The weather has turned again, and it's colder, although still windy. The wind less harsh than it has been; it's lost some of its beastly appetite. Now that the snow is gone entirely from the backyard you'd think we'd be safe heading out to the ravine, but it just isn't so. There will be plenty of snow left under the forest canopy and since it's both heavily overcast and much colder all that ice stretching from one side of the forest interior to the other will still be there.

When it was extraordinarily mild last week and on those occasions when the sun came out, it helped melt the urban snow, but the sun doesn't reach the forest floor full on and it did nothing for the ice. Because there was little else we could do to accommodate our need to get Jackie and Jillie out for their daily walk we resigned ourselves to having to walk on the street again with them.

They're unaccustomed to walking for long periods on leash. Their freedom to explore and move about at random as the mood takes them is gone. Jillie just plods straight ahead, while Jackie needs constant reminders of where he can and cannot venture. 

When we set out in early afternoon for a walk, off came the cleats from our boots and on went the puppies' boots. The thermometer told us -5C, but it was snowing and the combination is too icy for their feet to sustain long contact with. On our way up the street we saw someone getting into a vehicle parked alongside the entrance to the ravine, with a dog. He looked vaguely familiar; one of the many people in the community who deliberately drive to this venue, unlike us, approaching it directly on foot.

He grimaced when we asked about the ice. Dreadful, he said. He was relieved to be out, unscathed. It took him forever trying to negotiate the trails. The new snow didn't help, even if it was a little sticky, since it covered the ice so it wasn't possible to see where good footing might lie, and it was all he could do to remain upright. 

Off he drove, on we continued. The snow cast a white semi-opaque skein over the landscape, diminishing sightlines in the distance. With the wind at our backs the snow wasn't being shoved in our faces; once we turned direction it was a different story. Still, the wind didn't pack the force it did yesterday and the day before, when we were in the ravine, slowly making our way through, and the wind bellowed through the forest canopy, swaying tree tops, bringing down broken branches.

 

Conditions ensured we wouldn't see people out walking. It reminded me of our years of living in Atlanta when no one ever walked on the streets, irrespective of the weather or the time of year, in an infinitely more forgiving climate.Even the level of traffic, as we walked along a main street, was reduced. In no small part as a result of the new Omicron variant causing school shutdowns and people returning to working remotely.

Jackie kept trying to veer out from the sidewalk past the boulevard toward the street and I kept leading him back again. He's an excitable walker in comparison to the stolid behaviour of his sister. But she's been a little 'under the weather' these last few days, although she seems to be coming around now. We gave her a packet of material that is supposed to restore her gut bacteria sprinkled over her breakfast this morning.

Off the main street and onto side streets at least there's a bit of interesting colour now and again on the lawns and homes that residents decorate for Christmas. It's where wire-and-light deer can be seen, along with exploded plastic Santas and other fanciful decor that can be seen, none of which impresses Jackie and Jillie, but give a lift to us.