Abundance of Snow III (January 19th)

By now, being snowbound is really getting old. I put on my heavy snow boots - sometimes adding YakTrax for better traction - Goretex jacket, insulated Seattle Sombrero (rain hat) and two layers of gloves to take the dogs on walks of a mile or so around the neighborhood. Things are strangely, peacefully quiet for midweek - schools are closed, as are most businesses. Very few cars are on the roads. Enough snow/sleet still falls all day that most people are staying inside. I notice that most of us who are venturing outside, on foot, are being led by happy - and very energetic - dogs.

Back at the house, we're bored. Very bored.

Meadow expressing her boredom.

 

Finn - toy in mouth - joins Meadow on the deck to see if he can lighten her languor.

Finn manages to get a minor reaction our of Meadow.

Maia the Referee comes out, just in case someone actually starts playing. With nothing to referee, she commences eating hardened snow, one of her favorite treats.

Maia scrapes the hard snow to eat, using her toenails and front lower teeth. Not sure why she loves it so much but she's done this her entire life.

Finn succumbs to the collective ennui.

I give serious thought to taking Finn for a nighttime run. The snow on neighborhood roads is sufficiently packed to make a decent running surface. At night there would be even fewer cars on the roads, and there's something wonderfully cathartic about running through a dark, silent, snow-covered city. But the ice storm that pelted the region all day left trees weakened from the weight of iced-over snow; limbs are falling throughout the region and lots of folks have been without power for a day or longer. I decide the reward of a run - for me, and Finn - isn't worth the risk. We can wait.

After a week of this - unable to get to the forest trails I so love to run, or even run much from home - I find myself wishing for a Pineapple Express to quickly melt all this white stuff away.