Slight Sign

In the midst of our Winter hanging on, I saw a sign this week. A slight sign that things are changing and perhaps we might eventually see a Spring this year.

Now, I am not getting too excited about this sign, because it will snow again and cover up these bulbs trying to emerge from the frozen ground, and if it is like last year, they never had a chance to bloom.

This is a depressing photo. All we are dreaming of is gardening again. I can’t remember when we have had this much snow in our backyard. Our poor garden gate & fence is all bent out of shape, but I will fix it.

The Poop Pit is a sheet of ice. The dogs put on a show trying to not do the splits when doing their business. I feel for them, but I do have to laugh a bit when they think they found the right spot, and their legs are sliding out from under them as they slowly slide to the ground. They re-position again to a new spot, and the same thing happens – “splitsville”.  I wish I could relocate them elsewhere to potty, but the snow everywhere else is super high. We just have to wait on the weather to change to get us out of these frigid temps, and a Poop Pit Thaw will be a happy thing!

The only one thing that I fear is when all of this snow does actually start to thaw. Then we will have to deal with potential flooding, and we hope that does not happen.

For now, I will take & enjoy my slight sign of things changing, as it gives me hope that we are heading in the right direction – – – right out of this season, because I have officially cancelled my membership to Winter.

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Fast Forward

I wish there was a fast forward button on some magical remote that I can push to get us out of Winter already. I am truly beyond my tolerance of this white stuff. I have never recalled a month where so much snow has fallen and the temps were below zero for days in a row. It’s endless. Hence the yearning for that magical remote where I can fast forward us right out of this season.

Last night was the worst and coldest night I can remember. The dogs did not even want to go out in it, and I knew they “had” to go, but hesitated on asking to go out. Nikita and Bella chose not to sit by the back door like they usually do, rather they stayed on their pet beds all warm and cozy. Phew! That saved me the ten minutes it takes me to put on my snow pants, boots, hat, scarf, coat and gloves to take them out, not to mention I have to put their warm sweaters back on them too before we head outdoors.

These temps and snow dumping has got to stop already. I can seriously see where one can get cabin fever or depressed seeing things like this on a daily basis, and it is understandable. I just feel really bad for those who have fallen in the snow while shoveling, got frost bite, or even died from these severe temperatures. It’s been rough dealing with it. I know I have had to call it quits many times while trying to clear off our driveway because I could not feel my fingers any longer, nor could I bend them to just open the back door to come in to get warmed up.

I have limited the dogs time outside too because their paws get frost bitten really quickly. If I could get them to wear little booties, I would, but I know that booties are not in our dogs future. When I am outside with them, I am always watching how they react and when I see them walking with a paw up in the air, it is time to head inside and fast.

I know that the dogs are getting a little stir crazy from being cooped up in the house with all these frigid temps of late, so we always have play time activities like hide and seek, keep away from Bella, and tug-of-war games are always fun too. I normally don’t win any of these games, because Bella is always the one who sneaks off with the toy at hand. Nikita always gives up the toy to her, but loves the chase!

Gimme gimme gimme, this is my toy!

I always get the toy in the end! LOL

Bella is hiding behind the couch as Nikita looks for her.

Nikita figures it is easier to let go of the toy some times, rather than chasing Bella for it. She knows that she will get it back sooner or later.

So what are you doing to keep yourself from going insane from being cooped up inside during these frigid temps? I see another game of hide and seek in the near future, but the dogs always find me hiding behind the bedroom door.

Wordless Wednesday

Ever wonder what your dogs are thinking about? I think about that all the time. I wonder if they look at us and think “Hey, that outfit does not go together!” (lol) What I do know though, is when they look at me, I know that they are happy, truly happy, because of all the love they receive.

Look at this beautiful face of Nikita. She is so precious. She loves snow. Good thing she loves snow, because we woke up to a few more inches on the ground and it’s still snowing here!

Winter is always a good time of year to capture beautiful photographs of everything covered in all white. Hope everyone is having a beautiful day today!

Say it ain’t snow! Winter returns!

We already broke a record over the weekend, at least I believe so, of record high temperatures of 69 for the month of April. It was fantastic to finally be outside and feeling the warmth of the sun on your face, doing a little yard work, and cleaning up from all the winter mess.

I started erecting our garden fence, trying to think of a new way to make it higher to keep the deer out. Our fence last year was 6 feet tall and a deer got in – jumped right up and over the fence. This year, we are not going to let that happen again! I actually witnessed two deer jump over our neighbors chain link fence like it was nothing. They just walked up to the fence and apparently just levitated right over it with no effort at all. That shocked me, as I never witnessed this before. All I kept thinking was, that if I don’t make our fence higher this year, they will get in again and I am not going to allow that to happen.

We got a new addition to our landscaping and picked up a beautiful red LED water fountain that we can’t wait to place out in the yard. We had our eye on it last year, but decided to get it this year.

 

However, when we woke this morning, we found the ground covered in snow. Yes, I said snow!  We heard a rumor that it was coming, but we thought “yeah right”. What a surprise though to find that they were not kidding about the snows arrival, and actually seeing it for ourself. It’s 32 degrees here today, and I’m back into my winter coat, hat, gloves and boots, and I feel like we’re going backwards instead of springing forward into Spring.  If this is an late April Fools joke, I am not laughing!

NOTE: WE HAVE ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT TO COLLECT DONATIONS FOR THE PLEDGE FOR PETS FUNDRAISER! IF YOU CAN FIND IT IN YOUR HEART TO MAKE A DONATION (IN ANY AMOUNT) IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! 

Festivus Snow Days

It comes as no surprise that we got snow, and LOTS of it!  We watched it come down the entire day yesterday with such vengence.  Definitely over 6″ for sure hit our town.  It was pretty to watch as we sat in a warm house drinking our warm coffee, but having to clean off your drive and sidewalk was a different story.

It was that thick heavy snow that blanketed everything. Tree branches were heavily covered in thick white snow, even a deer we saw had snow piled up on its head while he stood in our neighbors backyard eating his bushes.

Our neighbors had a lot of fun in the snow with friends building snowmen across the street.  It was fun to watch as they rolled the snow balls around the ground creating the perfect snowman body parts.  One after the other, they built three snowmen and even a snow turtle!

One snowman, or snow woman, was built with anatomical parts! And she was even a smoker with a cigarette hanging out the side of her snow face! (gotta love snow humor, eh!)

We had our neighbors over for pizza the other night, before all the snow hit us, and we dined at the table adorned in red & gold. Who said eating pizza can’t be fancy?

After dinner, we took a ride to see a holiday light show.  We just love how this guy decorates his house and yard with lights!  When you sit in front of his house, you turn your radio to a certain frequency and listen to Christmas music as you watch his light show!  It is a spectacular light show to watch!

Here is the link to his light show from last year: http://vimeo.com/57824434

Nikita got a new sweater too when Bella got hers, but it is not as easy as Bella’s was to put on, but she loves it!  It definitely makes it easier to dry her off when she comes in from playing in all the snow.  The sweater provides warmth, and a good shield from snow balls in her fur.

The pictures of Nikita (above) are before all of the snow hit us.  Now, the backyard is piled high with the white stuff.  Snow forts were built so they could have a shoveled off area to potty in, and the snow is packed down into the ground from all of our trips outside.

After all the playing was done for the day, Nikita took advantage of her quiet time and napped with her favorite teddy bear.

What a week we had with all the snow and excitement!  As the snow is still coming down, we can take a little break for now as the driveway is finally all cleared again, until we have to head back out and do it all over again.  Just think, Winter has not even officially begun yet!

The Never Ending Winter

For those of us still dealing with the ugliness of the Winter season, the dirty snow piles along the road sides, the endless chore of shoveling the driveway, the layers of clothes we wear outside, the cold winds blowing in your face, and then noticing all the pee spot damage done to the backyard by the dogs, it’s no wonder we don’t all go crazy to a certain degree.  The arrival of Spring will be surely welcomed around here.

I am to the point where I can’t even watch it snow any longer and every day it does, I cringe.  Day after day, more snow, and today we got freezing rain.  When will this end already?  Since I ran out of salt for the driveway today, I had to pour boiling hot water on it to melt the ice so the dogs would not hurt themselves when they jumped out the back door.  They were trying to run on the drive and they looked like cartoon characters running – – but going no where fast!  They are, however, enjoying all the snow and love running around in it, digging holes in the snow piles, and coming up with snow piled up on their noses.

I long for the day when I can open the windows and feel a breeze blowing in and I am sure the dogs can’t wait for that too, as they sit by the window and sniff all day long watching the neighborhood.  I know that with the arrival of Spring, that there will be a lot of work to be done in the yard, but I am ready for it.  Just to be able to head outside and cut the grass or work in the garden are things that I can’t wait for.  Not to mention, I’ve got to fix the ruts in our yard from our neighbor driving on our grass and doing property damage.  (that’s another story)

Nikita & Bella got a new toys and had a lot of fun playing with them.  Nikita loves grabbing it and whipping it around in the air, then catching it and I love it how her floofy hair flies around when she does this!

How are you dealing with your weather where you live?  Are you enjoying your Spring or Summer right now while we are still digging out of snow?  We would love to hear your stories!

Flurries, Flurries, and More Flurries

Since the day after Christmas, we have received our fair share (and more) of that cold white stuff they call snow!  We didn’t mind, because Daddy was home on vacation and we had no urgent place to go, so we actually got to enjoy the snow falling all around us.  Sure, we had to shovel, shovel and shovel almost every day, pulled the snow blower out too since the snow was quite heavy at times, but it was beautiful to see how it covered EVERYTHING white.  We surely put our snow pants to work as they kept us warm, actually too warm, as we scraped the driveway and sidewalk for the third, fourth…uh we lost track of how many times, but nonetheless, we kept the cold at bay and away from us.

Both Nikita and Bella are having the time of their lives playing in the snow.  We still have to teach Bella to not eat the yellow snow, as she has not figured that one out yet, but she loves to run and jump in the snow, and stops to take huge bites of snow when she gets tired.   Nikita on the other hand, is a digger.  When she heads outside, she finds the huge snow mounds that we pile up and starts her hole brigade.  Dig, dig, dig, as the snow goes flying through her legs, then her head disappears into her treasured hole that she has made.  When she pulls her head out, she is covered in snow and stands there so proudly on top of the snow mountain as to say “look what I did“!

What is priceless in the end?  When you find your little furry four-legged kids passed out on the floor, rejuvenating for their next trip outside.  (which will most likely be in 20 minutes, phew)

We spent our New Year’s Eve safe at home, watching it snow (again) and were glad that we were not out on the town driving on the snow covered roads.  We enjoyed our time with our dogs and watched the two hour special in memory of Dick Clark.  We had all the good intentions of watching the ball drop at midnight, but like every other new years arrival, we missed it, as we fell asleep. We did, however, get woken up when both Nikita and Bella started growling at the fireworks that were going off in the neighborhood.  We chuckled, and fell back asleep.  All in all, a great and wonderful end to another year with all the people we love, and our special four-legged kids by our side.  Priceless.

 

Winter Wonderland

This is the snow cleared from our driveway today! 

We had the most wonderful Christmas with our family.  The dinner smorgasbord that Grandma had prepared for us was so wonderful and if anyone left the table hungry, that was their own fault!  Grandma made us her homemade stuffed cabbage for Christmas and we always fill our plates real high with them because they are so delicious.  The wonderful gifts that each of us received were truly practical and things that we all needed.  Gifts from the heart are so appreciated as they mean the world to us.  (Thank you Grandma for the wonderful meal!)  And, a great BIG thank you to Daddy for making our Christmas very special for all of us!  You mean the world to us!

Nikita & Bella helped Daddy open his gift!

Bella Enjoying Her 1st Christmas

Can’t Wait to See What This Is!

Nikita & Bella Helping Daddy

Nikita Playing with the Paper Rolls

Nikita’s New Piggy!

Daddy Got an Awesome Alarm Clock

We were so lucky that the weather held out for our travels on Christmas, because today we got hit with a Blizzard!  It has been snowing here since 9:15am and has not stopped.  The snow blower got a real workout today for sure, and so did Daddy, as we both cleared the driveway a few times during the day.  You can hear the murmur of snow blowers all around the neighborhood as everyone was digging out.  Approximately 8+ inches of snow has fallen here so far and we can’t wait to see what we will find tomorrow morning when we wake.  As for Nikita and Bella, they absolutely LOVE the snow and can’t get enough of running through it, eating it, digging in the snow piles, and running in circles all around the yard.  We just keep telling them to not eat the yellow snow!

Snowy Sidewalk

Snowy Morning

Our Garden Covered with Snow

 

Digging Out

We got the snow that the weather forecaster said we were going to get, now we have to wait to see what will be dumped on us today.  After spending the entire day yesterday shoveling the driveway to keep up with the snowfall, I am glad that when we woke this morning, that there is not much more to clean up on the driveway, but more snow is on its way.

I was enjoying my morning coffee early this morning, after taking Bella outside and when I looked out the kitchen window, I saw that one of our local police cars was stuck in the snow on the side street to the park that is across the street from our house.  I sat there for a few minutes, laughing, but then I felt bad that I laughed.  I bundled myself up in my snow pants and grabbed the snow shovel by the back door and went over to see if I could assist.  Another officer was there too trying to help, but his car was stuck in the deep snow.  They said that they called a tow truck to pull him out and that it should be arriving shortly.  The officer that was stuck said that in 14 years on the force, he has never had to get towed out of the snow!  They were pleasantly surprised that I came to their assistance, and thanked me and wished me a Merry Christmas.  I feel better now for going over to assist them, although I did nothing to help, it was the right thing to do.  Merry Christmas to you police officer who was stuck in the snow!  

Who Let The Dogs Out?

We’re in the middle of a white out winter advisory right now, and the dogs love it!  It is so great to watch both Nikita and Bella outside in the snow.  Nikita has loved the snow since we adopted her, as she loves to dig in the huge snow piles I create for her from shoveling the driveway.  Bella, on the other hand, is different.  This is her first time seeing this much snow and the second her feet hit the snowy grass, she runs like a Tazmanian Devil in circles around me, grunting all the way!  When she finally stops for a breather, she immediately starts to munch on the snow.  Munch, munch, munch around the yard!  It is cracking me up today to watch them.  We had a few weeks ago, a slight dusting of snow, but today, we are getting dumped on and the weather forecaster said it will snow here up until late Saturday.

I’ve been outside a few times already today to shovel, and I can’t keep up with the snow, it is winning, hands down.  The wind is so severe and it chills your face in just a few minutes of being outside, and even though I had a scarf on covering up my face, it did not seem to matter much.  The snow that is coming down is that thick heavy snow, the kind that is good for packing and making snowmen or snow doggies out in the yard!   I have been waiting for it to snow now for awhile, but today’s snowfall is hard to keep up with, and I am sure that everyone who has to drive home tonight in it will not be happy.  I have shoveled the driveway a few times already, and when I go check back to see how much has fallen, it appears that I did not shovel anything at all.

The dogs and I are enjoying some Christmas music today while we are wrapping up some last minutes gifts, and enjoying our time together.  I actually got the Santa hat on Nikita and had just enough time to snap a few pictures before she pulled it off her head.  She hates wearing anything on top of her head.  Last year, we put antlers on her and she was not happy at all with that!  LOL  (silly dog)

We hope that everyone has a nice weekend, and we can’t wait for the weekend to start, because we get to spend lots of time with Daddy since he will be on vacation until the new year!  He deserves the time off as he has worked very hard this year and needs a break to spend time with his family!  We will be waiting for your arrival home Daddy!  Can’t wait to see you!

Hugs & snowy puppy kisses,
Nikita and Bella

 

Winter Advisory

It’s amazing how I always know when it’s the right time to head outside…usually when it’s pouring rain (why can’t I ask to go outside before it rains?) or for instance last night, I asked to head outside and was surprised to see it snowing…really really hard.  We were in the middle of watching the Browns lose to the Steelers (knew that would happen) and I had to go out.  Silver dollar sized snowflakes started piling up on top of my head, back, and tip of my tail, until I shook, then in seconds, they were back on top of me.  That snow lasted for only about an hour or so, but it blanketed the ground so nicely.  Even while watching the Browns game, we noticed the snow starting to fall on the field and players as the weatherman predicted it would.  Today, we are supposed to get hit with more snow to make the morning commute to work really bad, so buckle down Cleveland, we are finally going to get the snow that we have been so lucky to miss so far. 

We had to laugh one day while driving around, when we came across this snow blowin sign near the side of the road.  Snow blowin?  Really?  Come on!  Isn’t it called Snow Plowing?  We laughed none the less.

 

 

I had a really super great Christmas with lots of toys that I found under the tree.  Remember the little round bally thing I kept watching under the tree, well, it was for me and I knew it.  I remember when Mommy was wrapping it and it accidentally squeaked, so I knew it was for me.  (I knew it was for me because Daddy does not get gifts that have squeakers in them, ha ha)  I actually did better this year because I unwrapped my own gifts – yep, I just ripped into them, played & chewed with the wrapping paper, then picked up the new toy and squeaked it.  Ah, I was in doggie Heaven with all my new found toys, one happy puppy! 

The snow is starting to come down now really hard here, so we are going to get ready for some all day shoveling, or some grueling “snow blowin”.

Stay warm & bundle up when you head outside!  I will for sure have my sweater on when I head outside today to play in the snow.

Love,
Snow Doggie Nikita