Some of you may not know this, but huskies that live in cold climates hang onto their coats all winter and don't shed. Sofia has done a superlative job of not shedding this winter, something I appreciate greatly as Ole is a Shed-O-Matic dog whose goal is to cover every square inch of everything in the entire world with his hair. A little relief from shedding is much appreciated, Sofia!
However there are now over eight hours of sunlight a day and wham! Sofia is starting to shed. Soon we'll have the Fluffy Pantaloons of Spring, something I look forward to every year. Not to mention Dog Plucking Season, also great fun but only tolerated by Sofie, and if you know her, don't try it. I'm the only one allowed to pluck her.
So the very first, earliest sign of Spring has arrived! Sofia slowly turning in to Buffalo Dog!
The second sign is raven mating season, and more importantly, the fact that they are making the Water Dripping noise. Mind you, nothing is melting, nor is it scheduled to melt for at least a month (or more). But it's close, I can tell and so can the ravens.
The third sign is that I can take non-blurry action shots of the dogs with my iPhone.
This also illustrates that it's warm enough to play outside, rather than being -40. I took these pictures today and it was about 0°
We've got solar gain now, which means that some of the strength of the sun is coming back and lingering, being absorbed by the landscape. On the one hand this means the ice that covers the roads (from a rotten freezing rain episode earlier in the winter) is periodically melting on top and getting way too slickety-boo and causing the unaware and just plain stupid to drive right off the road into the ditch, or, unfortunately, into oncoming traffic.
On the other hand, it means that I could park my car with the sun shining right on the back end of it, go eat lunch and come out and take half an inch of ice off my bumper and toss it away! Yes!
My yard still looks like this, it's true. And I love the way snow is so clean and doesn't muck up the house the way dirt and especially mud does. Truth be told, we don't have Spring. We go straight from Winter into Summer. Still, I'm glad it will give way to the green summer not too long from now.