Winter in April

Nature is dousing us in the snow that we so desperately need to nourish the forests. It's a gift from the sky.

Yesterday, the Duo and I headed out into white-out conditions for our "sunset" hike. We didn't see the sunset. We just saw the white barrage of snowflakes out of the sky. First, K stopped to gaze at the blizzard, and snow rapidly gathered on her head.

Then, R decided to join her.

We had a spectacular hike. The dogs frolicked joyfully, like a pair of crazy puppies. By the end of it all, we had another 4" of heavy wet snow in our world. The snow almost instantly began to melt on the warm ground.

This morning, I decided that if the world gives you snow in late April, you need to have fun with it rather than scowl your way through the day. Of course, K helped immensely with my attitude - she's so happy to get outside and run regardless of whether winter has taken hold in April. And, winter really has taken hold - every day in the foreseeable future has a picture of a snowflake in the weather forecast.

In that spirit, I took out my Fatback snowbike, and K and I did a tour of our trail system. My snowbike climbed through the thick fresh snow like a monster truck, and K galloped exuberantly along side me. I felt stronger than I've felt in a long time because my physical therapist's treatments for my back spasms are finally working.

We saw lots of animal tracks, although no bear tracks. Several neighbors saw a large cinnamon bear yesterday, sleepwalking close to their houses. One of them said that the bear was moving as slowly as a sloth and didn't even react to a loud sound. I'd guess that he's still in the process of waking up from hibernation and wandering around with a very slow metabolism. It's called "walking hibernation" and continues for weeks after a bear wakes up.

Although we didn't see any new bear tracks, K and I saw a plethora of bobcat tracks. Early this morning, our bobcat followed my snowbike tire tracks from yesterday as he patrolled his territory. He eluded my wildlife cameras but left beautiful tracks.

So, it continues to be winter here but the Duo and I are having fun with it.