Snow!!

This winter has had very little snow in Duluth, indeed before today my whole backyard was brown dead grass.  Last night about 5 inches of fresh fluffy snow fell making for a nice surprise when I let the dogs out.  Both Holly & Helen were rooting their nose in the snow, doing a few zoomies and and Holly doing her classic slide across the yard.  But it was when we met DeeAnn, Keltie & Rainie at Wade Stadium that they really cut loose in the snow.  Helen suddenly had the energy of a 3 year old.  Holly had her authentic 3 year old energy quadrupled when in 5 inches of fresh snow.  Holly ran and would launch after her frisbee then go into a long slide, head buried in the snow.  Helen bounded like a bouncing ball, ears flapping in sync with the hops.  When they got in the car, both had a snowball chestplate on their underside.  Both of them crashed on the couch once we got home, and I had uninteruppted time to do some Etsy work.  Tired dogs are one of my favorite things in the world; being tired from playing in outdoor air is one of their favorite things in the world!

Holly and Gracie have a nice friendship, considering there is that dog and cat thing for them to work out.  Truly Gracie has put up with a lot!   Holly often launches into her ‘mood’ where Gracie is targeted with being chased, stalked, pawed or flipped.  Gracie is a good defender and counteracts with some snarls, hisses or swipes. I also run interference when nearby, scolding Holly which gives Gracie great pleasure.   The other night I watched Gracie do an ambush on Holly that gave her a booming power kick.  I saw Holly scamper after Gracie, both running into the kitchen.  Next thing I saw was Holly back in the living room searching for Gracie, looking high and low with full intent to tease her in some way.  When Holly approached the dining room, Gracie darted out from under the buffet and did a full body launch into the side of Holly’s head sending her a foot into the air, then spinning around and racing back to the safety of the living room rug.  She grabbed the closest toy and laid down looking back at the crime scene.  Gracie was long gone but in a few short minutes came strutting around the corner and laid herself down directly next to Holly’s favorite ball.  Holly wanted nothing to do with Gracie and suddenly did not care that someone else was closer to her ball than her.  For the three years of torture Gracie has endured, her payback came in one attack on one afternoon.  This evening Gracie stepped over Holly’s stretched out tail as she was walking through the living room.  Holly stayed stretched out and motionless.  Gracie is in no hurry to let go of her newly earned power!