Snow!

It started snowing Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning we had a light dusting on the ground. It warmed up and melted off, but then started snowing again Thursday night. Friday we had about an inch on the ground and it snowed all day, but the ground underneath was still warm, so we only accumulated about two inches.

Saturday it snowed again all day, but we still didn't get any more accumulation. Dreams of a real sled began to fade, but I got the four dog team out Sunday, Freya and Bandit in lead and Princess and Yukon in wheel.

Problem is that the ignition switch on the ATV froze in the off position. The dogs made it down the hill ok, but not up the next hill. The ATV and I were a bit much for them, so I jumped off and tried to help push uphill, but the road was all ice. The ground had finally frozen. James ran up to help, but the dogs were hopelessly tangled in their eagerness to keep going. I went forward to untangle the dogs, then went back and grabbed the clutch, but my feet slipped from under me on the ice. It took about all I had to get the dogs and ATV up the hill, but by then I and they were tired beyond belief.

So, I turned them around and headed them back to the house for only a half mile run. I finally managed to get the ignition just out of the off position, but was unable to start it on the short downhill. We ended up leaving it at the bottom of the hill on my land by the bridge and letting the four dogs pull James and I back up the hill.

When we got in the house, I asked James to go get the booties that Princess and Bandit had shed along the road while I unhooked and unharnessed them. As soon as I had unhooked Princess, she ran to the fridge and began whining. With a laugh as I unhooked the rest of the team, I opened the freezer. Princess dived into the freezer head first into the box of frozen meat patties... LOL. She was whining eagerly and trying to dig out hers when I pulled her back, got one and gave it to her. She snatched it as if she were starving and nothing else would satisfy, ran off and hid in the livingroom to eat it. With a shrug I gave Yukon his, and Freya hers. Bandit is such an easy going dog, I didn't want Princess to take his as she had already gobbled hers down before I got to him. So I took Bandit and his patty to my room and shut them in. Princess tried to get Yukon to share but he was having none of that, neither was Freya. That girl is all about the treats.

It snowed again all Sunday, and it really froze over. It was eleven degrees this Monday morning at the house. Even the creek was frozen over with snow on top. They say the cold will be with us for some time. The dogs and I are very happy.