Winter

Winter; I've missed it.  Oh sure we had winter in California but it's not really winter in the true sense of winter, it's more like a cool summer month or two.  Typically there is a rainy season in January or February; sometimes with huge amounts of rain which I always welcomed as actual weather to deal with.  I grew up in the Ottawa, Canada area; where winter is very real and very cold.  I remember taking the dogs out and having them lift their feet because they were freezing; we would adjust and stay on paths where they did better.  Days when our face was so cold you thought it might actually crack off; this sort of stuff makes you hardy and as weird as it sounds I missed it.  I am a northerner.

Tilley was also a northerner and when the temperatures drop she gets a spring in her step.  I remember when fall was upon us and the dogs were more than excited to run and play and not get hot; I was right there with them.  Not everyone understands this; I know lots of people who think I'm crazy.  In fact not long before we moved from California; I was out at a park with the poodles.  I was stopped by some really great folks who were also standard poodle folks and it turned out that they were also from Ontario.  They'd lived in SoCal about the same amount of time as us and unlike me did not miss the snow or the cold.

I don't know how many photos I have of Tilley in the snow when she was young.  Most dogs love to play in the snow.  All of my dogs that I had when we lived in Canada loved it.  They loved running in it, catching snow balls, running full speed with their nose dug under the snow and doing anything they could in it.  I really hope to get some snow shoes and go hiking in the snow, it is one of my favorite activities.  I remember walking into the woods after a huge snow fall and lying in the snow; the thick blanket of snow muffled all sounds but my dogs running around.  I could lay there for hours listening to them root around in the snow.  Crazy?  Maybe.  But if you love the north you know what I'm talking about.

As we made arrangements to leave Southern California I consciously left coat on Tilley; she's pretty full and fluffy now.  At 14.5 I thought she could really use it.  I took Luke down a bit more and left Elsa with her gorgeous puppy coat.  Winter is a funny thing because too little coat and they are cold, too much and they get hot when inside so you have to find that happy medium.  Of course this is just with poodles, most dogs just have what they have right?  Dog coats are very useful for those who don't have much of a coat, like Dobermans, Greyhounds, Weimaraners etc.

So far I've only had to deal with two cold days here in Connecticut.  It's been unusually warm here in the North East which is maybe good for us to get back into the swing of the cold.  I know it does not get as cold as it does up further North like in Ottawa so I think it's a good adjustment area for us to be in.  Last week in SoCal it was in the 80s and I would have definitely been complaining about it.  Here it has been gorgeous in the high 40s, low 50s.  The dogs seem to be adjusting great; Elsa is so cute when out in the wind with her coat blowing, her head lifted to the wind to take in all the scents that she can.

I look forward to our first snow here, that is if we ever get any.  Elsa and Luke had a their first experience not long after we left CA.  Flagstaff AZ had quite a bit when we made our way East and seeing Luke look at the snow, look at me and then shrug as if to simply accept it was cool.  Elsa sort of had a little zoom like she does when her feet hit the sand and then she too adjusted to walking on this cold white stuff.

Come on winter, we're waiting for you to arrive.