Snow

We awoke this morning to the ground covered in snow - just a dusting really but the ground was white. The dogs wanted to go out but it was windy and cold so we told them they had to wait. Good thing we waited as it started snowing again and got really windy.

The plan was to stay in all day and just try to stay cozy. But by about 11:00 it seemed better out and the dogs (read: Sparkie) were driving us crazy. So we decided to go back to Starved Rock State Park - is that the weirdest name or what, rocks don't get hungry. Anyway, we got our long johns on along with coats, hats, and gloves and we put coats on Sparkie and Slugger and off we went.

Oh my it was cold! But there were many trails we hadn't explored yet and the dogs were anxious to run so we braved the cold. Amazingly enough we met seven or eight twosomes along the trail. Can you imagine going out in that cold of weather if you didn't have a dog that needed walking?!

Wazzu didn't have nearly the energy of yesterday and she just hiked along the trail with us. But she still looked very happy. Sparkie on the other hand acted as though she hadn't been allowed out of the house for a month. She was running all over the place - up hills, down hills, up rocks, through waterfalls, everywhere - all at full speed.

Quite a bit of the trail was along the Illinois River. This was really hard for Slugger as water always calls him. He wanted to swim so badly. He kept pulling Mike toward the water and then when Mike wouldn't let him go in so he'd just sit on the bank staring at the water. Poor guy. But it was in the low 30's and windy and I'll bet that water was freezing. It would have been cruel to let go in that water. But of course he didn't understand that.

We were only home about an hour and a half before Sparkie decided she'd must have been home and idle for days. So I had to play hide and seek with her in the RV. But that didn't placate her for long. Oh Sparkie! I guess that's what happens when you get your dog in such good shape.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention about yesterday's magical hike with Wazzu. We got down into Kaskaskia Canyon and there must have been a large windstorm at some time before we got there as there was a huge pile of leaves - just as if someone raked a whole bunch of leaves into a pile. Wazzu was in the midst of her crazy dog period and she ran and literally dove into the leaves head first and then jumped up into the air spewing the leaves all around. She then swooped back around and did this again three or four times. It was so funny to see her play in the leaves all by herself. She was laughing the entire time, as were we. We had forgotten how much the dogs used to like to play in the leaves back at home.

Well, gotta go make some hot chocolate. I think I'm going to turn into a big ball of chocolate - cold chocolate. Brrrr.

Debbie
10/12/06