New adventures have continued here. Tom and I got out one afternoon for a nice snowshoeing trip. It was only for just under 3 miles, but neither of us have been out snowshoeing much and this trip seemed to be a small challenge. Along our way we found an area with many older White Birch trees, whereas many areas here are dominated by Poplars. We both came back with sore knees, but it was great just to get out together. Grizz went with us. The trip began by snowmobile, so we've had to teach Grizz to ride calmly, half way laying in my lap between us. He quickly gets over the engine noise, but staying balanced sideways on a snowmobile is no small feat for such a large beast. Teaching him to duck when low branches come our way will be miraculous.
I have been hearing much from everyone about the lack of rain in California. We've had a fair share of snow, but really it has been much warmer for January than we had anticipated. The thickly laid snow began melting and then freezing again, leaving a lake of ice covering our yard and drivespace. The warm temps then brought rain instead of snow which didn't help matters. It was the lake of ice that kept me trapped inside on some days. I became afraid to walk out there even with good boot treads as the result of a few falls. One great thing about having such a large pup is being able to teach him to stand still and strong while allowing me to pull myself upright by grasping his face or shoulders and leveraging myself up again after an icy fall. (He didn't always appreciate this at first, until he realized why I was doing it, then he stood stronger each time I needed him.) Grizz started missing out on his outdoors ball time because he often fell and slid past his beloved ball with legs spread out in all directions. Hearing the crack sound of his jaw or head hitting the ice was enough to end our game time. We had a truckload of sand and ice spread around which improved the drivespace greatly.
The unseasonably warm weather has also begun calling some of the Grizzlies out of hibernation early. I haven't seen any yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open during my hikes, and always taking Grizz with me.
Green grass started peeking out above the melting snow, though I knew it would not stay for long. It was a great reminder to me that Spring planting season will be upon us eventually! During a trip to town, we bought many of the veggie seeds I would like to grow. According to the Farmer's Almanac info I found online for this region, the date of the last Spring frost here is expected to be around June 5th. June 5th???? That still shocks me as I am used to California where you can grow many vegetables outdoors year round. June 5th is so far away. Here there is expected this year to be a growing season of about 84 days, with the first Fall frost being August 29. I will definitely be starting most of my seeds indoors and then placing them in my mini-greenhouse until I can plant them out in the garden. Even though the growing season is much shorter here, a bonus is that the daylight hours are longer making everything turn out just right.
Hopefully I can buy some chickens soon and start getting some fresh eggs. I love farm chicken eggs. There's a bit of work to do to get their coop ready before their arrival sometime around April or May, I think.
Its snowing a again and I have some work to do outside. Have a great day!
