Winter Arrives!

I am not sure why the first snowfall of the season is so surprising.  It is, though.  Yesterday, well into November with less than a week to go until Thanksgiving, we had our first snow. That shouldn't have been so surprising, but it was. First it was sleet; then slowly it turned into snow and began to accumulate.  We had errands to run and would have done them sooner had I not had a morning Webinar with my composition 2 online class which is currently engaged in writing a longer paper using both primary and secondary sources.  I'm not sure who is more challenged by this: the students who have to write the paper or me who has to guide them through the process to ultimately leave them feeling successful and empowered.  Anyway, when I finished with their Webinar, I felt I had to also review their working bibliographies to make sure they were on the right track documenting their source material.  As usual, some were and some were not.  It was the "were nots" that made the task take until almost noon.  At almost noon winter arrived.

We set out on our errands shortly after twelve, flakes falling and wind howling.  I cavalierly thought we would hit the pet store first to stock up on dog food.  As soon as we reached the entrance ramp to the highway, however, I realized that we had set out at about the same time as the other 90% of the city set out.  The highway was more congested than it is on either end of rush hour during the working week.  "Is everyone crazy?" I made the mistake of saying out loud and realizing as I did that I was one of "them" as the 12 angry jurors say with such emphasis in the film I'd just watched with my campus based composition 1 class.   Our errands took longer and were more work that I had planned.  Gracie was her usual patient self through it all and amazingly seemed to get cleaner the more times she got in an out of the car--even her paws looked cleaner by the time we got back home than they had when we left.

I don't like driving in crowds on a slippery road, but I do like winter.  I do like snow.  So, leaving Bruce to unpack the groceries, Gracie and I grabbed a ball and headed for the park.  Though this had not been evident in the process of running errands--maybe because I wasn't paying attention--clearly Gracie LOVES snow as much or possibly more than I do!  She pranced.  She bounced.  She used her little black nose like a scoop and shoveled up blobs of snow with it that she then licked off with her tongue.  She shagged the purple tennis ball which quickly became white and eventually seemed to disappear.  Gracie tracked it down by running her nose through the snow like a snow plow.  She doesn't bring the ball back to me when she finds it or stops it.  Instead she stands over it waiting for me to come get it.  Sometimes I wonder who is giving whom exercise.

Today, we went back to play in the park some more.  Gracie's long toes and nails and her ability to spread her toes make her a great snow dog.  She is also fluffing out with a very thick but soft winter coat that seems to be water resistent.  She isn't too fond of any long object: brooms, shovels, carpet sweepers, etc.  I'm afraid she isn't going to like ski poles, so we may not be able to cross-country ski together.  However, she might enjoy snowshoeing with me.  Gracie just might be the perfect winter dog despite her small size!  So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!