Winter in Colorado is a mixed bag, periods of warm weather then brief (usually) periods of snow and cold.    People think of skiing in the plentiful snow in Colorado, but the snow stays mostly in the higher elevations.   And the ski areas also make plenty of fake snow.  We just got a major storm, so people were freaking out and buying enough milk, bread and eggs for the apocalypse.  Now comes the clean up.

I measured 8 1/2 inches (or 21.25 centimeters for those who think in metric.)

This is my favorite snow removal tool, a leaf blower.   It creates an instant blizzard on soft fluffy snow.   This snow had crusted over, so it didn’t work very well.

That leaves the trusty ordinary snow shovel to do the job.   It is plastic, so one needs to buy a new one every few years.

Unlike the aluminium grain shovel, which is about 35 years old.  It’s great for heavy wet snow.

I also use paw-safe de-icer for the frozen bit.   Not pictured is the ice scraper, the brush on an extension pole for the satellite dish, various brooms, and the snow roof rake (because the hardware store sold me a box with just a handle in it).

However, these methods of snow removal pale in comparison with the technique of Miss P.

She uses her nose and entire body to smash the snow out of her way.

I just wanted everyone to know that my dentist is still recovering from his accident.  I went by to see him on Sunday, and he is now able to use a walker (zimmer frame in British?)to get around.   He still has some stiffness and pain in the broken arm, but he can use it.  He expects to be in the rehab hospital for another month, then he plans to spend a month at home, then he is thinking about returning to work.   Way to go!

Miss P had a setback when she was in the kennel and she broke open a bit of her incision.   This is all healed up now, and I think she has started to like wearing little shirts.   She struts around whenever we go for a walk.

My hand is finally healed as well, I forgot I was injured and as soon as the stitches were out I cracked it open using it.   Oops!

And the mountain today.

Dogs are creatures of narrow habits.  Even before my yard was fenced there were trails on the hill where my dog always walked.   A perfect day for my dog is the day where everything is done exactly the same, at the same time of day.   So when we rushed off to the veterinarian without even eating breakfast, she might have suspected that something was up.

She had surgery to remove a cyst on her left side, and while they were in there the vet found two small lipomas ( fatty tumors that dogs get) as well.   I picked her up, got her pills and instruction and we were off for home.  She immediately started to panic when they stuck the cone on her head, so I was driving along telling her what a good girl she was and trying not to have an accident.  The vet had said “It’s okay to take the cone off when you’re supervising her, but don’t go to sleep without making her wear the cone.” “and no stairs”.  No stairs is sort of easy, I live in a three level house, so we would just live on the first level like I did when I broke my ankle.  There’s television and food, what more do I need? (as it turns out, quite a lot).

I blocked off the window seat where she likes to sit and survey the neighborhood.  I put up the baby gate to block the stairs.  And I had various movable bits to block the other rooms.  I pulled up an extra mattress from the basement so I could sleep in the living room.   This did not fall into the dog’s narrow experience of habit.   She stood at the stairs waiting to go to bed and gave me ‘the look”, it’s bedtime and we can’t sleep here!  I slapped the cone on her, then she went into total freak out.   She was hyperventilating and pacing back and forth bumping into everything.  I eventually gave in (I know I’m a soft touch), disobeyed the vets orders and took the cone off.   She got into bed with me (well on mattress anyway) and fell asleep.  I did tell her I would kill her if she touched the stitches, but I wasn’t sure if she believed me.  It was very unfair of the vet to give her pills and not give me any, because at this point I really needed something!

She is healing up and starting to feel better, and she is even getting used to the idea that we can live on the first level.  Only ten more days of this and then it will back to the old way, if she can deal with that change.