Spring Wonderland

I've learned that one should generally never totally trust the weather report. It seems as much art as science in some cases. But this week, MeteoFrance has proven that they know their stuff.

Last week we were all walking around in tee shirts, soaking in the sunshine. It really felt like spring had arrived. Yes, the weather reports were calling for a change this week, but it seemed hard to believe.

Sunday was definitely colder than Saturday, and yesterday colder still. We had that sleety rain that is more unpleasant than either rain or snow, then a few snow flurries in the afternoon, but nothing that really stuck to the ground.

Today, we've had real, honest-to-goodness snow! It seemed to me to be more snow than the one winter storm we had in late January/early February. It was odd, too, because the texture of the snow seemed to change from one minute to the next. Sometimes, it looked almost like little pellets of styrofoam, as if a Hollywood production company was hidden somewhere making fake snow. Then, it would suddenly turn into big, fat, wet flakes.

I took the dogs for their afternoon outing right in the heaviest part of the snowfall. I think they were enjoying it and would have liked to run and play. But I didn't feel like having to chase them if they took off after something, and I particularly didn't feel like having to walk a cold, wet Shmoo home if he decided to go for a swim in the ice cold river.

So, we just walked and enjoyed the beauty of the gardens, which were buried under a pristine blanket of white. There was almost no traffic anywhere, so the world was silent in that muffled way that only happens during a snowstorm.

We have to go over the col to Limoux tomorrow; I hope we make it!

Ciao for now.

Randy

The Greatest Gift

I gave this to JM yesterday. It is absolutely THE best thing you can give your spouse; it is the right to say, "I told you so!"

This came about in two parts. On Saturday, when we took the dogs for their afternoon walk, our friends Yves and Hélene were in their garden. I stopped in for a quick visit and the dogs were so happy on the grass that I decided to take a chance and let them play off leash. Since the garden isn't fenced in, I kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't overrun the neighboring plots, which are all prepared and planted with spring crops.

To my surprise, they stayed only in the grassed in part where they were supposed to be and had a wonderful time running and playing.

Yesterday, I thought I would take them back for a quick romp before lunch. This is where the gift to JM comes in. He is always against the idea of me letting them off their leashes, especially both at the same time.

Things went well for a few minutes, then Shmoo made "the discovery." In the neighboring garden, all the way at the end, was a rabbit hutch filled with rabbits!!! He ran over and was fascinated by them. Amazingly, he came back to me when I called and I was able to attach him to his leash. The problem was that Maggie ALSO noticed the rabbits! She was not as willing to come back, and I had to go over to grab her and drag her back. We had to try to do this without destroying the nicely planted veggie patch!

Of course, after that, there is no way to ever let them loose there again, because they KNOW that there are rabbits (or as they call them: snack food) nicely "packaged" in a big box, just waiting to be caught. Luckily, none of the rabbits dropped dead from fear while all this was going on.

So, no harm was done, but it was a nice present for the other half.

This week, we don't have to worry about anyone playing anywhere. The temperature dropped by over 10 degrees C during the day, we're having rain mixed with sleet today and tomorrow the weather calls for actual snow!

Spring. Don't you just love it?

Ciao for now.

Randy