Change of Seasons

It is becoming ever more clear to me that fall is officially over and that winter is here. 

There are only a few trees left that cling to the last colourful leaves of autumn. The two birch trees in our neighbour's yard still have most of their leaves, despite the fact that all of the other trees around them have been bare for about a week now. They are like misguided rebels; they stand against a change that is  inevitable by the laws of nature. Eventually they will have to give in to winter's chilly grasp, like I will have to start bundling up soon when venturing out.

It snows every few days now, and we recently saw accumulation that stayed until the next morning. The snowflakes that day were so huge that they weren't flakes, but chunks of flakes that bee-lined to the lawn instead of flitting daintily around on their way down. They were so big that the dogs tried to snap them out of the air, or they would take bites out of the snow cover on the ground, which was clearly a novelty for them.

This not being Reina's first encounter with snow, she got over the initial excitement and back to her normal routine of chewing anything that could be found, ripped or dug from the ground. Sticks are easy prey for the little doggies, but that doesn't stop them from going after trickier backyard game such as charcoal, weeds, stones, dirt and garbage (not ours: sadly, it often blows into the yard).

Nanuq, upon recovering from his wonderment at the falling flakes, took cover under the pine tree with a miserable look on his face. To his credit, he's getting over a rather nasty mange invasion during which he scratched off a considerable amount of fur around the belly and elbows, so he feels the cold more than Reina and I in our respective coats.There's no vet in town so he had to suffer a bit longer than we would have liked. C'est la vie Au Nord.

Thankfully Nanuq's fur is growing back so he should be more comfortable by the time the snow bleaches our backyard and beyond with a thick covering of flakes big and small...and when it does, believe me, I'll let you know!