Two weeks ago on Sunday I took the coonhound out for our morning hike at 8 am. I admit that sometimes I don't keep as close an eye on my animal as I should. I was hiking along when off in the distance I heard her start to bay. I could see that she was about 1/4 mile ahead of me, and she was chasing 2 deer. I used the shock collar on the highest setting over and over again, but either she was out of range or she simply didn't care. I plowed through the snow for about an hour hitting the shock collar and whistling for her, but I had no luck. I finally decided there was no sense in me walking any further, so I turned around. I went down to the store and purchased poster board and a fat marker and I made 6 lost dog signs. I tacked one up at the trailhead where I lost her and then I moved north (the way she had gone) tacking them up at each of the next 5 trail heads. At each trail head I hiked for a ways calling for her and hitting the shock collar, and asking everyone I met to be on the lookout for her. After I had put my signs up at all of the trail heads I went back to the one where I lost her and I hit the trail again. Again, I hiked for about an hour calling for her. I came to a point where up ahead the trail curved around a hill and I thought, I'll go to that point and call for her again, then I'm giving up. Just then the stupid animal peeked her head around that curve. She had been gone for 4 hours and it took us another hour to get back to the car, so needless to say we were both exhausted. I have never seen her so tired before. Once we got home she slept all day and through the night. She only got of the couch once to get a drink and do her duty outside.
As you can see from these pictures we've had a lot of snow in the last few weeks. A couple of weeks ago the snowpack totals for the state were over 200% of average. It has warmed up somewhat this week and the snow is melting now, and we have that wonderful Utah smog covering the valley. There should be a couple of storms this week and hopefully they will clean out the air a little bit.
My resolution for the new year has been to cut way back on my sugar intake. I'd like to say that I was giving it up entirely, but I know myself too well for that. I have found a web site with the most delicious looking gluten-free, sugar-free, low-carb recipes. Today I made biscuits. I haven't had biscuits since I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and it has been one of my greatest hardships. This evening I ate 2 heavenly biscuits and nearly wept for joy. Later this week I am going to try the black bean chocolate cake. Anyone who is interested can check out the link to Healthy Indulgences on my blog list.
I have also discovered Winco Grocery Stores. They are building one here in Layton, but I heard that there was one in Roy and I decided to check it out. It isn't as cheap as I was led to believe, but they have a huge selection of produce and all sorts of self-serve items in bulk bins that I was really excited about. They have all sorts of nuts and candies (including sugar-free) as well as dried fruits, baking products and mixes, spices, cereals, granolas and all sorts of things that I'm sure I was too overwhelmed to notice. They even had bulk gluten-free flours. I use a lot of flax and some tapioca flour and the bulk stuff is cheaper than I have been paying at the health food store so I was thrilled about that. I tried to use the peanut grinder to make my own peanut butter but I couldn't get it to work. They also have their own bulk organic honey straight from the hive. Seriously, there are signs warning you not to open the lid and let the bees escape. I don't know that I will go out there every week, but I will definitely be making Winco a regular trip.
