I had promised Lucca Wednesday night that I would take her out on Thursday....so I grabbed her after work we headed to the woods. Access is still limited around here, so we ended up at our normal spot on BLM ground. The hike started off and the six-inches of heavy wet snow proved to make walking a bit slower than I wanted. But, Lucca was able to turn on her 4-leg drive and run up the road, up the hill, down the hill, around me, always culminating in her dropping her front legs and skiiiiiding across the snow (usually conveniently on a pile of frozen deer crap.)
She's pretty fun to watch in the snow as you can see JUST how much she loves it. She gets a huge grin on her face, her ears "pook" up a little bit into what I call "smiling ears," and she runs around like a puppy. One thing is interesting and I'm not sure when it started (or how) but she will run around for a bit, then circle back around me briefly. Either she or I will initiate her desired "face-touch" and then she'll be back off again. I don't know if that's just a physical way for her to tell me she's loving life, or if it's just checking in...but it's cute...and it's just between her and I.
We got up the hill aways and I glanced down the slope to see a coyote running along. I've seen them up there more than anywhere else and they're always close. I wonder if it's the same one I keep seeing? We saw a lot of deer the further in the timber we got and found their beds and areas they scraped the snow away to get at the grass. Topping the hill at a little saddle, I saw a dude running down the road...away from me. I thought that was pretty odd, as there were no other cars down on the road...but then I finally saw enough of this guy to figure out it was an elk! (It's weird, there's a lone cow that hangs out in there during the winter. I've never seen any others with her.) But, once I knew what it was I broke into a sprint to try and see her again. Anytime I run in the woods, Lucca gets REALLY excited and chases me. This usually ends up in some sort of (pardon the pun) dog-pile and we have to wrestle around for a bit.
We were both panting and never saw the elk again, so we headed back down the hill. After a little bit, Lucca took a beeline up the cutbank. It was a thick little patch of timber, but she was obviously on the scent of something. Curious, I watched her creep up to something I couldn't see and kinda poke at it with her paw. That's when she looked at me with a look on her face like, "TOM! You've gotta check this out!" So I walked up there and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, "what the HELL?" It looked like a snake...about as big around as my arm and covered in scales. (See, it was kinda buried in the snow.) Of course I picked up a stick and poked at it, wondering what in the world a big snake was doing out during the winter. But with a little effort, I freed it from it's icy tomb and it turned into a pike! Some poor bird must've been flying along with it's 18-inch dinner and dropped it! Weird thing to see in the middle of the woods. Lu got a lot of praise after that since she a.) didn't eat it and b.) didn't roll in it. Now if I could only teach her to find antlers!
We kept going and got to a patch of snow she rolled in on the way up. I had scolded her the first time because there was a lot of deer droppings there and REALLY didn't want to have to give her a bath when we got home. She ran down there and rolled in it again...and I again shooed her away. That's when the ripsnorting began! She ran down the road in play-mode so I took the bait and chased her, which led her to circle around to roll in the same spot again...rise up...and grin at me like, "Whatcha gonna do NOW Tom?" What a taunting beast! (I've never seen her do that before.) This just got both of us riled up and racing around in the snow. We both turned into kids and started tackling each other, rolling around, and generally just being morons.
Well, we both worked up a sweat and decided it was time to head out. In the truck, she just sat there and stared at me with a big shit-eating grin on her face. She likes to say thanks after walks, and will keep putting her paw up to get a shake. I grabbed her paw and we drove down the road for awhile just holding hands (bizarre but cute if you think about it.) But I was listening to a good song, so inadvertently started squeezing her foot to the beat. After a second I noticed that she was flexing her foot after every squeeze like she was trying to squeeze MY hand!! I darn near had to pull over and give her a bear hug for that one.
She's quite a pup and always knows what to do to make me smile.
(I know, this isn't a real interesting story, but I want to remember it.)
