The long, long walk...

So Mom and Pa came up to see us and offered to take us tramping through the woods. We have wanted to do this for a while, but the weather has not cooperated. Today was beautiful! We had deep blue sky, the big fluffy Colorado clouds and about 60 degreees up on the ridge. I decided to take Flint, even though he's not supposed to be exercising that much. We went up the loop road and then cut through the woods to walk along the ridge above the lake. Echo was thrilled to be running a new path and stayed ahead of us leading the way throughout the whole walk.



This is the top of the ridge looking out over the lake.



I knew Flint wouldn't be able to walk the whole way. I took off my scarf and made a sling, put it under his chest and over my shoulder. This way, he was balanced on my hip and the load was spread evenly. I could only carry him like this for about 200 yards. Richard also carried him. We tried to do it in places where the trail was rough or uphill and let him walk downhill and in low spots.



Once Flint realized he could get a free ride, he'd stop walking and wait for me to sling him up again! Richard and I carried him about four times before we made him walk the rest of the way to Mom and Pa's house. By the way, Flint weighs 53 pounds.



Two tired puppies! We stopped at Mom's to have a bit of birthday cake and give the dogs some water. In the 30 minutes we sat there, the temperature dropped 10 degrees, a wind kicked up and we came outside to wisps of fog and overcast skies! Richard and I hurried home in the cold and wind, surprised at the sudden change in weather.

I gave Flint a pain pill, doctored his wound a little to be sure it was okay, helped him onto the bed and he's been sacked out ever since. I expect to be doing more walks - the days are warming up and the housebuilding is slowing down! And Flint will need the exercise, too.

After I finished all that and we puttered around a little THIS is what we found when we looked outside again! SNOW!