Weekend adventures in the heart of Winter

It's been another cold week here in Michigan.  Thankfully those really cold days generally mean more sunshine, but we did have some clouds and snow this week too.  Most of the days were spent inside keeping the girls occupied with some brain games and Kongs (and lots of wrestling) while I worked.  There were also many quick trips outside during the day to get out some zoomies and several games of fetch each night.  The girls were also happy to spend some time out in the yard while I shoveled on the snowy days.  We also got out for at least a short walk or ride in the car most days.  Wednesday was the exception because is was very cold and Vanessa and I attended an indoor geocaching event while the girls stayed home.  Luckily they forgave me for not taking them with us.  I made it up to them by taking them on a longer walk on Thursday because the temps were in the upper 20s, which felt like a heatwave.

As I sat down to prepare to write the blog today, I realized I didn't take any pictures of the girls during the week.  After all, what crazy person is taking pictures on their dog walks when the temperatures are below 10 degrees?   But last Sunday, I got this gem, which shows one of Peaches' favorite ways to spend a cold day.  I spent lots of time this week with one or two dogs on my lap.  It's a good way to spend a cold evening.

After our long, cold, and fairly boring week, the weekend arrived!  We took a drive Friday night to Eaton Rapids to drop off my car to get fixed finally.  Vanessa met us there and we picked up a couple of geocaches while in the area.  The girls were pretty happy to get out for a little adventure farther from home and to see their favorite adventure buddy.  She dropped us off at home with the promise of an even better adventure on Saturday.

When we got up and moving on Saturday morning, the girls could tell that something fun was going to happen.  As we sat down to wait for Vanessa to arrive, Ruby perched herself near my shoulder to look out the window, a favorite way for her to sit.  Oh the excitement that ensued when the girls saw Vanessa pulling into the driveway for our day of fun.  We quickly loaded up the car and headed West to Lowell for a geacaching and hiking adventure along the North Country Trail.  

We arrived in Lowell shortly after 11am, where we were met by our friend, Tom, who would be providing some taxi services for us for the day.  What a wonderful advantage it is to have someone to drive us to our starting point for our hike!  We all loaded into the van for the 6 mile drive.  We arrived, quickly unloaded the van, and were off to start our longest hike on the NCT so far this year, most of which would be a long section of road walk through farmlands South of town.

While the temperatures were in the upper teens/low 20's, the sun was shining and the wind was at our backs, so we were nice and warm.  By a mile in, both of us had removed our hats and gloves.  While there were some less protected areas where the wind made us a bit chilly again and we'd put our hats back on, I never felt cold while we were hiking.  

Lest I should forget, although I don't know how I could, Peaches whined nearly the entire 6 miles of road walk, an annoying trait that I just can't seem to find a way to stop.  Thankfully when we got into a more wooded area, her nose took over and the whining stopped.  

There were some pretty things to see along the way and I was surprised how quickly the time went.  I wasn't mentally quite ready for this hike when we started, but I felt great the whole way and enjoyed our time outside.  I'm sure the blue sky and sunshine helped.  It's always good to be out on the trail with the girls!

We stopped in a few spots along the way to pick up some geocaches, but due to the depth of the snow, there were a couple we had no luck finding.  Thankfully as we neared the end of our hike, our luck changed and we were able to find a few caches to end our hike on a positive note.

Peaches loves the snow and will take any chance she can to roll around in it, especially when she's wearing her coat.  While we waited for Vanessa to find a geocache that I had previously found, Peaches took full advantage of our stop to get her fill of time in the snow.  Ruby would have preferred if the snow were just gone!

After our hike we grabbed some hot chocolate and pup cups from the new Starbucks in Lowell and then headed off for a visit with Tom, Barb, and Sherman while we were in town.  The girls ran around and played with Sherman, but I think Ruby would have been happiest just to spend the whole time in Barb's lap.  I didn't get any pictures of our visit, but it was a nice way to end our day.  

Today, Vanessa came over to take us out on another short geocaching adventure so we could pick up one particular geocache that I've been wanting to find for awhile.  It's got some tricky terrain, located in a swampy area, and the last time I checked to see if we could make it back to it, the swamp had turned to a frozen pond.  We came equipped with our ice cleats today and left the girls in the car for our walk back.  Luckily with the recently fallen snow covering the ice, we were able to make the walk back without our cleats.  While it was solidly frozen in place, I was so happy to set my eyes on this cache.  

After making the find, we ran some errands, took the girls to Soldan's, and got out into the woods for a short walk before Vanessa dropped us off at home.  While I was still bundled up, I decide it was a good time to get out for our walk for the day and off we went for three miles around the neighborhood.  It was gray, but warmer than it has been, and the sidewalks were pretty good, so we made quick time.

While I made lunch, the girls each got a duck head.  Those are one of Ruby's favorite special treats and boy was she excited!  Then I gave them each a bone stuffed with yogurt and dog food to keep them busy for a bit longer.  All that fun has made for a quiet late afternoon, and surprisingly, they haven't yet bothered me for dinner and it's after 6pm.  It's definitely been a good weekend for us all.

As a final note, I wanted to share the flowers I received earlier this week.  They made every day this week a little happier.  I love flowers!  Here's the story behind the flowers:

Last weekend, I received a dog license renewal notice from Ingham County.  I opened it, sure it wasn't time to renew Peaches' license yet...and found that it was the renewal for Maddie's license.  There was a small twinge of sadness receiving this completely unexpected reminder of my old girl, but I simply got online, as outlined in the letter, to send an email to ask them to update their records since she is no longer with us.

Upon opening my email, I had received an email reminder from Chewy.  I've gotten several of these emails from Chewy over the last few months sharing a deal or encouraging me to buy something and every one mentions Peaches and Maddie.  But this time, I figured I'd finally log into my Chewy account and remove Maddie's profile from the page.  

After sending the email to the county about her license and removing her profile from Chewy, I went about the rest of my weekend, expecting nothing else.  But after a long and very busy day on Monday, there was a knock on my door shortly after 5:30pm, and there stood the florist's delivery person with this wonderful bouquet of flowers from Chewy with condolences for my loss.   I then opened my email only to find the sweetest reply from a staff member of the Ingham County treasurers office.  I inadvertently deleted the email or I would have shared it's text with you today.  Needless to say, two very kind gestures that filled my heart and made me smile and think of my very special girl who I miss dearly.  I think the timing was perfect for both of these things because they made me smile, not cry, and brightened my week.

Well, I'm off get dinner around for two snoring girls because it is way past their dinner time...and almost past mine too.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.  I know that I will be happily saying farewell to January and welcoming February because I know March isn't far behind!