I loved you danish snow! Why did you have to leave so soon??

 If I were blogging on a regular basis, you would have known that it snowed here. And for this Texan, it snowed a lot.

The apple tree in our backyard after the first snow...

Several more inches fell in the following days so this snow ended up quite deep, I'd guess 8 or 9 inches??  Just a guess

The greatest part about the snow was that I was able to walk Scout in the woods again.  The trails had been wet and muddy from the rain and cool but with the below-freezing temps and snow, they were usable again! So we headed out to see our favorite sites in the winter.

'Sleepy Hollow' trail in the winter

Scout's favorite ground covering: Snow...

Did I mention Scout loved it?  This picture makes me think of a book my friend bought me about a boy and his beagle.

The frozen lake from one side

and the other

I'm sure you get the gist

Scene of my first ever fall on ice.  Yes, I slipped and actually feel while walking down this hill.  The funniest part was the noise Scout made...I guess me falling scared him and he made the noise scooby doo always makes when he's curious or scared...I have no idea how I'd type that noise but maybe you get what I am saying.

Just to see the difference from fall to winter

fall

winter

King Scout

Scout has been using the Orvis Therapeutic bolster bed for over 2 years now. He loves it and we love it because we haven't had to buy a new bed monthly since it is too heavy for him to pick up, drag around the house and ultimately, destroy.  His old bed cover was getting a bit threadbare though so we ordered a new, embroidered cover. Isn't he the cutest??

Baby Scout

Stink Dog

Why is it that every time one's dog goes to the kennel for an overnight stay, they come home smelling like they bathed in urine??

Scout's new bath-time set up.  Yep, that would be a baby tub

S & P

Over the weekend, we traveled from DC to my parents house in the DFW area via Nashville (where we stayed overnight to visit Ed's family).  Traveling with Scout is extremely stressful--for us, not him.  He isn't afraid of riding in the car but becomes overly excited.  He pants, howls, paces from window to window, climbs over the driver's seat(and becomes wedged between the wall and seat-it's a circus I tell ya)...Needless to say, I was happy when we finally pulled into my parent's driveway.  I didn't take my camera out until we were a couple hours outside of Dallas on the 2nd day of driving. (which was the first time I could even relax for a few minutes..we were 2 hours from Keller--there was hope we would make it without throwing a beagle out the window)  Scout was so tired from his first day of mischief that he slept most of the 2nd day's drive, thank goodness. 

He actually slept on my lap which is a scout-miracle.  This never would have happened if he didn't have his sedative-laced treat.  Yep, he gets knocked out for road trips. 

Strange thing is that he fights sleep and never becomes is actually "knocked out". His eyes are droopier than a blood hound....but he keeps 'em open

To Scout's defense, most of our car trips are associated with moving in his mind, so I think he is worried about being left behind. He wants to keep and eye, or chin, on both of us. 

A beautiful Texas sunset.  Even Ed agrees with this statement.

Scout and Panzer, together again.

They are spoiled babies.  Panzer is jealous and Scout is selfish.  
Scout, howling at panzer over the tennis ball.

sort of friends 

 alpha dog in the chair?

Scout

my first pet ever, Charcoal.  She's an old lady now..

The Lion and the Lamb, sleeping next to each other.
You can make your own judgement as to who is the Lion and who is the Lamb.... :)

Last post from DC

Today's the final day at our lovely sweet suite (as I've been calling it to myself).  It's neither lovely nor sweet but does the job.  I am finished sight-seeing for now and I did not finish my "list".  Its been raining all week thanks to tropical storm Lee which really put a damper on going out. I did visit Georgetown Cupcakes one last time on Tuesday for old-times sake :)  That place gets better every time I go- the frosting was still delicious and the cupcakes were both moist.  Only bad thing...I had the worst stomach ache (i accidentally typed stomache for stomach ache--that still makes sense though right?? they have nearly the same ending)   Here are our pictures from the past week:

Out in the rain.  This park is called "Dark Star Park."  Unusual.

A celebratory meal...I learned to open a hardshell crab and thought the yellow-green stuff inside
was butter with herbs.....I was just a bit off the mark with this assumption :)

On Tuesday, I did my last day of sightseeing.
I went to the Freer & Sackler Galleries & National Gallery of Art.
(this was another stranger-taken pic at sculpture garden)

Inside NG of Art.

When I left, it was no longer just sprinkling but pouring rain. I did a bit of running, jumping and splashing over and through these puddles to get to the metro.  I was soaked by the end but loved being out on the mall nearly alone. 

Scout & I walk to the park around Iwo Jima to see the DC skyline...

....but yesterday it was too foggy to see even the capitol so we looked at the flowers instead.

Side story to this park: Today on our morning walk, someone, someone important with a black entourage of cars and about 8 Secret Service agents pulled into the park in front of us and got out of their cars to see Iwo Jima.  Being the 'cool' local pedestrian that I am, I didn't want to stare so I never did see who was there. I had to chuckle to myself when rather than just getting in the car to leave, this important person used the porta-potty before hitting the road. The funny part was not that he was using a porta-potty but that all the secret service agents surrounded the porta-potty while in use.    Aww, the downside of being a public figure. 

I loved these.

  I like to take awkward-looking pictures of scout...
his nose looks huge and this wasn't even the worst of  them. 

Irene and the Earthquake

Hi! I'm writing this from my 'cave' as Ed calls it...my half of the air mattress.  Since my computer has to be plugged in to turn on, I am limited to the 6 foot area around the outlet for all of my online activities.  In the past few days, I have read Pride & Prejudice on my itouch,  then watched the 5-part mini series from 1980 on Netflix. I also read the FarmChicks Christmas book. On top of all of that, I have watched all of Samantha Who? and most of Drop Dead Diva over the past 3 weeks. By the end of the month, I will have filled my TV watching quota for an entire year.  I need to stop because I have had the worst headache the past 2 days which Ed attributes to watching tv on a computer screen...so I am switching to my blog. That's better right?   Maybe I should have updated it sooner as DC has been a happening place.


On Tuesday, Scout and I were on our 'midday walk' around the neighborhood when I experienced what I thought was the most intense case of vertigo ever.  One minute, I was watching Scout thoroughly inspect a tree, the next minute, I felt like I was going to fall.  When I looked up and saw the windows in the courthouse/jail violently shaking, I realized that it wasn't just me.  In the minutes following the quake,  people began streaming out of all the office and apartment buildings.  One guy ran up to me with wide, crazy eyes and asked if "i had felt that".  They thought their building was going to collapse.  I guess being in a building during an earthquake is scarier than standing on the ground next to a tree.   Thankfully, no one was injured, though the Washington Monument had cracks near the top and some spires were broken off the National Cathedral. 

that can't be good....

Now, Irene is on its way past the mid-Atlantic.  So far, we have just had rain and gusts of wind but nothing serious yet.  The most unfortunate thing for me is that I bought rain boots at the end of april and waited all summer for a good rain to arrive so that I could really use them.  Now, the rain is here and my boots are gone.   Scout has been able to use his new rain poncho though and he isn't as big of a fan of it as I am :)  Look how cute he is while wearing it!!  He's Little Red Riding Hood!  It also keeps him slightly dryer than if he had nothing at all on--though his legs and belly still get wet from the grass.  You can see the rain coat here if your interested :)  Now, if I could just get him to wear some rain boots......

big bad wolf?

His ears and face still got wet because the wind kept blowing the hood back.

Irene update:  since I didn't post this yesterday, I will add that the power flickered a few times in the middle of the night and a few trees were broken by the wind but that was all that happened in our immediate area