Snowed In

Well, we aren't technically snowed in right now, but we were for much of last weekend and the early portions of this week. I think the snow just decided that it wanted to follow us from Colorado to Virginia. And, really...I'm okay with that. I don't mind a little snow once in a while. I actually felt strangely "at home" here with a blanket of snow on the ground -- I must have gotten used to it in Colorado. I got tired of it there, but it feels a bit like a welcome, familiar friend here. Go figure. There are possibilities of more snow this weekend, though I have a hunch it might just be the local weathermen getting overly excited after last weekend's 8 inches (the most snow this region has seen in something like a decade.) I don't mind the snow, but it has created the same issue here that it did in Colorado -- getting Toby out for exercise. Poor guy. He's just a bundle of energy, and when he doesn't have an outlet for that energy, its like he slowly goes crazy. Sometimes he just starts running, aimless, directionless, in circles around our family room -- just to get some of that energy out. We took him out to a field in our neighborhood with his doggie friend, Breeze, and her owners. We let them run, run, run. And, he was very tired for two days after that outing. But, I think we let him stay out in the snow for a little too long, because his paws look irritated the next day, and he licked them for two days straight afterward. And, it was too icy to take him out for a walk. So, we adopted an indoor version of fetch in our family room to try to get some of that energy out. And, finally, I was able to get him out for a walk again yesterday. He seemed so content after his first walk in nearly a week. He just laid down on his bed and went to sleep. He was asleep just before I took this picture, but he must have heard something outside as I took it, because his head popped up and he gave a little defensive growl at something. (I took it with my computer, so forgive the bad quality.) He has really gotten much more protective of our house lately (actually, we're trying to encourage this in appropriate times, and teach him when it's okay to just relax), and has grown so much more sweet and pleasant to be around. He used to be too energetic to really enjoy hands-on praise, or snuggling up to you (he just wanted to play ALL the time.) But, he LOVES any hands-on attention these days, and he'll come up to us as we sit on the couch and just rest his head on our legs for us to pet him. And, he has fallen back in love with his doggie bed. He will take loooong naps on that thing throughout the day, and I LOVE it! :) Maybe there is hope for this dog, yet! Maybe he will actually settle down and become a little more like a normal dog, and a little less like that cartoon Tazmanian Devil guy.