Dan Antion

Try Harder Next Time – #1linerWeds

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Full moon over Great River Park. The park is closed.

Monday was cold – we enjoyed a high of 5°f (-15°c) which lasted for about 8 minutes before dropping back to 4 and then heading south of the zero. Tuesday started out above zero, but not by much.

Hey, it’s above zero

Maddie was having a difficult time conducting “business” in the yard. Sunday’s storm ended by depositing a layer of ice over 6” of snow. The extreme cold that followed hardened that ice layer.

Note: After I clear the driveway and sidewalk, I snow blow some paths in the back yard. I make sure the Editor can get to her firewood, and I clear a path around the perimeter for Maddie. As I make Maddie’s path, I clear some “rest areas” for, well, you know.

Maddie likes to turn around a few times before doing stuff. I didn’t leave enough room for her to turn without stepping up on the ice. Also, there were a few places where she tried to get off the path, but I hadn’t cleared a spot. She stepped up onto the ice but slipped off. Frustrated, she looked up at me and seemed to say:

“You did a nice job on the path, but there aren’t enough rest areas and the rest areas that you did make aren’t big enough.”

Thinking about the origin of this blog’s name, I guess I should have posted a sign “Inadequate Facilities” on the rest areas.

I made them bigger when I got home last night. Again, I’ll skip the details, but Maddie seemed to approve.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. And, given the time of the year, it’s also part of Just-Jot-January. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

The park is closed, the river is starting to freeze and the city looks cold.
I left this bottle of water in my car on Monday.
Freezing rain happened here.
There’s a payloader back there, clearing the entrance to our office park.
Monday morning full moon.
This struck me as a bit of overkill – we only had 6″ of snow.
As you move south (to where I work) the storm brought more freezing rain than we had. We live 16 miles north of this parking lot.
Much better – all that took was a little shovel action.
This is an example of the rest areas I made – inadequate by Maddie’s standards.
The ice supports, Maddie, but not me.
Here’s a place where Maddie expected to find a rest area.
Crisscross contrails.
We’re starting to see slightly later sunsets.

70 comments

  1. We’ve been getting some pictures down here of the weather you’re having. This morning was a tug boat in MA. It was hard to tell it was a tug boat with all the ice on it as they hammered, trying to chip it away. But the question is, where are they going to go? The harbor is frozen over too!!
    So tell Maddie, she has it good with an owner that has a snow blower!!

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    • Thanks Judy. The scary thing is that we’re supposed to get warm rain today and tomorrow. I hope it finds a place to go. I may not have made the rest areas big enough, but I did work to get the snow away from the house so the water can run out.

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  3. I guess you forgot to do the math when determining the size of Maddie’s rest area, huh? ;-)

    It’s that time of year – snow and cold. It’s snowing here today, 5-7″ expected. Then bitterly cold on Friday and Saturday (0 deg for a high). I’ll be staying in and all I can say is I hope Maddie is spared doing her business…resting…in that kind of cold.

    Have a nice, warm Wednesday, Dan!

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  4. LOL – the things we hoomans do for our dogs to do their business! Bummer about the snow, then ice. We haven’t had any of that yet. But it isn’t fun. Stay warm, and hope you have a great Wednesday!

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  5. I remember clearing a path for my boxer, many years ago. She loved to run in the snow but not deep snow. If was fun to watch her run at full speed in a circle. Great memories.

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  6. Awwww, the poor redhead. We go through the same thing here with Murphy. In addition to the difficulty of maneuvering in snow and ice, she has the added handicap of having 3 legs. So adequate “rest areas” and the paths to them, are a high priority. Needless to say, it’s a plus for me when I’m stumbling around pooper scooping!

    Those poor frozen trees….but they sure look beautiful. Like the shot with the contrails too. Ummmm, maybe you shouldn’t leave bottled water in the car in the winter Dan. Just sayin’!
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Aw, poor Murphy, that has to make walking hard enough, without ice. We do the “scooping” as we go, because Maddie won’t go if we aren’t out there with her. It’s a pain, but it’s nice not having to do the whole yard.

      Freezing rain always leaves the trees looking pretty, but walking across that parking lot was scary. Winter in New England – it’s what we have.

      I don’t normally have water in the car, but I was very glad to see that the bottle didn’t burst.

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      • Maddie and Murphy are of the same mind…..we have to be right there with her or she won’t ‘go’. With Murphy, she won’t complete her business in one place. She would rather leave ‘gifts’ in her favorite spots which requires that I have to follow her Hansel and Gretel trail to pick them all up. 🙄 Yeah, our girls have issues!! Lol.
        🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • It is pretty to look at, until you realize that it’s also covering the parking lot under your feet. Fortunately, the building folks put down a lot of sand. Maddie isn’t so much fussy, as she has a routine. She’s generally not good when any of her routines get interrupted.

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    • Thanks Lois. Maddie is still waiting for the ice to melt or get covered with new snow. She doesn’t navigate well on it, but she wants to walk where she wants to walk. I tried to explain that I can’t melt the yard.

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  10. Of course Maddie approved, Dan. She knows how much you do for her. Ice is beautiful to look at but dangerous to walk on. All our beautiful snow is melting today with rain. Oh well, at least we are now out of the frigid zone. 😁

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    • The rain is heading this way, Amy. I’m sure it will make a nice mess as it washes away the snow and ice. The ice is treacherous to walk on. I’m sure Maddie is frustrated with having less activity, but we have to be safe.

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  11. Freezing rain makes for gorgeous photos and horrible everything else. It’s warm(ish) today, but due to get oh-so-cold tonight. I’m hoping today’s rain doesn’t freeze to the point of breaking trees, like the one a few years ago.

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  12. Our pets can teach us so much, to the point where I’m considering turning around a bunch of times myself before using our indoor ‘rest area’ …

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    • Ha ha – we do joke about that, Steve. She cries at the door like “oh my, I’m going to burst” and then we take her out and “well, I have to check the perimeter first, and I have to sniff this, and I have to look there, and, oh yeah, I have to pee.”

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  19. Yep we got another 6.5″ last night with a 1/4″ on ice beneath it, so not work today. Yea. I totally get Maddie’s turn around areas. We have to have them as well I am just lucky as Mimi doesn’t not mind the snow and creates her own rotations as she rotates.

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  20. That crusted snow takes me waaaaay back. We used to climb to the highest of hills on our farm with a piece of cardboard and then slide on it clear to the bottom, quite a ways. Most fun of all till we had to walk back up to go again! Photos of trees beautiful! You’re lucky that bottle didn’t explode as a carton of Coke cans did in CO years ago! 😃

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    • I used to take our daughter sledding on the hills behind our Town Hall. Climbing back up was a chore, but worth it. I was very happy that the water bottle didn’t break open.

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  23. Wow, I’ve never been in 3 deg F! When I read what it was in Celcius, I groaned. Am not coming to visit you in winter, that’s for sure! Had no idea that it meant doing all these extra things for Maddie when there’s much snow. A medal for all dog owners in your area!

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    • Thanks Jesh. We have to clear the driveay and the sidewalk, a few extra paths for the pup aren’t that hard. She does appreciate on days like this. When It’s just snow, she’ll climb and crawl through all of it – the paths are for us at that point. The ice is scary, even for her.

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  26. Freezing rain is soooo treacherous but omg, the end result is beautiful. I hope you didn’t have problems with power outages. That’s a big problem here in some areas because of all the trees.

    Poor Maddie … she needed ice grippers on her paws 😉

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    • After the disaster in 2011 that left half of the state without power for up to 12 days, they have trimmed a ton of trees. We’ve been lucky ever since. We were without power for 10 days.

      Maddie does need some help.

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        • This was earlier in the year. It was a freak storm with about a foot of heavy wet snow the end of October. The leaves hadn’t fallen yet and the snow stuck to them. We had our wood stove going the entire time. We read a lot by LED book lights 🙂

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  29. We’re enjoying some great winter time here in Mumbai. I mean it is just around 60 F but that is ‘winter’ for us. I hope you guys are safe and healthy. Take Care.

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