Although getting out for our daily hike through the woods is always a priority with us, it just so happened that yesterday brought us a lot of other priorities. We were aware, however, that the sunny day we saw before us with its mild temperature wasn't going to last. The daily weather report is something my husband never fails to check first off in the newspapers when he brings them in from our porch newspaper hooks every morning.

We knew that the temperature flirting with us at a relatively balmy -4C which meant that Jackie and Jillie would be fine out in the ravine without their little rubber boots would soon begin to dip until a truly icy -19C was reached, at which time none of us would relish our usual romp through the ravine trails. All the more so since accompanying those clear blue skies was a cutting wind.

It was, furthermore, a wind that gusted up to 50 kmh from time to time, really reminding us as though we could forget, that it's winter, after all, and a winter presumably as 'average' as any we've long been accustomed to, living in this northern climate of ours. Still, it took us until middling-to-late afternoon before we were able to get out.

Jackie and Jillie wouldn't exactly be heartbroken if we missed a day's walk, but the lack of real exercise would affect them. It does so in not-so-mysterious ways. As in, for example, damping down their appetites. Even while they'd manage to amuse themselves and play together and urge us to play with them in the house, the energy output would never equal even a short ravine walk.

One of the compelling reasons for us to haul them out to the forest environment is to ensure that they're in good health, and of course the slop-over of that is that it does the same for us. They're in fine fettle, feeling energized and up to par when we return from our walks.

 Often, despite a vigorous and entertaining romp through the forest they return home and begin to challenge one another to boxing matches with Jackie supplying a running commentary. The kind of amusing wrestling bouts and madcap run-abouts they engaged in as puppies continue to motivate them from time to time to hi-jinks that captivate us with their spontaneous expressions of joy.

As for yesterday's walk, the piercing wind more than made up for the milder temperature. But the sun, where it fully penetrates, made for some pretty interesting contrasts in the snowpack and the surrounding forest. And whereas the previous days we had come across so many other trail hikers and dogs, yesterday there were none.

It was our forest, and ours alone, to enjoy, admire and revel in and we made the most of it. The privilege of constant and close access to such a wonderful landscape is immeasurable in its value for quality of life.