Sunny and cold.

Don't let the sun fool you!

It's -15 degrees in this picture!

Any given day, when arriving home and beginning the ascent up our driveway, we are always greeted warmly by these two amazing dogs, one wagging its tail with a vigor, the other simply prancing about with her curly tail pointing up to the sky, ever lady like and graceful.

It's funny to watch them notice the vehicle rolling up, then both turn their bodies slightly to look at the garage door, knowing it will rise any moment. What they have no idea on though, is the fact it is our garage remote doing the trick in my hand, and not someone coming out the door to visit with them. Some day they'll figure it out I'm sure.

Our greeting committee.

We have a local farmer drop off a few bales of straw every few weeks to throw on the ground outside for the dogs to rest on top of the snow. In the absence of snow however, when it rains, the pen can get muddy and the straw absorbs the moisture, so until the warmer weather appears, so far, they love and welcome the straw.

Even these two snow dogs love to nestle about on the straw, though they don't have to have it and have been known to sleep on the cold icy snow, packed hard onto the ground from them tromping over it.

As well, inside the barn, we drop half a bale at a time into their pen for them to lay all nice and cozy while sleeping. Forget the blankets, pillows and dog beds, they just don't work as they rip them apart and drag them all over their areas. A huge mess develops and of course, they aren't the ones having to clean it all up. So, straw it is from now on for us, and who can complain when the farmer himself delivers an entire bale for a mere 3.00 each, (instead of the overpriced store bought 12.00 each) to us right at the barn. Country living does have many benefits, and this one I prefer to having to drive to town, haul it out of the store, and then carry it home in the back of the van for more clean up duty to be done.