Feb 10 Fresh Snow

The dogs just love all the snow we've been getting lately. They stayed out for hours today. I took a few shots of them enjoying the fresh snow. Oslo & Roxy were play fighting while Fluffy was just chillin' on the snow.

 Roxy checking to see if I have a treat for her

 

The battle of the backyard begins

As usual Oslo runs away and Roxy tries to catch him

 

another of his fight tactics is to jump on the picnic table where Roxy can't get him, now you know why we call him The Fanook

eventually a cease fire is agreed upon usually after Roxy gets tired from chasing Oslo

Feb 7 Our Arctic Adventure

One of my favorite winter hikes is along the southern end of Lake Michigan. Today we hiked from the campgrounds over the dunes to the frozen shoreline at the Indiana Dunes State Park. The shelf ice extended about 200 feet out into the lake. It wasn't very solid except on the first 30 feet from the shore. We hiked along the beach for awhile. There were gaps in the shelf ice where loose ice was floating back and forth with the waves. The only sounds we heard were Fluffy & Oslo breaking through the ice to get a drink. The old girl, Fluffy not Chrissy, seemed more tired than usual. So I took Oslo & Roxy back to the car by mistakenly taking the wrong trail which took us up & down three high dunes. We picked up Chrissy & Fluff at the beach parking lot.

 

Chrissy & Roxy on the frozen tundra of the Indiana Dunes

The city of Chicago across the frozen lake

 

 Chrissy with Oslo & Roxy on the shelf ice

February 6, 2010 A Winter Walk

Sometimes you just need to get away from the rest of the world. After a long week, I did just that. It snowed last night so this morning I asked the dogs, "Who wants to go for a ride?" All three jumped right into the car. Off to Brownell Woods we went. We were the first ones on the trails. The only tracks in the fresh snow were by the local wildlife, maybe raccoons, definitely deer tracks. Oslo exposed his inner bloodhound by sniffing the deer tracks and looking for the culprits. Fluff would fall behind a bit, then run to catch up as we waited for her. Roxy just moseyed along, glad to be out for a walk. Me, it felt great to be all alone walking through the woods. The wind caused the trees to creak, which made Oslo stop and look around for the source of the strange noise. The only other sound I heard was a woodpecker, but I never spotted it. Oslo spotted several deer about 50 feet in front of us. He froze, stared at them and then slowly backed up to me where he sat down right in front of me still staring at the deer. Once again, proving he deserves his nickname, the fanook. It was a very refreshing and relaxing walk through the woods. Too bad I had so many long delayed projects to get done, I could have stayed all day.

 

The old girl Fluff trying to catch up to us.

 

Oslo & Roxy taking a break