Just Photos: Snow Frolics! December 2009

This post is for pet/animal lovers.  Refer to the post after this one, Forest Living: Snow Scenes, for the details about our storm. 

Everyone appreciated the snow, although some had to adapt.

• Connor -- adapt?  You just have to love it.  He raced around the hillside and forest, and was in motion so much that I had trouble taking pictures.
  
• Ripley, our blind Australian Cattle Dog, was disoriented at first, and we had to shift to some older toys.  But she liked nosing it, sniffing it, and eating it.
  
• Homer-Kitty's fur was useful for something other than weed-gathering. He accompanied us on our walk down the road, and went outside every time I took the dogs out.  He rolled in the snow, skated on the ice, climbed the trees, and generally frolicked.
  
• The twins (18 month old kittens) were new to this, but that didn't stop them long.  They had great fun in the powder stuff.  Whiz (WYSIWYG), in particular, would have mad moments of rushing around grabbing armfuls of powder and looking insane.  Then when it iced over, it became a skating rink.  Worried about falling?  Not them.
  

Homer-Kitty likes pedestals.

(He's the stray kitten who wandered onto our building site; we think he is 2.5 years now.)

On the walk, Ripley & Connor on flexi's, Homer in the ditch on the right.

Ripley (12 years old), little blind trooper.  Doesn't let disabilities slow her down.

Busy busy busy.  Homer has so much personality that it is sometimes odd to realize how small he is.

Ripley with her old pre-surgery toy. When she was blind but still had her eyes, this was the only toy she could handle. I could throw it, it has a repetitive song, and she could find it and retrieve it. After she recovered from her surgery early this year, she refused to play with this anymore, and went back to the more "technical" hard rubber balls. I think the surgery to remove her eyes also removed her pain.  Today I throw balls along the ground (sometimes bouncing) and she retrieves. She's amazingly quick and it is hard sometimes to remember she is blind. However, the powdery snow meant we had to go back to this toy.  But as soon as it was icy, she rejected it again.

Wysiwyg (whizzy-whig), next to my lemon tree (which seems to be okay). 

Can you do this?

(It has to be such fun to be a cat!)

Grabbing armfuls of powder, a new sport.  Whiz cavorted in circles, sliding down the hill.

In Connor's defense, here is the proof that he doesn't always start these things!

BCOS (Black Cloud Over Snow), little kitty, so hard to get a picture of him in the snow.

In most shots he looks like a black rock.

When I shot this one, Homer had just started to move.  The next shot would have shown him peacefully sitting on a boulder, after alluding Connor with a zig-zag trail that bounced off at least one tree.

So much to watch.

Blind Cattle Dog roaming cross-country.  Independent?  You think?