Joe and Snow

Today brought an unusual pleasure – snow in Seattle. This happens so rarely that even a trace of snow is a delight, bringing with it fond memories of frosty winters in New York, Nebraska and Massachusetts.

Even better, Joe the Pup had never seen snow before. The snow was gorgeous – wet, heavy flakes like silver dollars were drifting slowly groundward. It’s improbable looking snow, sloppy, clumpy and lumpy not like snow I’ve ever seen anywhere before. In Seattle snow rarely sticks and even more rarely lasts overnight.

Joe stepped out onto the deck and into the inch of accumulated soggy snow with surprise. He eyed it, snuffled his nose into it, and then scooted down the length of the deck snowplowing the bits of snow onto his nose. He raised his nose, tongue covered with sparkling slush and gulped it down. It was good, so he gnawed the deck boards for more. And more. Then he raced along the deck again, shoveling and ‘snoveling’ snow into his mouth using his black snout as a bulldozer. And then he stopped dead, and peed. On the deck.

This is a new behavior but I guess he had his reasons.

Next he leapt down the stairs into the yard, noticing that the snow was falling in front of his nose. He snapped at snowflakes, running in a tight circle, snapping away. This unhinged him to such a degree that he spun high in the air, and then raced the length of the lawn and skidded, coming to a halt just in front of the fence. He looked with amazement at the snow piled on his front feet, then twirled around. Dashing back the length of the yard, his legs stiffly extended as brakes, only to slide into the poor lace fern, his brakes failed.

(The poor fern is the unhappy recipient of many of Joe’s attentions – he tunnels through it, he snaps off fronds or tears at them with his teeth. In the early morning he greets it with a steaming stream of urine. Why this plant receives such special attentions, I don’t understand. I imagine it sees Joe coming with nothing but dread. It’s still a pretty plant, if bedraggled since we adopted Joe. I hope it survives his puppyhood.)

Anyway, skidding too was a new experience. He loped off, gaining speed and then lowering himself onto his forelegs like a makeshift dogsled. His mouth was wide in a dog-smile, his new teeth shone and his breath huffed out before him. All of this so transported him that he gave a hop of pure pleasure before churning off again. He swung to a stop in front of his digging hole, clawed up a bit of tasty clay and gobbled it down. His palate thus satisfied, the race circuit continued through the yard.

With the cold, it didn’t take long for him to tire and we went inside. It was a good day. Joe enjoys a snowday even more than I do, giving me someone to share the sweet, ephemeral lift that only swirling flakes of snow can bring.