The mad dog woman of Shackleford has been away. We had a wonderful
holiday, thank you, but we are glad to be home. We arrived back in Surrey to
enjoy the snow lying on the ground, and boy were the Boxers pleased to be
released from the kennels to play in the snow!
View from Mama's Fish House, North Shore Maui, Lesley Beeton
Our travels this time took us all the way over to Maui, the Valley
Island of the Hawaiian archipelago. The long haul flight took us across America
(twice), and being a day flight we were treated to an incredible view of the
awesome landscape coast to coast. We couldn’t fail to be impressed by the Rocky
Mountains, the Great Salt Lake at Salt Lake City, the Colorado River and all
the magnificent red carved canyons, crossing the Missouri and Mississippi
Rivers and a superb view of Cape Cod as we came in to land at Boston. I can’t
wait to get back there to explore, and didn’t mind the Americans either….
But back home, the Boxers had adjusted well to kennel life. The
girls gave them lots of love, but they did miss their home comforts, like lying
in front of a warm fire. The kennels do have under-paw heating and they had
warm beds and snuggle blankets but it wasn’t the same as sneaking under the
duvet when no-one is looking.
Notwithstanding the inconvenience it causes, there is nothing better
than dog walking in the snow. Especially, when nobody else has been there, and
ours are the only footprints. Crunch, crunch underfoot as the slightly icy
snow, not yet slushy, is pushed down under welly boots. The dogs have to work
that bit harder too, when the snow comes up to their ankles, and they can’t
stop eating the snow as they go along! And have you noticed how the light stays
so long on the snow at the end of the day, my favourite time to walk.
Shackleford snow, Lesley Beeton
So all in all, two weeks of sun and snorkel and a few days of snow
in Surrey, life is good.