
It snowed all day long today. And the temp has been dropping. It’s currently 11 degrees out. I just took Storm out for a potty break. Holy moley! 11 is dang cold….he sure is lucky he is so cute :)
We just got back from our 1.5 hour snow trek! You could tell our street was plowed earlier but more snow had accumulated. Our easement road and driveway? Well…they did plow during the night but we got a ton more between then and now. Good thing the huskies (or their mom!) don’t mind snow. Even naked-bellied Storm! Although the wind did eventually make him go “OK, time for me to go back.” So Angelus and I dropped Stormy off at home and went back out into the elements. Angelus was pretty darn excited by it :)
Funny how yesterday was clear on our morning walk and we saw no one. But in this morning’s blizzard we saw (and played with!!) 2 Scottish terriers, Meila the giant St Bernard (who we met last winter as a little puppy!) and Travis the spaz brown dog who Angelus LOVED snow wrestling with! :)
The wind was howling (Storm says no *I* howl!) and I got a snowblast facial. Who needs that top layer of skin? People pay good money for that treatment :) Although the giant snow chunks that kept falling off trees from the wind and then whipping all the snow around was a bit sketchy so we did not go into the forest on this trek.
Here’s to more snow dumping today! The local Tahoe weather guru, who has been more accurate than weather.com or any local news weather, says more snow after a brief morning break (currently still snowing though – I wonder if the break was that little bit it didn’t snow on our walk?) and our temps falling due to the very cold front headed our way. Supposedly going below 0 Thursday night. Good times. Modern inventions such as heat and electricity are beyond awesome. :)
They got 32″ of fresh snow last night up on ridge not far from my house. 10-16″ down at lake level!! Wheeeee!!! The Sierras are enjoying an excellent La Nina year. We are crossing fingers and paws it stays strong throughout the entire season.
Planning on going back out in a little while. The 24 degrees it is now sounds balmy and enjoyable compared to the single digits forecast for tonight and tomorrow. And walking through snow in big, heavy snowboots is some crazy good leg exercise! Lazy pants here needs that after a week of Christmas eating :)
