Kiska with her long flowing fur in the snow and wind.
Close up showing that wooly fur.
Always important to look good.
Hey, no pictures. A girl has to shake the snow off.
She is just thankful she is not hanging out with these clowns. How often is Rusty the normal one in this crew?
Water after a hike tastes so good.
Mine sharing some of that?
Get your own, Cheesewhiz!
The Hu-Dad always provides.
Sheesh! Pups!
Saturday was one of those beautiful winter days. Temperatures were cool, but not frigid. And the sky was cloudless. Clouds rolled in late in the day with flurries, but the morning was spectacular. And so we went strolling out to our favorite tree up to Cataloochee Ski and just enjoyed the weather. Hope your Saturday was as nice.
Our favorite tree framed against Cataloochee Ski.
Cataloochee Ski was having a spectacular day - and was not too crowded.
Cheoah is showing her true mountain spirit with a long blade of grass tucked away for future use!
Pffffffft! You call this snow? When I was a mere pup we used to have to walk up hill - both ways - in snow over our ears.
(Cheoah’s reaction to the latest “storm” that barely qualified as a flurry).
No real theme today except for some random pictures taken this past week – and all cute in their own way. Hope you enjoy!
Ruby of the Annex waiting in the back of her "ride" - Love the paw tuck
Sisters and #1 and #2 in the pack, Natasha and Kiska. Kiska is clearly the right "paw" of Queen Natasha the Evil. Princess Kiska the Not So Bad?
A second later - I like their head placement better, but Natasha's tongue is doing weird things.
We might have run Qannik and Cheoah to exhaustion.
We used to refer to Kodiak and Kiska as Boyfriend and Girlfriend they were so close, but it has been a long time since we have snapped a picture like this.
We had a gorgeous day with a high of 48 F (9 C). That was a tremendous break from our weather of the past few weeks and even The Herd seemed to enjoy the weather. We took several walks during the day, but this particular walk was near sunset Saturday evening along the Blue Ridge Parkway. After walking a good ways, Cheoah decided she needed to savor snow in her own special way – the Cheoah Slide:
Cheoah spots the perfect spot for a slide
Sniffing to make sure that it is perfect.
You start with a chin slide to crush the snow into your collar.
Then you slide the side of your face to make sure the ears are filled with snow.
Then, of course, you go for the alternate side of the face. Equal treatment is important.
Ahhhhhhhh!
Kodiak inspecting the form very carefully (he is a novice snow slider).
No flash is being used. Those are just crazy eyes.
After a really good slide, it is important to savor the moment.
We have achieved Cheoah Zen.
Ok - about done.
Time to stroll off into the sunset.
We went walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where our section is typically closed throughout the winter. Normally, we have it all to ourselves, but fresh powder brings out lots of others. Here is who we shared the trail with.
Wooo - Who is that coming down the road?
One of the half dozen cross country skiers we met.
And this guy was loving running with his skier
And kept a good pace the whole time.
Kiska got a high vantage point to watch everyone pass
And all of these people were sledding down a hill
Qannik was wondering who was making all of the racket behind him
Some Pup was doing her "I wanna" song and would not be quiet
For those of you who do not know the “I wanna” song, Cheoah can be quite vocal when she wants something, which is pretty much all of the time. The trick is figuring out what she wants at that given moment so you can get a few minutes of quiet. I wanna drink of water. I wanna eat something. I wanna go to the bathroom. I wanna go for a walk. I wanna have my belly scratched. I wanna out of my crate. I wanna in my crate. And so on. Experience tells us that she gets louder and louder until you give in. And then you have a little quiet until she thinks of something else she wants.
In this case, she was bored watching the sledders and wanted to keep walking. After a few minutes of crescendo, we caved and kept walking. She has the humans well trained with embarrassment as her motivating tool. Sigh.
*******
Pups – need your help. Another of us is sick and needs pawsitive thoughts. Please cross your paws and send the best of vibes to Sitka who is being treated at the University of Georgia for a pneumothorax – which basically means a hole in her lungs. As of this posting, she was responding to treatments, but next steps are still being determined. Join The Herd in praying for a full and quick recovery. Power of the Paw!
Most of you already know our friend, Max of South Africa. Max has taken many of us dog bloggers on educational tours of his beautiful country. Knowing Max is ailing, we have invited him to share some of The Herd’s adventures today.
Max and Kiska enjoying a snowy walk
Max waiting with Cheoah for her rescue from the babygate trap.
Max spending time with Ruby at The Thundering Herd Annex
Max, Tartok and Ruby hanging out on the picket line in front of the Jeep
Max waiting on the picket line to go sled training with Rusty, Qannik and Natasha
Max and Rusty playing with balloons
Most of all, Max, we wanted you and your family to know that The Herd is thinking of you every day and wishing you the best. We would like to invite you to be an honorary member of The Herd:
Want to see where all Max has been in the last 24 hours? Here is the list (as we know it). If we left you out, please leave a comment and we will add your blog (we are updating as find them):
Clive – Assistance Dog for Autism
Romping and Rolling in the Rockies
P.S. – Happy Valentines, everyone!
Pups, we have to tell you how hard things have been this week. Can you believe that we went 30 hours STRAIGHT without any winter weather warnings? Whatever is a Siberian supposed to do? But at least some more snow moved in Friday afternoon and we had a great walk Friday night. All was right with the world because it was snowing and, very importantly, we beat the snow plow. Here are some pictures from the walk:
Red Team - in a blur
Black and White Team
Kiska covered in the falling snow
Kiska telling everyone to hurry it up.
Qannik practicing his winter camouflage
Queen Natasha setting the pace
Kodiak and Cheoah waiting on Rusty to catch up
Rusty - Why does everyone want me to stay in step?
Because I like to march to my own drummer
Stay with us for a little bit and the title of the post will become clear.
First – Cheesewhiz. That would be one of the many nicknames for Cheoah. No particular purpose other than the Che sound. We call her Cheesewhiz all of the time and that gets some pretty funny reactions. (In the event you forgot how she got the name Cheoah – the Cherokee word for otter – please go see her page here. Now remember that we live beside the Cherokee Reservation, so people actually know we have a dog named Otter which is as strange as calling her Cheesewhiz).
Now for the stuck part. We use baby gates in strategic places to prevent certain leaping animals from going to places unsupervised. The gazelle of the group – Kiska – is a master at clearing baby gates, so we use a double baby gate at the base of the steps from the den because she has never figured out a way to leap over two baby gates on a curving set of steps. She will some day, and we have a third gate ready to go when that happens. Seriously.
The Cheesewhiz has never tried to go over the gates. So imagine my surprise when I came down the steps and saw this:
Seriously, I was not trying to get through these gates. Honest. Now put down that camera and get me out.
