Clover had a very busy morning, and as she is just awakening from a long, needed nap, she would like to guest blog and share her adventures.
I lie nestled in my usual space where I help Mom write in the afternoons. While she works at the desk, my favorite spot is below the desk with her slippers tucked under my chin or belly. As I hear clank, clank, clank on the key board, feel her wiggling her toes underneath me, and see Bing snuggled nearby, I know all is well and I can tell you about this crazy day.
This morning, Bing and I awoke to more snow, and lots of it. Mom assures Bing and me that we will have snow every week until July, and I could not love it more. Snow is about the most exciting thing ever, and as soon as Mom opens the front door, Bing and I bolt out quick as a wink and start our favorite game of leap frog. Mom gets a little cranky waiting for us to finish this game, but we have so much fun.
Usually, a truck with a giant scoop comes and clears the snow on our sharp uphill lane, or Dad goes out and shovels. The truck did not show up today, and Dad is out of town, so with snow about knee high to me, Mom knew what she had to do. She started to bundle up, which did not impress me too much, as she always does this just before closing Bing and me up in a crate, but when she called us to the door, we nearly knocked her over in pursuit of slushy excitement.
Snow in March feels much spongier than snow in January and February. Then, the snow is very dry and blows all over the place. Bing and I just plow through cold winter snow and it falls right off us. Spring snow is altogether different, and that is where my story gets sticky – literally.
Wrapped in a bundle of wool, Mom grabbed the snow shovel, and before she started to push, she signaled to Bing and me that we could play in the woods. Oh boy. Oh joy. Fox squirrels in our woods grow very big while feasting on a generous supply of Dad’s bird food, and the squirrels taunted us to bark up trees and chase in circles. Snow splattered everywhere. Bing and I played some more leap frog and we played so rough, Mom yelled at us something about hearing our skulls clank together and that we needed to tone it down. So, up the hill we ran following a deer trail, and hoping to find something squirmy or a great stick.
Bing can be so clumsy when she runs and as we were playing the game of dodge the brush and trees, while jumping over top each other, Bing tripped me and we both rolled down to get stopped by a tree. Mom continued huffing and puffing while pushing heavy wet snow so she could get the car out of the driveway, and I ran to her with a headache and a panicky look because I could not see.
My eyesight was not the dilemma and hitting the tree smarted, but my problem was wet snow stuck all over my fur and completely covering my eyes. Mom laughed like she heard her first joke of the day, and decided we needed to go in and dry out. She locked us in the crate to drip dry and just headed back out to the driveway like nothing was wrong.
If Mom would have noticed, she would have seen something very wrong. I had snow caked in my fur over my entire body and still could not see past the mound of frozen slurp on my face. While she finished the driveway, I lay in the crate next to cold, but no-so-frozen Bing and I felt like an icicle. With my entire body caked in ice, I lay there and shivered.
When Mom came in the house ready to clean up and head out the door, she saw me shivering. Finally. She ripped off slush stuck in my face to reveal very sad eyes, and I dipped my face into my curled-up frame. Mom rushed me into a warm shower and I let the water wash over me until all the slurp melted at last.
I shivered and shook until she wrapped me in the best blanket in the house -the afghan that my daddy, Nicholas, kept on the couch in our Murfreesboro apartment. My shakes released and I nestled my head on Mom’s lap as she sat on my bed with me, wrapped up in a bundle of warmth and the kind, sweet scent of love. All afternoon, I slept and dreamt of squirrels, deer, and special memories of people I love taking care of me.
Even though I have not attempted to go back out in the snow today, I am sure I will be ready to do it all again tomorrow.
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