Although we have no dogs of our own, we’ve had lots of canine visitors over the past few weeks. The weekend before last, we looked after Seabrooke’s dogs for her while she was involved with a wedding. Here are Raven and Jack enjoying the sun with RailGuy. Unfortunately, it was cold, cold, cold on the days that Jack and Raven were here. Raven is pretty tough but Jack, with his beautiful glossy fine coat, is not built for -20 degree C temperatures. Here he is, all bundled up to go outside.
I’m pretty sure he’s looking forward to spring! This weekend just past, we played host to the corgis, Remy and Pookie. They live more close by, so are used to visiting and settle in easily. The corgis are little powerhouses. Weighing in at about 45 pounds and decked out in dense coats, the pair are indefatigable hikers, no matter what the weather brings. Today was their last day at Willow House, and I took them out for a walk in the woods.
Pookie looks back to see what’s keeping me. What a slowpoke I am! Fortunately, their noses bring them interesting information that they have to stop to investigate, so I easily keep up.
The woods are quiet at this time of year, with just the occasional chickadee breaking the calm. There’s always something to see though. In the photo above is a neat tree stump that has been receiving some attention from a pileated woodpecker.
And here are some mystery tracks in the snow. I have my own personal nature consultant, The Marvelous in Nature writer, my daughter Seabrooke. We conferred on this and other photos. She leaned towards a fox as the mystery passer-by, while I thought it might have been a skunk, called out of hibernation on one of the mild days we’ve had.
And check out the shredded, peeled bark on this branch, evidence of a red squirrel at work.
It wasn’t very cold, minus 5 C or so, but there was a cold breeze and by the time we got back to the house, I was chilled. Not so Remy. When he saw I was headed back inside, he sat down by the birdfeeder and pretended he couldn’t hear my pleas for him to come inside. He sat there for about 10 minutes before he finally concluded I couldn’t be coaxed back outside and relented.
Willow House Chronicles 