Reading 11 bluetyger

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Issue 11
February 1, 2002

Photography
Winter Photos

Victoria Harbour Dock

St. Patrick's Church, Perkinsfield, Ontario

Photography Weblinks

Poem
"Lartigue Photo: 45. Solange, Neuilly, 1929"

Writing
A Short Character Sketch

Reading
Reading - Patrick O'Brian and W.E.B. Griffin

Reading - Nicola Griffith's The Blue Place

Golden Retriever Saga
2X Golden: "Winter and Such"

2X Golden:
"Winter and Such"

The dogs love the snow. I know, you're shocked. They roll in it and take a snow bath every time they go out. Even when the snow thawed and refroze and became like styrofoam, they didn't mind. Shakespeare in particular is fond of eating "snow cakes". I am told they are very low in calories.

Even the cat, Mr. Sundance, enjoys a stroll outdoors in the winter. Although most of his travel has been to the bare of snow strip along the house foundation where a little salad, also known as dormant grass, can be munched. He also does a pretty fair rail walk on the back deck. If I am available, that is, leaning on the rail looking out at the snow, the cat will saunter along the rail and lay a head butt on me. He has been watching a lot of NFL lately.

Shakespeare has a special game of finding large snow "boulders" and then carving them to pieces with his paw nails. With his energy on display at moments like this, I still wonder how we might plug him up to some storage battery arrangement. They are a little starved for dog buddies, of which they were flush in Toronto. Still they get to meet people on the road and a few dogs. Diamond usually drags me over, despite my Popeye-like forearms (the soon to be patented exercise device: "The Single-minded Golden Retriever Leash Puller All in One Gym").

One all season issue is the puzzle of why the dogs choose to lie down in the L-shaped hallway from the front to the back. This is the narrowest space in the house. When they lie down there, the hallway is transformed into an indoor obstacle course. So far I have not stepped on a tail or a snout, but it has been a near thing more than once.

The dogs have even grown used to the sound of a snowmobile passing by at 3 a.m. usually on Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I haven't. I have never been on a snowmobile and can't say I like their sound or smell. Is there some reason why they don't have a muffler or if they do why does it not reduce their decibels. Recently someone from the town rode their snowmobile into open water along the shore and had the fortune of having someone hear his cries for help and then being pulled out by an OPP officer who lives along this road. The misfortune of the episode was his being charged with DWI and being in possession of a controlled substance. There was no indication from the local newspaper report as to the fate of the snowmobile. Perhaps it will come out of the "freezer" come spring.