Exhaustion Sets In

The weather has been as weird as Missouri weather can get this winter, with what seems like an unusual amount of steadily below freezing temperatures. Then there was Monday, or was it Tuesday? Following a gorgeous weekend of 60 degree, sunny weather, the day started out a balmy 59 and climbed to 64. By noon the temperature had started to drop and moisture moved into the area. I say moisture because what started as heavy rain, turned to a sleet storm, then snow. The wind was howling, the snow was blowing sideways. It was all quite dramatic and literally breathtaking. By 4:00 p.m. the temperature was at 20 degrees. Now that takes some adjusting too! Driving home from work was quite exciting as the wind gusted against the truck. Thankfully the roads were not slick. The critters were hyped up or huddled, depending on their outlook on life. I'm a huddler, obviously. Cold temperatures settled over the country the next few days, until another snow storm hit yesterday. It was one of those much touted by the weather people where we could get feets of snow (not an exact quote;-). We ended up with about 3" and it's a 'friendly' snow. The sun is out today, so the roads should clear for the most part. The snow is not deep enough to cause undue hardship on the critters or me. It seems the yearling Shetlands love, love, love the stuff and had a blast twirling and running and eating the white stuff. Boone loves it. Loves it.

So anyway, over the weekend I took the dogs out into the woods for a much needed bit of exploring. There are fewer and fewer places to walk, since most places are now posted to keep out, but there is still one small tract of cedar forest we can explore. The day was warm and sunny and I didn't even need a coat. The dogs had fun smelling and following scent of deer and turkey and other mysterious creatures of the wood. Unfortunately we had way too many incidents of the leashes getting tangled in the brush, but we worked through it. Ariel used to be able to go off leash but she seems to be losing some of her hearing and maybe dimmer of the eye too, which translated into a heart stopping moment when she wandered too far off in the woods. Boone isn't to be trusted loose at all. Big dope. There are several old dumps in the woods which are fun to dig through. I'm always on the lookout for antlers or arrowheads or unique rocks, so it's with high anticipation that we set out.

Once we got back, we were all a bit tired and the dogs were hot. I looked out the window a short time later and saw the above picture. Exhaustion had clearly set in. :-) I took the picture at the bottom of this post several weeks ago. It's a disturbing scene, lifeless bodies lain out as if part of some macabre ritual. Sightless eyes gazing forever at the sky. This little tableau greatly bothered me for several weeks. Everyday I had to pass by it as I walked back and forth to the woodpile. There was nothing I could do to change it. Not only were they laid out like this, they had also become frozen to the ground. Sad, sad, sad. Of course I think we all know who is responsible for this. What really disturbs me is, what is with the precise pattern? And is this not eerily similar to the first photo of the dogs themselves in the above photo? Does the perpetrator have doggie OCD? Something to think about.