Wordless

No, maybe "speechless" would be more accurate. Because I can think of a lot of WORDS that I could say right now.

In my non-blog life, I have the mouth of a trucker ... who used to be a sailor ... and might have had some head trauma that results in him blurting out obscenities. I try to keep that reined in on the blog, though, as I realize that some Sheltie-loving children may be browsing through. However, today is deserving of some serious expletives!

It's been a long week. The only time that I have sat down in a somewhat relaxing fashion since last Sunday (when I played hookie from agility class) has been on the toilet. I am home only to sleep and shower it seems. So after this very long week, in which the world has tried its damnedest to be irritating, we finally reach Friday. Aahhh, a lovely Friday at the end of April ...

AND IT IS SNOWING!!

WTF, YO!? REALLY!

Yes, this is Canada, more precisely Saskatchewan, so snow isn't totally uncommon here. But at the end of April? Honestly? You're kidding right?

Okay, okay ... *deep breath* ... it does melt as soon as the sun comes out, it isn't really sticking on the ground much. Nothing that won't be gone by tomorrow, anyways. But the whole concept makes me shudder. It's actually quite pretty ... IN DECEMBER!

Good thing my dogs calm me down. I spent the afternoon away from work at a therapy dog visit with Romeo (have I mentioned I have the best boss ever?!). That always brings my blood pressure down a notch or two. And tomorrow I am helping to evaluate a St. John Ambulance therapy dog test, so hopefully we will have another dozen wonderful therapy dog teams to go out and spread the joy very soon! Then, this Sunday is our first weekend NOT having to teach rally-o classes in what seems like forever. The club I am with (Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club - of which I am also webmaster-extraordinaire*) usually takes a bit of a break in the spring/summer to allow our trainers to train their own dogs and travel to trials. Last week all of our classes graduated and now we are off to enjoy our break. What do dog trainers do on a break, you might ask. Well ... they train dogs! Yes, on Sunday, at the regular time we would normally be teaching classes, we are all getting together to go tracking with our dogs. And who says we don't have a life? Huh?!



* So, maybe I just made that name up for myself right now. Maybe I'm not REALLY an extraordinary webmaster. Maybe "web minion" would be more accurate.

Creek Jumpin'

We took a wander over to the park for a run today after work. It's getting quite sloppy out there with all the snow melting, so the boys found a little "creek" that they had a great time leaping over. Well, "over" may not be completely accurate. I think there were a lot of "almost overs", maybe one or two real "overs". Mostly "splashes".

I think Gio might have cleared this one.

... And he didn't clear this one.

Romeo had a couple good splashes, too.

And this one.

What a handsome old man!

There were some very soggy Shelties after our walk.

Soggy, but happy.

Snow Melt 2009

WE HAVE GRASS!

There is also a fair bit of mud.



But I can't complain too much, could be a lot worse ... like ALL mud. At least there are hits of grass in some areas of the yard.

My driveway lake is nearly dried up. I've tried digging a channel from the driveway to the main road, but the slope isn't right so even with the channel the water doesn't drain much. I just have to wait for it to dry up on its own.



Here is the comparison picture. The big snow piles are nearly gone.

PEEK!

Snow Melt 2009

Okay, okay, I know it doesn't look all THAT different from a couple days ago. But it is currently 2C (about 35F) out there so things are melting like mad! I can't walk out my front door without getting rained on from all the snow melting off the roof. Correct, I do not have rain gutters. Once I can safely place a ladder on the ground without clearing snow and ice, I will be putting rain gutters up. But for now, I just have to dash quickly out the door between droplets.

Snow Melt 2009

Oreo and Misty from Sara's Blog commented on our previous post with shock that we still have a lot of snow.

Yes, we still have a lot of snow!

While it is a little slower than normal to disappear this year, it isn't completely unusual for Saskatoon to still be covered in the white stuff in March. But today was a very nice day out, so we have quite a good melt started. As such, I've decided to document the melt in a little series I will call "Snow Melt 2009". This series could also be accurately called "The Revealing of My New Yard". I have no idea what my yard looks like, I've only ever seen it covered in snow. Will it all be mud? Will there be grass? Will there be copious amounts of weeds that have been mown to resemble grass from a distance? Who knows! SO EXCITING!!

Day 1 ...



We reached a high of -2C (roughly 26F) today, so things are really dripping outside and it's like the parting of the Red Sea when you try to drive down the road.