Thursday, January 14, 2010

Jack's Cold Bath

Well, it's me, Spencer.  I've had a lot of time on my hands lately, and I've been spending some of that time with the dog.  Today I was feeling especially ambitious, and took him up American Fork Canyon to get out of the smog.  I took the road up toward Tibble Fork reservoir.  The road was closed right at the reservoir, so we went on a little walk.  Here are a couple of pictures of the lake.



 

 

 

You'll notice in the next picture four ducks (click the picture to see them circled in red) in the water.  Jack certainly noticed them.




He tried to go after them a couple of times, but I was able to call him back without any trouble.  As we walked around the perimeter of the lake (toward the outlet in the picture above, we got a little closer to the ducks.  In fact, they were right about.....(click on the picture again - this was taken after the fact so the ducks are long gone in this picture).



We were down on the path you can see on the bottom of the above picture, and he took off like he was shot out of a canon.  He almost stopped once as I yelled for him, but he could already taste the feathery goodness, and he kept going.  I had several things run through my mind as he was barreling toward inevitability.  I wondered if I was going to be able to get close enough to get him out of the water, and if I was going to get a surprise bath today as well.  Mostly I wondered if I'd be dragging a dead dog out of this frigid water.
Well, by the time he realized he was on ice, it was far too late for the brakes.  He planted every claw he could into the ice, and leaned back so far that he went in the water upside down and backwards.  I'm glad he came up again, and didn't end up under the ice.  I ran as far as I felt was safe, and kept yelling for him to come.  He worked hard to get on that ice, but that was an impossible struggle.  He pulled himself up onto his chest once or twice, but the ice kept braking under his weight and he couldn't progress.  The water he was in was jet black, and I couldn't see how deep it was.  I kept calling to him to keep trying, but he just couldn't get out of the water.  His eyes were bulging, and he was panicking to get out.  He doesn't like to swim at all, much less sliding into a frozen lake.  Once or twice, he let himself slip down to his collar in the water, and I was starting to think that he was a goner.  I kept looking at the ice under me, and I knew that I could be treading water myself if it wasn't good and thick.  I found myself inching toward him, and I got down on all fours to spread out my weight  The ice under me looked hearty and didn't budge when I pushed down on it.  Before I knew it, I was only a few feet from him.  Finally, he dropped his front legs back into the water and tilted his head to the left to support himself on the ice - he looked tired.  I said "Come on!" one more time, and he splashed his front paws back onto the ice.  I leaned as far as I could to him and just reached his scruff, right behind his ears.  He pulled out of the water like a wet rag, and he was suddenly safe.  I moved away from the edge, and we started back to the car. 

On the way back, I got a couple of pictures of the dog and the spot he went in:

Here is a close-up of the spot where he went in. You can see the footprints on the right side of the picture



Here is Jack drying off the best way he knows how (no, he's not dead)



and in the car after the ordeal




I don't know if or how this experience affected him, but this is a picture of him on the way home while I was stopped at a light.  Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't look like his usual expression in the back of the car.


Well, after all is said and done, he's home and dry now.  I suppose there's an allegory in all of this about obedience.  We can try to understand why it's important to be obedient, but sometimes we have no way of knowing what dangers there truly are ahead of our poor choices.  Jack had no idea he was going to slide into the water, but he knew that he was running where he shouldn't be.  Hopefully we all end up like Jack after we make our mistakes: warm and dry at home.


Friday, January 1, 2010

Keeping Busy


I only have a couple days left of my Christmas break (cry, pout, sigh), but so far I have really taken advantage of the time off! 

Spencer, Jack and I took a walk after the first big snowfall.




Of course, where there's snow, there's shoveling!  We inherited a snow blower at the end of the season last winter, but still pull the shovels out now and then for the exercise. 




Jack helped by eating down some of the huge snow piles on either side of the driveway.


My parents gave us some delicious frozen meats for Christmas, and it has been so much easier to plan meals with a freezer full of meat! 

 
I think on this day I was making some homemade fried chickenYum!

I got a new camera for Christmas (hooray!), and Jack was lucky enough to be my model for the first few pictures.


Aren't you finished yet?

I don't think he likes being in the spotlight for too long! 

Of course, we also spent time celebrating Christmas and New Years, which you can read more about below.  For now, I'm off to get ready for a matinee showing of Avatar.  I love staying in my pajamas until noon, but I guess it's time to get dressed!  Maybe tomorrow I'll stay in my pajamas all day, just because I can!

Christmas Celebrations

I love Christmas!  It's so nice to take a break from all the stress in the real world and remember the more important parts of life - the gospel and family.  This year we had a great family Christmas program on my side of the family.  Keeping with tradition, we acted out the Nativity together.  Michael, Jessica, and Asher played the main characters.



Spencer was a true angel that night!



Spencer's family had two Christmas parties, one a couple weeks beforehand with extended family (here is the only picture I have of the Hollingshead family Christmas party)...



... where Spencer's musically gifted family shared their talents and ended the party with a group sing of "O Holy Night." 

We also got together in Springville for Christmas Eve, where we had a great dinner and opened gifts together.



We drove down to Fillmore late Christmas Eve and opened presents with my family Christmas morning. 



We stayed a couple of days down there and just relaxed.  Adam's dog Kapuni found a sunny spot in the kitchen and showed us how to really relax.



Even Jack was in on the Christmas fun!  He loved his Christmas gift - a new bone to chew on!


 I hope everyone was able to enjoy Christmas as much as we did!

New Year's Eve

We hosted a New Year's game party with some of my extended family.  We played everything from Monopoly...


...to some old-school Nintendo 64...


...and of course, our family favorite, JEOPARDY!

 


The little ones watched a movie in the other room...


...and most of us made it to midnight.


Overall, a great night filled with family, fun, and lots of food.  Happy New Year!