Yesterday, before we went out to the supermarket for our weekly grocery shopping, we dropped by the pet food store to pick up a 17 kilo bag of Wild Prairie kibble produced by Acana that we prefer for J&J's meals. While there we looked at their winter coat selection for dogs and finally found the kind of coats we were looking for. Thick, warm and snug. This is turning out to be a very cold winter. It isn't winter yet by the calendar and it's been penetratingly cold. Of the coats, a medium for Jillie, and small for Jackie. And while we were at it, we searched for new harnesses as well. Jillie has outgrown the old harness and though Irving has patched it with velcro, it keeps going awry.

 

 

We hadn't taken them with us but it would have been awkward to try the coats on them at the pet store, so we gave them a trial this morning. Perfect fit for both. As far as the coats were concerned and while Jackie's harness fit him well, Jillie's was too tight. They were extended as far as they could go. But Irving has a solution for everything. He set about snipping and sewing, and voila! a proper-fitting harness for Jillie, too; no need to return anything. We'd been that route several weeks ago.

 

 

From the pet shop we made our way to the supermarket. And for the first time in our memory shopping there for the past several decades not only was the store crowded, but there were more visible minorities in view than we'd ever before seen. There are several aisles in the store devoted to stocking ethnic foods of south-east Asia and we'd always wondered why, since we rarely saw people from India, from China, from the Middle East, from Jamaica, yet such foods choices were featured. 

Monday's inclement weather with non-ending rain evidently kept people who normally shop on Monday from venturing out. So everyone congregated on Tuesday to do their shopping. Thus the crowding. Line-ups at the cash register reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic when everything was a chaotic panic. This was not a pleasant experience back then, and nor was it yesterday.

 

 

We though it was pretty amazing that there was any snow left at all on the ground after dawn-to-evening rain on Monday. But there was, and yesterday when we went out to the ravine we discovered just how much the intersection of heavy snow/rain/flash-freeze made a trek through the ravine beyond difficult. Today when we went out in the early afternoon for our usual daily hike through the forest trails, the temperature had dipped to -7.7C, and it was flurrying, with a light wind.

 

We had dressed Jackie and Jillie in their new coats and they looked snug and warm. Jackie, in fact, was beyond exuberant, racing madly back and forth, excited at being out and happy as a lark. We hadn't ventured very far into the forest before they both leaped enthusiastically at Irving-the-cookie-dispenser for treats. There are two places where Irving started out offering cookies; close to the start of our daily jaunt, and another place not far from the first. They fixed those spots in their minds and we cannot now go past them without the two clamouring for their due.

 

Like our experience of yesterday, it was difficult keeping upright and the chances of twisting an ankle were pretty good for the unaware. The frozen depressions in the snow have a tendency to throw one off kilter, as a boot slides into the depression and the ice within makes it slippery, threatening one's balance. The only solution, where possible, is to seek out undisturbed areas of the snow on the trails -- usually right at the perimeters either side to safely cushion each step forward.

But we managed to stay upright throughout our hike and that was all to the good. Both of my cleats fell off each boot as we progressed, as a result of my boots twisting and turning on the uneven trail surface. And though I was dressed for the cold, the wind kept sending its malicious fingers of ice right through my down-filled jacket, filtering through the thick turtle-neck sweater for good measure.

 

 

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