I have a snow-dog. I have been blessed with a maturing dog who consents to go do her business in the backyard snow and lets me stay inside when I'm not feeling up to either the cold or the slick.
She came back in with visible flakes and both slobber (drool) and snow on her nose.
The cat shares my opinion about the snow and cold and has been cooling his heels in his luxury suite for three days now. I offer an open door and he says, "nope".
As for my Thanksgiving nasal drip, it lingered and had changing symptoms over Friday through Sunday. Monday morning it lingered with just tiredness, and the headache started to clear up. I was able on Monday to clear off the new snow from the sidewalks, and Ember and I took a brief car ride to get Dexter's gas tank filled.
She's getting cabin fever to the extent that she wants to steal mom's stuff... be it gloves or the mail... but she's so much better about giving it back and not completely destroying it that mom forgives her very quickly. Besides, mom "gets it". This poor pup had day care on Friday, but she's had no outdoor leash walks over the weekend, only playing on her own in the snowy back yard, and whatever indoor games mom came up with. Fetch down the stairs, position treats, and treat-dispensing toys. Oh, yeah, and mom does give her some things deliberately intended for destruction. Lambchop toy is now about half to two third de-fluffed.
Good news is she has Day Care again on Tuesday and Thursday, and a new Chewy box will be coming late in the week that has some new toys intended for her delight in destroying. They were on deeply discounted sale!
Tuesday morning, December 2, 2025
Cold this morning, but not as cold as January is likely to get. It was 9℉, according to my phone, when I got up. I delayed taking Ember to daycare and tried to time it when it would not be "rush" hour. The streets and most of us being cautious and patient drivers did lead to lineups at the lights. I took a route to avoid the side streets, which have NOT been plowed or treated (because we didn't get enough snow/ice, according to city protocol).
We made it safely, and the lobby of her daycare was full of workmen, staff, and other dogs and their paw-rents. Ember was ecstatic, sniffing at everything and greeting everybody, but she was good about keeping her paws on the ground, which made me feel very good. The workmen seemed to be OK with the canine attention (gee, you'd hate to work at a vet's office/day care building if you weren't OK with this sort of thing).
She sat nicely on the scale, and I'm estimating between the highest and lowest numbers that showed up that she's holding steady around 86 pounds. That's still 6 pounds over what the vet most recently said she should weigh, but so much better than a year ago when she tipped the scale at 93. Good girl! Good girl Mom, for resisting temptation to over-treat the pup, and good girl Ember, too.
And when I got home, I started in on the dog-towel laundry, and found this hidden under the towels on her crate-mat! In case you don't have a dog who chews on chew-sticks, those are fragments from things she has taken into her crate at bedtime over the weekend. Well, guess what went into the laundry with the towels?
Life is full of humor, if you let it be so!
Life is good. Spark on!
That doggy daycare is a blessing for both of you, I'm thinking. Especially when the weather is wet and cold, and you have the 'epizoodies' (as Grandpa used to say).
ReplyDeleteOur weather is finally late autumn/winterish ... it was 32 degrees when I got up this morning, and the high is supposed to be 58 degrees. Chance of precipitation this week is 0-4 percent. We only get snow a couple of times a year at most, but we do have breeze-wind conditions probably 90 percent of the time, so dressing warm is necessary.
I'm glad you're recovering from whatever virus is making the rounds. my daughter has been sick and coughing Sunday evening, but it's not gotten much worse so far. I'm staying home for the most part and hoping it passes quickly. When I go out I'll mask up; some trips out can't be avoided.
I put my first batch of Christmas cards in the mail this morning; they're all ready to go, but we have a community mail box and I didn't want to take up all the space in the outgoing section. I don't send nearly as many cards as I used to, but I still enjoy sending and receiving the paper ones.
I think I may put up my little Christmas tree in my little family room today.
Happy Tuesday!
Ooh, little Christmas tree sounds awesome! I caught myself singing with the Christmas music in the grocery store. I love my annual dose of traditional music!
DeleteOops! My daughter has been sick for a few days, and I started with a little cough Sunday night, but it's not gotten much worse so far. (When I get in a hurry with adding something it usually does not end well.)
ReplyDeleteConversation with doggy day care worker as he walked Ember to the car with me:
DeleteDaycare worker: did Ember get into any food in the past couple of days?
Me: ?
Daycare worker: Yes, she vomited today, and I noticed some green beans...
Me: Oh, yeah, she gets green beans as filler with her kibble. We're trying to slim her down a bit.
Daycare worker: oh. Good. That was the only thing I saw that concerned me.
I think he was afraid she'd got into somebody's green bean holiday casserole, which could have had some bad things for dogs in it! Seriously, I was stressing over, "did she catch my icks"? And then I remembered about the fermenting chew stick fragments from the crate pad!
I'll keep a close eye on the baby tomorrow. It's so rare for Ms. Cast Iron tummy to throw up, and when she does, it's over and she's hungry again in minutes!
Hope your little cough stays little! And sorry your daughter's ill. There is something making the rounds, for sure.
Awwww, Ember is growing up, what a sweetie! We ended up with a foot total. Mother Nature can take a rest from it!!! And for sure Miss Lilly joins Ember in being BORED in the house.
ReplyDeletePrisoner is a wise cat!
So Ember released needed weight. WTG. As Sparkers we know . . . it’s a process . . . a lifestyle!
Glad you’re feeling better. There are so many germs going around!
Well, let’s take each day one @ a time and be grateful!
hugs and blessings
barb
1cd
Amen to one day at a time! A foot of snow sounds like so much! But it's not unheard of, I mean, it's Winter (almost). I'll post about Prisoner soon. Got a couple of cute photos of him while Ember was off at daycare today.
DeleteWe had our first hard freeze last night, dipping to 27 degrees so I had thick frost on my windshield & car windows this AM... I had let the ponies stay in the barn, since temps had dropped so precariously that I was worried about their acclimatization... I was most concerned about my thin-skinned Arabian, Mr Baraq, but actually Twoie & Moonie were the ponies shivering this morning!
ReplyDeleteI won't break out the horse blankets unless we have extreme weather conditions 'cause, lemme tell ya, that is a PRODUCTION!
When I think about how much work a dog and a cat are, I think about you and the equines and the little alligator! I believe it about it being a PRODUCTION!
DeletePoor Kitty and I (you, too) are of the same mine. I'm grateful I don't have to go out to shovel. 🙏🏼
ReplyDeleteSounds like a wonderful thing to be grateful for. I was grateful for some kind neighbors who cleared my walks following the first snowfall!
DeleteI am sure Ember knew you were not feeling so hot (they say dogs can smell that) so was really waiting to play when you were ready. We had the same kind of weather hear which changed morning walks but we roll with stuff now that we are older folk. Have a great day and wish Ember a lot of fun with the new stuff coming.
ReplyDeleteEmber is being such a trooper. I ordered myself some YakTraks which should be arriving on Sunday, so hopefully I'll have steady footing to resume proper leash walks. I have fallen before, so am extra cautious!
DeleteLikewise, both our g-dogs stare at their leashes wondering why the humans won't go out!
ReplyDeleteAll we got was rain, and a good bit. Flakes are forecast for Friday, but even that percentage of probability is shrinking. The weather here has changed since old GW marched through to cross the river, not far from me.
I've staved off illness so far but am wallowing in the family nasal curse of winter. No matter how much humidity is thrown into the air, we've 3 generations of seasonal bloody noses.Argh!
Argh! Bloody noses are a bane whatever time of year they appear! Mine hit when all the 4th of July smoke fills the air around here.
DeleteJust looking out at the Delaware River this time of year makes one shiver and realize what an achievement that Christmas outing was for the Continental Army! I know I was in awe the first time my husband took me there and was telling childhood stories of jaunts to the park on foot that he and his brother would make. And that they about froze on a few of them!