Hope abounds

The air was so frigid and windy this morning that I whimpered whenever my fingers were exposed. To stay warm, K and I didn't even stop for the sunrise. We just kept tromping onward trying to generate heat.

K raced around, kicking up billows of snow as her ears flapped wildly.

I'm becoming convinced that she'll be biking with me again - and I think that her maiden ride will be soon. She now spends the majority of our hikes at high speed, doing circles around me and covering at least twice the distance that I do. This high voltage energy is a marked contrast to a couple of months ago when she chose to walk sedately beside me, even when she was unleashed. At that time, my vet felt worried that K had started acting "old" well before her time. I think that it was temporary!

Right now, we're watching to see how she does without antibiotics. We stopped them one week ago, and I don't see any signs of the bone infection returning yet. The vet will check her on Friday.

When the surgeon saw her a couple of weeks ago, he tested her paw strength and watched her walk, trot, and gallop. He commented that some dogs adapt seamlessly to losing one of their "weight-bearing toes" (i.e., a middle toe) while others don't. He said that he usually couldn't predict which category a dog was destined for. He smiled as he declared that K appeared to be falling into the group that zooms back to an active life despite having an odd number of toes.

I love the expression of sheer determination on K's face in the photo below. The snow was windpacked and difficult to navigate but K was not planning to let it slow her! That's my girl!

This cold snap has changed the wildlife pattern in our clearing. On most winter nights, we have visits from coyotes who get photographed by my wildlife camera. This morning, I could tell by the tracks in the snow that no coyotes had trotted into our clearing but a bobcat had sauntered through, marching carefully in the packed track left by my snowbike. He evaded the camera.

The surprising visitor was a mule deer buck. This is only the second time that my camera has captured a deer close to our house. I suspect that the overwhelming coyote presence usually deters the deer.

For some reason that completely eludes me, the Division of Wildlife has granted a private property hunting license to someone with a small plot of land nearby. A private property license requires that all bullets fired remain on the private property. Yet, the plot of land is so small that the bullets will, without a doubt, leave the property if the shooter misses the deer. I hike and snowbike near that property daily so I called the DOW about it (after talking directly with the hunters, to no avail, except that I alerted them to my activities in the area which they said they'd watch out for). I was told that the authorities could do nothing until an "unsafe shot had been fired". Huh? So, I guess that I'm supposed to call them after a bullet whizzes past my ear, or worse. This is one aspect of "wild west" living that I could do without. I'm not categorically opposed to all hunting - just unsafe hunting.

Today, despite the cold and nearby hunters, I bundled on my 5 layers of warm clothes and headed out on my snowbike. After all, the alternative is to ride a stationary bike indoors. I need to ride a bike every day to keep my spine pain under control. The view from Hug Hill was special, and I found myself dreaming of riding up there with K again. Maybe soon!

Hope abounds.