Yesterday's -14C turned mellow overnight and by the time we awoke this morning we had another 7cm of snow down, over the 30 cm that had fallen the night before. Truly a winter wonderland. Marred slightly by a tempestuous wind that was hurling itself in spasms through the atmosphere, shaking snow-laden evergreens and unleashing a sparkling skein of snow falling languorously from their branches. And the temperature? a balmy -4C. Mind, it was also heavily overcast with dark skies, not yet done with its assigned task of unleashing fresh snow.

 

So, once again, before breakfast Irving was out in the back doing the shovelling, clearing new snow out of the pathways just yesterday cleared so Jackie and Jillie could roam about freely. Even so, they needed a good rub-down from snow plastered all over their legs. Thanks to the blustering wind that gathered ferociously episodically to howl through the atmosphere bringing snow down off the roof and hauling it away from the trees.

Chickadees were out in this weather; they're birds of the boreal forest and accustomed to grim winter weather. Tiny they may be, but nature has also provided them with the robust capacity to live in such northern environments. They flit about in the cedars, and then fly over to the front of the house to land sporadically on the porch, picking among the peanuts and lifting off again as soon as one is secured. In contrast to the female cardinal who was also visiting the porch and was content to sit there awhile as long as no shadows betraying movement from the house interior alarms her.

We set out a little earlier in the afternoon than is usual for us to embark on a ravine hike. Irving has given his ankle a three-day rest from hiking and felt that it was enough. I had my doubts, knowing how difficult it is to forge through deep layers of freshly fallen snow, but he insisted that Jackie and Jillie had missed their walks through the forest for long enough. Besides, though the day had started darkly overcast, the sun broke through and the clouds melted away leaving a periwinkle-blue sky capped tight over the day.

Our street hasn't yet been plowed from yesterday's larger snowfall, but the giant tires of privately operated snowplows that had been around clearing out peoples' driveways had done a presentable job of tamping down the snow on the road. The gusting wind threw snow in our faces as we walked up the street to the ravine entrance, but as soon as we delved into the forest the wind concentrated on the upper levels of the environment, hurling itself through the forest canopy.

The sound is quite impressive. And the leaning, waving, clacking of the masts of tall trees under the influence of the wind is quite a spectacle to behold, as is the sight of huge clumps of snow separating from their hold on tree tops, and the wispier clouds of snow descending from tree branches to the forest floor below. As we were ascending the most problematical of the hills to the ridge above the ravine Millie a large black dog we've known for years suddenly appeared, leaped at me in a frenzy of happiness, her face connecting with mine. She didn't destabilize me, but the work of struggling up the hill almost did.

Irving was behind me and she implored him for cookies, so he obliged as he always does. Then along came two large Dalmatians wearing colourful jackets we don't recall ever seeing before. They were frenetically boisterous, ecstatic with joy, leaping around Irving as he struggled uphill, until one somehow managed to squeeze itself between Irving's legs and he began to fall backward, just as unseen by him, their human was climbing the hill right behind Irving, and caught his fall. 

Eventually Millie's human showed up, we had a little chat when Irving finally made it to the top of the hill, and went our separate ways. The sun was brilliant, eye-watering on the virginal snow. Jackie and Jillie were just incredibly happy to be out, racing back and forth along the trails, easily covering ten times the ground that we do, in their exuberance. Yesterday, the third day that we missed going out for their walk, they had played with their toys, tugging them back and forth between them, wrestling and racing about in an excess of unused energy.

When we finally returned home, Irving looked after getting them into the  house, taking off their collars, halters, boots and coats so I could stay outside and shovel out the front walkways and porch. We're expecting the temperature to drop again, to around -21C tonight and tomorrow there may be another light snowfall. Our winter cup runneth over.