I'm sure I've mentioned how I feel about this.....

This picture is of two deer walking in deep snow, but I post it here so you can see how my DOG looks walking in this stuff. She's a rat terrier, all white with a black and brown head. All I can see is her head when she goes outside. She leaps through the snow. I actually thinks she likes it.....in moderation.

This morning at 8 a.m. I get out of a nice warm bed and let her outside. The weather has changed somewhat. Now its very windy, making the wind chill plummet to only 8 BELOW zero. Brrrrrr.

I let her outside....her usual time out there is about 10 minutes. She doesn't have a big fur coat to keep her warm. I have to tether her out on a 50 foot nylon leash because she will chase the squirrels to the next county if necessary....fences are no obstacle either; she just leaps over them. Since it was so awfully cold, I cut her time outside in half. When I went to the door, she wasn't there, which is highly unusual. I called her and I didn't see her running anywhere. I grabbed the one end of the leash that's tied to the deck and started pulling on it. I only pulled a little bit, then it tightened up and I couldn't pull it any further. Its hidden underneath so many inches of snow that I can't even see which way the leash has gone or what it's tangled around.

I can't begin to tell you how scared I was. I know in this type of weather a little dog like that can freeze in minutes. I had to rush and get dressed, get boots on, my coat. Of course, I couldn't find my gloves. I only have 1900 pair of them around here but couldn't find a single one. So I had to go without them.

Something told me to go outside the back breezeway door instead of out on the deck. When I went out that door and started calling her, I saw the problem right away. She was underneath the deck. She had come in from the other side, probably chasing a squirrel or maybe a rabbit and the leash only let her go so far and she was trying desperately to get out of the other side of the deck but, of course, could not. Most dogs can't seem to figure this kind of thing out for themselves, unfortunately. So I had to walk in snow that was knee deep to around to the other side of the deck and get her to come out the same way she went in. Once she came to me, then I had to carry her back around the deck and to the back door.....thank goodness she was ok. As for me, I was scared. I kept thinking that if I fell back there in my yard and couldn't get up for some reason, no one would know where I was. The snow would eventually cover me up. Wow...it sure gives you something to think about and a high respect for nature and its power.

So, I'm going to think of a different plan on letting her outside in this deep stuff. I don't want a repeat of this ever again!

Did I ever mention how much I dislike this white stuff? Our weather is so strange. We have all this snow, the wind chill is now about 15 below zero with winds gusting to 40 mph and they are predicting freezing rain on Wednesday. In the meantime, I hope you all are warm and comfy wherever you are and if I don't get back before Christmas......have a very merry one surrounded by your loved ones. Stay safe and don't forget the reason for the season!