Mud Season 1

 At 8:00 this morning, it was 45 degrees, going for a high of 53 or so.  It did not get below freezing last night.  We have another four or five days of this ridiculousness before it gets back to normal temperatures.  There is no snow in sight.  As I write this, Dempsey is sunning himself on the deck.

Mike and I went up to Ironton last Friday to snowshoe/ski, and it was really beautiful as always.  Dempsey went with us, more about that in a bit.  The trail I was on had not been groomed nor had there been much traffic.  I try to stay out of the cross-country ski tracks, so I was going through four or five inches of snow.  

Veenstras' trail has become an all-purpose trail.  Once Alex, Dustin, Marchelle, Aaron, Mike, and I had made the trail, on any given day, one will see these tracks:  snowshoe, snowboard, skis, boots, dogs, elk, deer, fox, rabbits.   I am so grateful for that trail.

And on the topic of gratitude, our neighbors have been so great in helping Dempsey heal after the loss of Mirabella.  When he was three and a half, after all those years of neglect and severe abuse, we adopted him into our family, and Mirabella, age three at the time, taught him how to be a dog, how to play, how to trust, how to be allowed on the couch, how to accept treats, how to, how to, how to.  So for eight and a half years, his mentor, his bestie, his sister, has been by his side, and his mourning has broken our already grieving hearts.  What has helped him heal is the presence of who we call "Frankie and the girls," the neighbor dogs who come over to greet him and wag their tails and do their little play-bows with him.  It has helped tremendously, and we will be forever grateful.