Black Dog is Home in the Midst of a Blizzard

As of yesterday morning, the snow had retreated far enough that I found my keys that I dropped near our house last November just before our first big snowfall. Moreover, our agility course was starting to emerge from the snow.

As of this morning, all that melting had been reversed in a huge way. On the left, you can see the high end of our agility teeter-totter, barely reaching out of the snow. And our ring was barely above the snow. Behind it, you can see the tops of the posts for our jumps and weave poles. Oh my!

As of this morning, R was still in the hospital so Shyla and I headed out for a snowshoe hike in almost white-out conditions. Shyla loved it - but it was very hard to take photos because the snow was coming down so heavily.

By the time we finished our hike, R had been cleared to come home. A good friend plowed our driveway and even shoveled a path to the house for R. We feel very lucky to have close friends who live nearby.

Shortly thereafter, the Runner brought our black dog home. R didn't stay awake for long. Now he's wrapped in a sleeping bag by the crackling fire. I noticed him shivering, so I wrapped him in the sleeping bag and moved him closer to the fire. Now, thankfully, he's sound asleep.

The Runner brought home a jar of the bone fragments and bone spurs that were removed from inside R's elbow. It is astounding that he was able to walk at all based on the sheer volume of bone fragments he had floating around. A couple of them are a half inch across! I hope with all my heart that the new weight-bearing implants will mean that he stops wearing down the bones inside the joint.

Meanwhile, it is continuing to snow outside. It is relentlessly piling up but, so far, the roads have stayed open. They're snow-covered but passable to those who must go out (and to snowbikers who must get some spinning for their spines - not that I know anyone crazy enough to do that!). This is our fence that has the road just on the other side of it.

I keep myself happy during our epic spring snowstorms by imagining wildflowers falling from the sky. After all, with all this moisture, the wildflowers are going to be incredible when spring finally gets here.