Thursday, January 26, 2012

Adventures in winter wonderland

I'm happy to report that winter is in full swing here in Carrabassett Valley. While that means I now also have to shovel the driveway again I consider it a fair trade to be able to play in the snow.
This morning I dropped Dave off at work while temperatures hovered around the 10 degree mark. It's not really that cold but I wasn't feeling the need to rip at 35mph downhill so I headed north on 27 to Flagstaff Lake with my little furry buddies. 

We ventured out to Myer's Beach and enjoyed a great walk through the woods to the frozen lake. It was a good Chaos sized walk to the beach- about 15 minutes and we then enjoyed some time enjoying the sunshine that streamed over the backside of the Bigelow Mountain Range.
Mayhem even took a quick moment to enjoy the stillness of the morning at the lake. But just one moment... little dog doesn't stay still for long.

I bribed him with the promise of the tennis ball to capture another view on the frozen tundra. The lake was beautiful and we did see a few snowmobiles enjoying some playtime too. The lake had a false stillness, if I waited long enough and if the pups were quiet enough then we could hear the movements of the ice forming below us.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

through the eyes of Chaos...

I've often wondered what Chaos and Mayhem see and how they think about it. Today, I got a glimpse of Chaos's point of view. I wish I could say it was enlightening but honestly it terrifies me.
In 2007 on a routine visit to the vet, Dr Taylor told us about Chaos's juvenile cataracts. We've kept an eye on them and watched them slowly grow over the years. Today, I took the boys on a walk on the Narrow Gauge trail today during low light and some soft falling snow.
The trails were soft and we followed a snowshoe trail along the river. The boys took full advantage of the leash free escapade and played hard. I'm pretty sure Mayhem even tried to climb a tree...

but he could have just gotten a little too much into sniffing it. Chaos had a nice break and ate some snow...
his brother joined him and it became a big rolling party...
We crossed a small foot bridge and Chaos struggled. This isn't a new path for us, this fall he zoomed over the little bridge and chased Mayhem. It appeared that he wasn't sure of his footing. This bridge crosses a small stream; it isn't high off the ground and the slats are less then an inch apart.  We emerged from the woods and Mayhem zoomed across the large bridge that crosses the Carrabassett River. I followed but stopped when I realized Chaos was still on the other side of the river. The bridge that crosses the Carrabassett River has a few slits in it where the snow has melted and created an optical illusion that stopped Chaos in his tracks. I went to the middle of the bridge and called him over. He started across then hesitated... it became clear to me that my pup was struggling to see. I walked to him and guided him back to the car with the realization that his life as we know it has changed.
We've joked about Mayhem becoming Chaos's seeing eye dog... we just didn't think it would happen so soon after Chaos's 7th birthday.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

dreaming of snowy days at camp chaos

the best part about snow? Easy- that would be good days on the mountain.
like Dave's first day out in November

What's the worst? Realizing you have to shovel the whole driveway by yourself...
with a bit of help from furry friends and the motivation to wear cute Boggs

But at this point I'm ready... Mother Nature bring it on. I haven't shoveled the driveway in over a month and I'm ready for it to start dumping.