Sunday, February 3, 2008

Snow Dog Day


Portland is weird in a lot of ways, but one of the strangest is the weather. It can be raining where I live, but less than three miles away, up in the West Hills, it will be snowing.

So, when I woke up Saturday morning to a rain/snow mix, I knew what I had to do. I've got two snow dogs--Alaskan malamutes and they love the snow. But one is pretty old and she can't tolerate the long drive up to the mountain anymore. So, we put her coat on her (She's losing her fur), loaded up the SUV and headed to the west hills.

By the time we crossed the river, it was snowing/raining pretty hard. As we wove our way up the steep neighborhood hills, the roads became slicker. We passed a few cars off in the ditch. Unfazed, we continued upward.

Up ahead a big truck was in the ditch and we had to turn around and head up a steep, snowy side road. Thank the goddess for four-wheel drive. It was slippery, but we made it to our destination. A big cemetery at the top of the hill.

It was all worth it, when we opened up the back of the truck and 13 year old, 120 pound Juneau bounded out and acted like she was five again. After an hour of playing, she limped back to the car and slept the rest of the day, with a big smile on her face.

2 comments:

Mossie said...

Yay for happy dogs! Nothing brings me more pleasure than giving the animal companions in my life adventures and treats. They make life so rich!

Anonymous said...

Yah for Juneau! I love that smile that doggies get on their little furry faces! sooo cute! I wish it would have stopped raining for just a little while yesterday. Everytime I got up..."the lab" got up and looked at me with an expectant grin..."we gonna go play ball???". He looked so disappointed when I only headed in the kitchen for more water or to the bathroom.