Way Way Back to the Present

Flooded Spear Stream, Speckled Mountain and Thurston land. 

 Thanksgiving Day walk.  I was not feeling volleyball this year (the tradition is to play at a neighbor's house) so I opted for a long walk in the woods with the dogs.  I made a big loop and ended up walking by the volleyball spot so I could say hi and Happy Thanksgiving.  It was flooded in the woods, and I made it through some rough spots.  One bridge was almost under water, and there was one spot so flooded and frozen that once I made it to a certain point, there was no turning back. 

The Trail.

Just a little bit crazy...Dix swimming in icy Varnum pond. 

The dogs are petrified of cleaning - so when we clean, they head to the top of the stairs.

First big snow storm of the year.  We got about a foot of snow.  I met a really sweet girl who had broken trail to the bog (about a mile) and then I continued on breaking trail another mile or more.  Thank goodness it has been a snowy winter - loving it.  I did not love, however, when my dogs teamed up and killed a beautiful bunny.  They were up ahead when I heard what sounded like a kitten crying.  I looked around and told myself it must be a tree squeaking in the cold wind.  Then I saw they had something, on the trail, and I heard the squeak again.  I started yelling for them to leave it, but to no avail.  When I got closer, they had already killed it, and Dixie was running off into the woods, holding it by its neck.  I felt really badly.  Poor rabbit.  Dixie was the proudest she gets, and I knew I would never get that thing from her, so I just kept skiing (after scolding her - which must have been confusing because when they two of them killed a woodchuck near the garden this summer, Jim and I both praised them like crazy).  At one point I looked back and Dixie was trotting down the trail, proud as ever, with the rabbit hanging from her mouth.  I told her to leave it in the woods for a fox or coyote or bird or something (acting like she speaks English) and turned back to my trail.  After about fifteen minutes, I heard her behind me and when I looked back, her mouth was empty.  She stashed it somewhere in the woods, just like she does understand English.  And on we skied... 

Phoenix at Varnum Pond.  I have been having them wear their hunting season vests to help them feel more domesticated.  I hesitate to say it is working.  They were not wearing them when they took out the rabbit, and since then have not killed anything, to my knowledge.

Christmas Eve Day walk with my sister and mom in Poland - after the ice storm.

Sunset in Range State Park after ice storm.

Met Rach for a Middle School Ski Meet (her husband coaches) so we could catch up.  The mountain was beautiful, and it did my heart so good to see the lifts turning and families skiing.  Go Black Mountain!  You are one of the very few good things about Rumford.

Monday Jim and I did an excellent post-storm ski in Temple.  My regular place had not been plowed out yet, so we opted for the public boat launch road to park and skied from there.  That is Jim skiing across Varnum Pond from almost exactly across the lake from the spot where I usually access the pond.  It was epic out there.  So pretty, and so happy to have my husband and dogs along for the adventure.  

I don't think I know a dog who loves snow more than Phoenix.

Dix, doing what she does.

He is constantly rubbing his face in the snow, burrowing, rolling around, just loving it.

They try to kill each other CONSTANTLY.  It is so amusing.

Jimmy coming up the trail - we have a good chunk of snow and more on the way.  Go winter!

(By the way, "The Way Way Back" is a great film, if you haven't seen it.  My kind of movie.  And I can't wait to see the Coen brothers' new movie!!)