Odd, how fewer people seem to be coming through the ravine of late. We're on the downside of winter, so the daytime highs seem to fluctuate around -6C, and we're enjoying many days of full sun -- and we can actually feel the warmth of the sun if we're momentarily in a micro-climate of shelter from the wind -- alternating with dismal days of freezing rain mixed with snow and ice pellets, but the atmosphere doesn't feel as though there's a warming trend, not yet.

Could be the awkwardness of tramping along on trails layered with ice over the thick snowpack is uncomfortable for people not accustomed to hiking along forest trails. We do on occasion come across old familiar faces. And just a few days ago we came across tiny Daisy whom we hadn't seen since the winter before. She's half the size of our two scamps, and wasn't fazed by their obstreperous behaviour. At seven years of age she has undoubtedly witnessed more than her share of silly canine behaviour which she, lady-like, deigns not to dignify.

Yesterday's hike took place after I'd spent hours cleaning the house, so I wasn't feeling too dreadfully physically ambitious. Once out in that ambiance, however, tiredness seems to slip away and you just stride along, appreciatively observing the landscapes as you pass one after another. Appreciating also the humorous tactics Jackie and Jillie employ to challenge each other to heights of adventure. Jackie in particular is given to suddenly racing off in a frenzied spurt of happiness, sometimes enticing Jillie to join him and then we just stand there, gaping at them until their excessive lunacy passes.

Button used to go into ecstatic phases of happiness, and would race toward me from an ample distance, and when she approached where I stood would launch herself into a long, graceful leap directed unerringly at my open arms, and I would catch her, and snuggle her in my arms, congratulating her for her physical feats of acrobatic perfection.