The nose of a dog

I'd love to have the nose of a dog in all except a few putrid circumstances. Yesterday, a young buck walked across a trail behind our house.

A few minutes later, K and I walked past the same spot. I had no idea that that a deer had just sneaked through. K knew. Look how she sniffed and peered in the direction of the deer.

That young buck was no match for this big guy. I've been capturing photos of him shepherding small herds of does through the forest. Today was the first time he's been alone in weeks. Perhaps the rut is winding down.

This morning, K and I walked out into our forest teeming with wildlife. K wore the hated boot because it seemed to make her limp less severe. Despite the evil paw boot, she still enjoyed the scents of our world.

She stood on a boulder gazing over her meadow.

The world shined so brightly that her eyes were closed most of the time in my photos!

Suddenly, last night, the pads on K's paw with the amputation looked horrendous with little disks of tissue jutting up from the pad surface. It looked so alarming that we went to the vet today (there really should be a "frequent patient plan"). It's hyperkeratosis, an overgrowth of tough pad material. We have to baby her paw for a week, applying black tea bags and bag balm. If it's not better after a week of those benign treatments, the disks will be removed by cauterization. Yes, that would be her third round of general anaesthesia in a couple of months. Sheesh.

We're still waiting for the pathology report on one of her paw bones that may tell us how much function K will retain in her front limb. Why do these reports take eons to complete? My adrenal glands have burned out with all the waiting.

I had some bike time with R prior to taking K to the vet. We headed straight to the top of our world. R leaned into the howling wind like a ski jumper soaring over his skis.

Then, when I put his muzzle back on, he did the "get this thing off of me" slide across the snow in the shadow of me and my bike.

Houndstooth asked whether there are some snow conditions that I like better for winter mountain biking than others. Whew - don't get me started! I love very cold packed snow that has never melted and refrozen. I hate slush, and I hate when there's a layer of ice below the snow - like right now. That's how I fell the other day, jamming my wrist into a rock garden. I couldn't see the ice below the snow so I was taken completely by surprise when my tires slid sideways throwing me to the ground. Until we get a thick layer of new snow, I've abandoned my snow bike with the super-wide non-studded tires. I'm riding my relatively skinny-tired bike with 300 studs per tire. Those studs keep me upright even on sheer ice.

As I write this post, I'm sitting by a roaring fire with the pups snoozing at my feet. Outside the windows, the wind is howling and frequent flashes of light explode toward our windows. Those flashes mean that we have animals outside being photographed by my wildlife cameras. I wonder if the alien coyote with green laser beams emanating from his eyes is outside now?