Our regular dog walks have gotten considerably less strenuous as of late, and Friday's romp through the snowy meadow was no exception. Michelle is in her ninth month now, and it's simply not safe or sensible to go plodding along on the rough trails we used to walk.

For a while we had been walking up the steep closed firetower road west of here. The mile long hill climb was a good aerobic workout for Michelle during the later months of pregnancy. But even that has now become rather difficult. Plus, it's a good thirty minute drive just to get there, and with the due date rapidly approaching, I wouldn't want anything to happen halfway up that hill.

So Friday afternoon, while I chased the dogs around the huge field with snowballs, Michelle strolled the unplowed roadway at its edge. After every few snowballs, the dogs would spot her on the edge of the field and go speeding through the snow towards her. Catching her, they would bounce around her for a few happy moments and come running back to catch and chase more snow.

It was the perfect setting for all of us to get a good workout and enjoy the snowy afternoon. By the time we made it back to the car, the dogs and us, we were all ready to relax with some dinner. But it was a beautiful afternoon, and the snowflakes were just beginning to taper off. So we took the long way home and toured the pristine countryside surrounding town.

Driving around the backroads during a weekday snowstorm is a good way to tell which roads get a lot of traffic. Surprisingly enough, some of the roads that we had previously thought to be rather remote and infrequently travelled had even had enough traffic to turn the snow to brown sludge. When we finally get ready to look for a new place to live, if it happens to be wintertime, a snowstorm tour would be a good thing to schedule.

With a few inches on the ground and new snow falling, Friday turned out to be a nice day to start the new year off right. I start my new job tomorrow and I couldn't have asked for a better last day of vacation.