Some of you may remember me from my debut blog post back in November.

Mom was looking for a break, so I offered to write today’s post and share a bit from our adventures yesterday.  (Well… she did the typing, but I did all the creative thinking!)

First off… I’m very proud to share that, with the break in weather and the opportunity to get back out and walk with Mom, I fit back into this spring jacket / raincoat (albeit barely fit) since loosing the 3 or 4 lbs I recently packed on.  Don’t I look svelte?!

When the weather was below zero for weeks on end, the only exercise I was getting was my occasional escape into the woods when Mom or Dad weren’t paying attention where I was secretly feasting on the hind quarter of a deer I found (all by myself!).   Then Dad had to go and spoil everything by tracking my footprints in the snow the led him directly to my snacking spot.  I should have taking some twists and turns to throw him off, but my exuberance to get directly there won out.

Since it was still in the below freezing temperatures when Dad found MY deer, the best he could do was attempt burying it with sticks and random stuff that I had ABSOLUTELY NO TROUBLE getting past, so when caught again (due to the smell on my breath and the size of my waistline) when returning from “going potty,” I was grounded.

Seriously…. Grounded!?  How humiliating!  My doggie door was BLOCKED!  No free range for me.  I had to humble myself to ring the hanging bell on the front door when I absolutely HAD to go out.

So when Mom started offering walks again recently when the weather broke, I got my mojo back and thought I’d share a bit of our adventure with you all.

Monday was so warm and sunny, we didn’t think to take pictures since we were enjoying it so much.  Yesterday was a bit drizzly and dreary, but that didn’t hold us back – though we did only have the iPhone with us to capture these snippets we are sharing.

First stop was this tree that has been troubling me for a while now.  I really wish my friend Jim would get back from Florida!  He would be appalled to see this tree down and laying in his yard.  And besides, I am sure he misses seeing me walk by his house daily and letting me run around his yard and give me ear scratches and belly rubs.  COME HOME JIM!

There are several of these bright red fire hydrants that we pass on our walk.  We thought our friend Dan at RedStuffDan would like this shot.  He takes some amazing photos (most with red stuff) from a place called South West France.   Whatever…

It is exciting to see all the things that have been buried under the snow for so long.  I was very carefully sniffing around these VERY prickly things that have fallen on the ground from a large tree.  They were not really very interesting to me, but I’ll bet our friend PJ from BeautifulWords would think of a funny or heartwarming story to write about them!

When we saw this litter, we thought of our friend Jo at DailyRecord365 and the beautiful work of art she made from the things she collected on her recent walk.  Mom and I have decided we are going to try to remember to carry a trash bag one day a week and pick up this ugly litter people have thrown out on our beautiful stretch of walk.

It was great to see and hear the water running in this little creek that runs under the road and into the woods that has been frozen for so long.  We envision John at JustMobilePhotos doing something crazy cool with his photo editing skills with this one and making it all dreamy and freaky looking, or Sylvia at SpanishWoods writing something poignant in just a few words that would make us smile and remember this moment all day.

Every time we pass these beautiful blue spruce trees (that smell like Christmas by the way), we think of our friend Barbara at SilverintheBarn and all the beautiful arrangements she creates and how much she loves and misses blue spruce trees.  Come visit Barbara and we can send some back with you!  And maybe a certain little Westie-boy would like to join us for a walk.

I am very curious about walking up this path, but Mom says that bright orange sign means we are not allowed.  We try to follow the rules (except when fresh venison is involved!)  And we know our friend JR at Nuggets of Gold would want us to do the right thing.

It was a great walk, but I got quite muddy… And we all know what that means……

the dreaded “B” word!

Yep – you guessed it – BATH – I had to immediately get in the laundry room stationary tub (seriously!?! – there are other much nicer tubs in the house!)  Albert from AlbertsNewYork – are you with me here?!  Do your people make you bathe in the laundry tub?  HELP!

And then my Mom thinks this is a cute way to dry me off….  MH at MotherHenDiaires – please hold your tongue – I know you have something to say about this pose – but I beg you to spare your wit at my expense (unless it involves one of your chickens as a treat!)

This is how I like to dry off!  Like a real man!  Like AI from AlmostIowa who lives in a cabin in the woods and writes about macho, manly stuff and doesn’t feel the need to check freshness dates on things (like dead deer in the woods).

But after all this excitement, I need to rest.  And my favorite place is to undo Mom and Dad’s bed and snuggle between my Dad’s two pillows and hide my nose (but never my eyes that are always on the lookout – unless they close –  for the UPS man or squirrels or deer or bunnies or birds or the pizza delivery man or….) and I dream about Laura at CreateArtEveryDay capturing my beautiful eyes in one of her famous sketches and challenging people to guess who it is (since I am kinda famous) or maybe Jenny from RamblingsfromaMum could write a beautiful poem about me….

Well – I’m exhausted after all of this blogging stuff, so I think I will take a nap, but I hope you will write and comment so Mom will give me more opportunities to be a guest blogger here at lifeinbetween.  After all, I am part of what makes her life so darn wonderful!

Sincerely,

Mikey McKinney