Laev got much less exercise this week; we had "winter storms" of ice and 12-16" of snow on top. I don't mind snow at all, but ice is bad; it slicks the roads and it also really stings coming down! The temperature hovered around zero Fahrenheit, too, so outdoor activity was limited for the dogs. Laev's got ears and a tail, and I want her to keep them!
Friday was beautiful and clear, gorgeous sunny weather. I rode south with a friend and my sister to visit a potential puppy for the friend, and we admired the ice-covered trees along the rolling hills. I have to admit, Midwest ice storms produce some awesome scenery -- each branch is completely encased in an inch of clear glassy ice, making the forests in the sun look as if they're made of crystal -- but that's *after* the roads are clear again!
Saturday brought more snow, another few inches. But the weather was so warm -- up to 20 degrees! and we call that warm! -- that I never felt cold during Schutzhund training. Laev's retrieve is coming along nicely and we're working on straight fronts.
And my friend went back Saturday for the puppy. He's a cute black Standard Poodle, but he'll be an honorary Doberman. :-)
I haven't been doing our snow tracking because of the cold; it's hard to scent when the temperature is below zero, and it's not too healthy for either of us to be in an open, wind-swept field (wind chills were -20 and lower). But if the temperature stays higher, we'll have to do some of that.
We'll have to hurry; we're supposed to get rain, not snow, this week. I am NOT looking forward to the mud we'll have with 15+" of melting snow and all the additional rain! I'll have to get water wings for Laev.
A friend from Florida called, complaining of their weather. It was SO COLD, she protested, that her school had to cancel recess for the grade school children because the wind chill (not the actually temperature) had dipped into the fifties! Who even bothers to calculate wind chill at those temperatures, anyway? We told her to quit whining. ;-)
