December 9, 2012

White Dog and The White Dog Army had been hearing talk since last week that by today the weather was going to seriously change...with an extreme drop in temperatures, gusty winds, and possibly even snow! There was both excitement and a bit of trepidation about planning any outdoor fun, but the WDA as well as Dragon and Sen-ge were in dire need of space to run off excess energy and shake the cobwebs from their restless minds.

We met the Honorary White Dogs and their humans at the Cottonwood Bosque thinking that the huge spreading forest would offer some protection from the wind. Not so as the blasts of icy wind sent tidal waves of leaves chasing after the walkers as White Dog, YoYoMa, Puff, Dragon and Sen-ge took off at a trot. Oso and Nuka waited with me in Pumpkin for their shorter more leisurely stroll after. The temperature dropped  nearly twenty degrees in the half hour the group was gone. The giant trees creaked and groaned and huge branches bounced above us.

When they rounded the bend and could see us again, Steve gave WD, who was off-leash, the signal and she took off becoming a graceful streak heading for the car. I opened the van door and she smoothly flowed in and over the console to the front seat where she pawed at me to close the door to stop the cold (Nuka heartily agreed).

The others came back slightly less quickly, Candace was carrying Dragon who had just quit halfway through. YAWD and SAWD moved anxiously to get back, without breaking stride cleanly navigating the fence's  "z-chute" entry to get back to the parking lot. Only Sen-ge seemed like he wanted more and was excited to join the Strollers (Nuka and Oso) who got out of the car, walked a few steps to mark that they had arrived and then promptly turned and wanted out of the cold and wind.

White Dog suggested we adjourn to the warm cozy blankets and hospitality of our house, where Quinn would also be able to participate. On the way back, we decided that warm delicious Pho and curried beef and lemongrass chicken with vegetables, plus a few other Vietnamese favorites would be the perfect thing to warm away our chills.  Steve dropped off the WDA and ran to pick up carryout while the rest of the humans settled pups and started tea and prepared for a meal. Everyone huddled toward the vents when the heat went on...and then we all laughed at ourselves for becoming such weather wimps.

Steve served while singing "the weather outside is frightful but in here it's so delightful" and no one disagreed as humans hugged soup bowls in their hands and pups slurped udon noodles and chicken. "See," White Dog said as she curled up in the pillows on my chair, "this is MUCH better than a hike in a freezing wind storm." The other pups, all of them, had found warm cozy spots to curl up in and were just about to doze off. "Wake us for cookies," was all they said.