Still Walking That Dog

It started to snow just before three this afternoon. Any news that I've heard has forecast lots of snow. I thought I had better get the dog out there for her exercise before the snow started in earnest. Just as I was setting out, I saw the barn owl again. There is one, possibly two living in the barn next door to us. I wasn't fast enough with the camera. Trust me, the owl is gorgeous and looks huge from this distance.

On the way to our favourite dog walking spot I stopped by our neighbour's house and dropped off some things I had picked up for them during the week and collected a new jar of marmalade. Our lovely neighbour makes marmalade a couple of times a year and we always get a jar. It is vastly superior to shop bought marmalade.
Here is an early rhododendron blossom.

The old well behind their house.

The road up to the pond.

Frozen tracks in the snow:

There were pheasant all over the place. It seems as though there wasn't a square foot up there that didn't have a pheasant track on it.

The delicate paw prints of a fox. There were loads of fox tracks. I didn't think there were so many.

Oddly, there were no deer tracks today.
The duck pond was frozen over. Polly started to walk out onto the ice. I don't know how thick the ice is. I had visions of her going through and me having to go and get her so I called her back as soon as I noticed what she was doing. There was a confused heron flying nearby. Sorry Mr Wading Bird. You're going to have to look elsewhere for stuff to eat. The food here is under ice.

I kept thinking that in a few short weeks, winter will be over and this place will be overrun with spawning frogs and toads.

In the meantime, it is still firmly winter. It's a shame that at 3 pm it is already too dark on this bit of footage for the falling snow to be seen.


Polly and I had a nice walk in the quiet and lightly falling snow. She does this mad thing where she runs on ahead and then come back to be at full speed. You can see hints of this great trick of hers in the video. It always looks as though she is going to crash right into my legs. As she has the head of a full sized bull terrier, a full on collision would knock me flat. She always swerves at the last possible moment. The trick I have found is to pause or stop momentarily just before she gets to you as she goes right on by. If you step to one side to avoid the oncoming doggy locomotive, you run a much greater risk of collision.

I am writing this about three hours after our walk. The sun has set and the snow has stopped. There isn't nearly enough snow for a snow day but there is still the threat of more. I get the feeling that winter isn't quite done with us yet.