A Gristley Discovery

On Monday I took Shady down to check out the Legacy Parkway trail. It turned out to be an absolute disaster. There weren't a ton of people on the trail, but I learned that my dog does not share the trail with bikers. Casual bikers aren't that bad, but the serious bikers don't slow down or share the trail with anyone. One of them came tearing around a corner and Shady was at the end of her leash and he nearly ran her over. He yelled something that I didn't hear, but his tone was definitely not friendly. After less than a mile I gave up and went back to Glover Lane. There is a dirt road that runs from Glover Lane to Parish Lane in Centerville that is just an access road for the fields between Legacy and the Bird Refuge so we walked along that for another couple of miles.


Today I decided to take her up to the Upper Bonneville Shoreline Trail above Kaysville. It's not really a strenuous hike but I don't often encounter many people on that trail so I enjoy it. We walked over to the canyon above Cherry Hill and I was just getting ready to turn around when Shady came romping out of the shrubs with a gristley deer bone in her mouth.

I had to play tug of war with her to get her to give it up, and I was not happy about having to touch that thing. I then noticed a larger part of the carcass on the other side of the trail. I didn't see the skull, but I did find an antler. Since tomorrow's preschool theme is deer, it will be the perfect day for me to take the antler for show and tell.

Farmington Bay Excursion

I know that I am supposed to be keeping my dog quiet for the next week, but she isn't really cooperating. After playing fetch most of the morning I decided that I should take her for a little walk. I was just going to take her down the street when I realized that today is the last day that dogs are allowed in the Farmington Bay Bird Refuge until November.

It was a beautiful afternoon at the Refuge. I was worried that it would be muddy, but as long as we stuck to the roads we were fine.

Again, there is nothing better than a noble coonhound in her natural element. She was very well behaved on the walk despite the many wonderful scents there were to follow.

The only birds we saw were a few seagulls. Twice Shady did manage to track a small rodent, and she seemed shocked and a little nervous to actually find something. I didn't get a good look at them before they ducked into their holes, but they were probably rats. We passed a man who was retrieving dead rats from traps and heaping them on his ATV.

I'm bummed that we won't be able to take advantage of these trails again until fall. The rat man was the only other person that we passed, and I enjoyed the solitude. The mountain trails are still going to be muddy for some time, and depending on where and when you go they can be overrun by people during the summer. I need to find out where I can access the Legacy Parkway Trail and check it out.

Another Boring Update

What a difference a week and a half makes! Last week the snow in my yard was the deepest it has been all winter, and now it is almost gone. I am so happy that it has started to warm up! I did manage to get the snowshoes out once before the melting started. It was easy to walk on the path that had been packed down by those who had been there before me, but I found that I was still sinking in a good 6 inches if I got off the path. I don't know if that is normal.

Even though all of the snow has melted off single guy's driveway he is still missing in action. Maybe he enjoys living in the local crack motel.

The Shady Lady went in to be spayed yesterday. It was a really rough day for her. The effects of the anesthesia didn't wear off until about 4 a.m., so we had a really rough night. She was up every 20 or 30 minutes whining and shaking with her eyes glazed over, and I'm not sure she was really even concious. After about 5 minutes she would lie down again and rest for a little while, but then she would be back up looking distressed. She wouldn't take the pain meds they gave me, so there was nothing I could do for her. Finally at 4 a.m. she got up with clear eyes and wagged her tail and took the medication and settled down to bed. Today she seems completely fine. I was told not to walk her for a couple of days and at the moment she is not very happy about it. It was kind of nice to have her anesthetized for an evening. On Wednesday night my visiting teachers came over and she chewed through both her leash and her head collar while they were here.
Tick was good about staying out of the flower bed with only a little 18 inch high decorative fence. Shady jumps right over that fence with ease, so I have put up a 5 foot temporary fence until I can put some sod there. I have a feeling that she could be a digging animal, so I won't trust her with fresh dirt.

On a completely different subject, since we were blogging about Stephanie's upcomming wedding last time someone should probably inform the extended family that the wedding has been postponed. They thought that Brian's divorce was going to be finalized in the next couple of weeks, but the ex-wife has once again decided to put up a fight about something that they had previously settled. Hopefully they will be able to get everything settled soon, but until then the wedding is on hold.

Snow Day?

Of course not! We never have snow days here.

I was going to take my new snow shoes out this afternoon, but I'm not driving up to the foothills in this mess. I will at least have to try them out in my yard. And no, I don't think that I can take a picture of myself snowshoeing.

We've had about nine inches of snow today and it has finally tapered off. Single guy hasn't been home since it snowed last Wednesday. My theory is that he has chosen to go to a motel rather than shovel his driveway. I made it all the way into my driveway, but as you can see I didn't make it to the garage.

This doesn't give you the best perspective, but this pile of snow is about 4 and a half feet tall. I say kill the groundhog!

I Have Snowshoes!

I have been keeping an eye on the classifieds for cheap snowshoes for about a year now with no luck. I was really only mildly interested in getting them until I got Shady and realized that it would be great to be able to take her up into the mountains in the snow. I was babysitting Ava today since her daycare was closed for the holiday, and we spent the whole day looking for snowshoes. We went up to Smith and Edwards, then we hit several sporting good stores in Ogden. I was hoping to find something on sale since we are nearing the end of winter (I hope), but no luck. When I was looking on Amazon this weekend I found some sort of chain webbing that you can put over your regular shoes that act like cleats on the ice, but I didn't see anything like that in the stores either. When I dropped Ava off I asked Steph if she knew where I could get something like that, since Brandon had been into the winter sports, and she said that she had a set of snowshoes that he'd given her sitting in her garage that I was welcome to have. Needless to say I am thrilled with free snowshoes. It was too late for me to try them out today, so hopefully I will be able to take them out tomorrow and then we'll see if I'm still excited about them once I've tried them.

Winter Hike

I'm tired of walking through town, so I decided to take a walk up Farmington Canyon on Friday afternoon.

I parked my car at the entrance to Farmington Pond, then Shady and I walked up the canyon for a while.

I was hoping that the gate on the bridge would be closed so we would have the road to ourselves, but my hope was in vain.

The road was plowed and we only encountered a few vehicles until we got to the point where the pavement ended. At that point the road was not plowed, and there were a bunch of people racing snowmobiles up and down the road. On our way back down the canyon we detoured on to the fire break road for a while.

Note the noble bluetick coonhound in her natural element. She was very excited about following deer tracks. I'm trying to decide what I could do to make hiking in the snow with her easier. I have some old cross country skis, and while it would be great to have her pull me up hill, I'm afraid that having her pull me down hill might be a disaster. I've been thinking about buying some snowshoes, but you all know how cheap I am. I'd like to find some at the DI, but I don't have much hope for that. Trucks had driven on the fire break road, so while the snow was packed down, it was also extremely slippery. What I really needed were cleats.

Eric recommended a head collar instead of a pinch collar to curb her pulling. It doesn't stop her from pulling, but it does take away some of her strength. When she catches a scent that she wants to follow I don't think anything could stop the pulling.

She absolutely hates the head collar, and she stops every couple of minutes to rub her face in the snow and try to get it off.

It has snowed another 5 or 6 inches today. I know we're not as bad off as Erie, but I am really getting sick of this. I hate to be cooped up in my house. It looks like the snow has tapered off now, so I guess I should go shovel my driveway for the second time today

Settling In

Shady is adjusting well to her new home. This picture shows you what happens every time I forget to close the bathroom door, but other than this she has been pretty good.


Shady and Connie Francis met on Saturday night, but we were too busy holding onto our respective puppies to get pictures of the meeting. Ava is very protective of her baby. My baby is freaking out about playing fetch, so that is all for now.