Frosty

It has been extremely cold the past few days -- so I've got great frost formations on the windows of my house. Too cool not to share! So what do you see in this photo? I see a wolf peeking in, or the face of my dog, Solo, who recently passed. We have wolves here in our woods. We saw signs of them this fall, could even hear them howling at night. This winter though on our walks we're seeing no sign. It's kind of sad, but I bet the deer are glad.
My dog Tootsie Fritz (or TF, her name has been changed to protect the innocent) and I walk twice a day, in the woods, usually for an hour at a time or so. Unless it's been as cold as it has been lately, then it's a walk a day. TF lives for her daily walks. She is an Alaskan Husky, a retired sled dog. So during her formative years, she learned about running, pulling and working as a team - she loved it, and even completed a 200 mile race. When she came to live with me she didn't really get the whole "playing" type of behavior. She does chase a tennis ball now, but really doesn't enjoy much play other than running through the woods. Yesterday we saw a Grouse "hiding" on a tree branch. It was pretty funny he thought he was invisible, or was it he hoped he was invisible? He stayed on the branch as long as he could before he got too scared and then flew off. It's so cool to see what animals and birds do tough it out through our cold, northern winters. Another cheerful face out there - the Chickadee. I really think they should be the State bird of Minnesota, they don't desert us even in the coldest weather.