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Thursday, February 18, 2016

A Severe Disturbance!

You have come through in a huge way with suggestions and offers of help with R's surgery, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. At this point, we are in a holding pattern, awaiting replies from surgeons. There's a strong chance that we'll be traveling someplace to have the surgery done. Because I am very stressed out about R's elbow, I am going to try to write about something else today! How about that?

We're in a scary weather pattern. Here, at 8200' in the Rockies, it hit 62° yesterday, and we have wind gusts that the meteorologists say have hit 100 mph at times. The warmth is the scary part - it's supposed to be winter here.

As you can imagine, our snowpack is disappearing fast. In shaded areas and on north-facing slopes, there's still a lot of snow. However, some sunny spots have no snow at all.

Shyla loves snow so she seeks out snow patches in mostly dry meadows for playing.

She loves taking flying leaps whenever she's near snow. She catches me by surprise sometimes with her ability to fly.

Thank goodness she can make safe landings.

Our weather is being called a "severe wind event" by the National Weather Service. The forest is a cacophony of noise these days. The wind howls through the treetops, and I can hear trees squeaking and crackling as they feel the brunt of the wind. Each day, we see newly fallen trees in the forest around us.

It's been clear to me that wind is still scary for Shyla. The signs are subtle. Shyla is happy and relaxed as long as she and I are together, with no one else around, even if we are being buffeted by the wind.

However, she relapses into the behavior of a very fearful dog when other people and dogs are near us in the howling wind. This phenomenon is called "trigger stacking", meaning that she is simultaneously dealing with more than one thing that is stressful. Either one alone - the wind or the strangers - would be manageable. However, she cannot cope with both simultaneously.

I'm making a big point of using rarely-traveled routes and being out early so that Shyla doesn't have to deal with outsiders. Today, we didn't see anyone at all during our snowbike ride. That was perfect for Shyla! (and for me too!).
I feel so lucky to be her safe harbor. She has a heart of gold.

20 comments:

  1. We had all those winds here today and at least two big fires. One has burned over 1300 acres and is still burning. It is so dry here. It was actually 75 degrees today. We did notice that Ciara seemed bothered by the wind on our walk today. She kept looking back to see if we could reassure her:(

    Hope your travel plans for R work out well.

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  2. That is some scary wind but the flying Shyla is amazing. Purrs to sweet R from all of us.

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  3. We don't like the wind when we're home. It makes things creak and bang!

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  4. We were windblasted today too. When that wind comes up,it feels like its 20 below zero!

    Good luck finding the perfect Doc for R, hope you can locate him (or her) soon! He is a favorite boy at our house (in case you didn't know)

    Cheers and hugs,

    Jo

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  5. That wind scares us I tell ya. We think of R all the time and hope the best solution comes your way
    Lily & Edward

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  6. We had the wind and high temps over the weekend. Sunday and monday it hit 90! Yesterday and today it has rained and returned to our normal 60's highs and 40's lows. Paws remain crossed for R...

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  7. We got the wind also and strange weather. 46 degrees at 6 am. by 9 am it was 32 degrees and hailing and then a blizzard.
    We are keeping good thoughts for R!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  8. Oh no! I'm sorry the wind is being so horrible! I can totally relate to being afraid of the wind and trees falling. When we lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains we would get bad wind storms and we were always scared a tree would fall. That is not fun! Poor Shyla. The girls don't like it either!

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  9. When the wind carrys on like that.. its very scary,,, even for humans!
    I do hope in the mornings when you go out with Shyla maybe the wind is not so howly,,, and of course less people.
    All the snow melting is scary,, that is what happened to Oregon last year! We hope the Universe has it all under control!
    And of course we keep R in our thoughts,, so he can get the surgery he needs,
    love
    tweedles

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  10. We wouldn't like this kind of weather either. We love the pictures of you flying, Shyla!

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  11. Wow that is crazy! We are back to extreme cold after our snow. Not as cold as the weekend but still -25 C/-13 F so not a lot of outside time for us. We are getting another half foot to foot of snow tonight. It is suddenly a crazy winter! Hope you don't blow away!

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  12. My goodness, it is like you have our hurricane winds but in Winter...in the mountains. I sure hope the weather straightens itself out soon. Poor Shyla...I am glad se knows she can turn to you when the world gets too stimulating for her.

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  13. Shyla's face always makes me feel happy. I share her thing about being alone. i do not do crowds of any kind for anyone.. glad she has you for a safe refuge. i saw on TV today that Kansas had 92 degrees yesterday which is unheard of..

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  14. The weather has been pretty crazy here but, reading about your high winds and high temps, it is even scarier in your corner of the world! I hope the winds taper off and things settle down for you soon...

    I just love the last shot of Shyla, what expressive eyes she has!!

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  15. Wow, scary wind. I hate wind like that, it's so unpredictable. I hope you get normal weather soon.

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  16. Wow that is very high winds. Mom thought it was interesting that the more things shyla had to deal with the more anxious she became, it made her realize that we react the same way at our house, it certainly gives her some things to figure out with us. Thanks you..stella rose

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  17. That must be some crazy winds. We have had some windy weather that actually blows the door open, but I am sure it is nothing compared to yours.I hope things calm done soon.


    Anne and Ziggy

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  18. We got lots of wind here too! It was terrible but then today it is nice again. Spring (even during winter) in the Rockies!

    Keep Calm & Bark On!

    Murphy & Stanley

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  19. Thankyou for telling me about trigger stacking. I didn't know if it could happen but I think I've seen it myself.

    Also, you feel lucky to have Shyla but I think she is just as lucky - YOU have a heart of gold!

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