Doubters? Doubters?

It has recently come to my attention that some of you out there -- and you know who you are -- doubted that we've been getting "real" snow here in lovely Avery, Calif.

Hrrrumph.

Lest anyone doubt again, last night we got 10 inches. I got home around 7 p.m. in Diane's Hyundai. Measured the snow on its roof this morning, so it wasn't accumulation. Here's a picture of accumulation -- since last Thursday.

Here's some other pictures, just for the hell of it.

And even a few arty ones.

Snow Day

I had a dentist appointment Friday but a took a snow day instead. Here's what it looked like around here when we woke up Friday morning.

Since I own cross coutry skis, I thought I'd use them on our morning walk. The snow was too deep and powdery, though, so it was just like having very long and skinny snow shoes.

As you know, Spanky likes the snow. I'll spare you any more pictures of Spanky eating snow (although if I could have recorded sound last night I'd put up an audio file of him crunching icey snow.) We got home around midnight and just took a quick walk to the corner and he'd run 5 feet ahead, tail wagging madly, then crunch crunch crunch hardened snow off the side of the road. We'd catch up and he'd sprint forward then stop and crucnh crunch crunch again. The. Whole. Way. To. The. Corner. And. Back. Silly dog!

Idgie is more regal in the snow. She likes it, but when Spanky plows through the deep drifts, she's more likely to pick a path of less resistance.

In Praise of Z-Chains and All-Wheel Drive

When I bought my two-wheel-drive truck, we didn't live in Avery, at 3,400 feet, where snow is a certainty every winter. I didn't sweat it, though. I figured there'd be 10 days a year or so I regretted the decision, and 355 I appreciated the better gas milage.

I did buy good chains, though. Z-chains, which turn out to be the cat's frickin' PJ's when it comes to snow chains.

It had just started snowing as I drove to school today. It was a production day, so skipping wasn't really an option. Got it about half done, and there's a late story coming in, so that was about as far as I could get, so I came home around 3 p.m. And the snow starts in Murphys.

I went about two miles above Murphys and it was building up on the roads enough to make me pull over. I got out my Z-chains, read the instructions, then put the first one on. These chains are great -- you don't have to lay them out and drive over them. They just sweep around the tire from behind, latch here, here and here, and snap on a rubber tensioner. I put the first one on, and honestly wondered what I had done wrong. "Is it that easy?" I asked myself. Second went on in less than a minute. Truck trucked right on home and into our drive. If you need chains, Z-CHAINS ROCK!

But tonight we had to go down to Angels Camp for play rehearsal (I still don't know how I got dragged into the Calaveras Follies...) and we went in Diane's Hyundai Santa Fe. All-wheel drive with traction control. Started raining in Angels Camp while we're running the numbers. Then started snowing in Angels Camp (ele. 1,400 feet). So when Diane's number was done (she's the star, by the way) we started up the hill. An inch-plus in Angels. Snowing steady. We have chains in that car as well, but I decided that I'd see how well we did without them.

So we motored. And motored. And motored past a spin-out. And a second. Going uphill I could feel an occassional stutter as the wheels tried to spin and the traction control told them not to. But other than that, it just pulled steady. Turned off 4 onto Avery Sheep Ranch, and that had been plowed, but a while ago. Two to four inches of snow. No problem. Turned onto Roan -- six inches of snow. No problem. Turned into our driveway -- a berm and 12 inches of snow. Got there, then started spinning the wheels. In the driveway. Home.

Snow Jackalopes

Only Diane qualifies as a snow bunny, but she had Frankie and I with her today. Here's proof:

So I haven't skied since high school, and then I only did it once. And I never got past the T-bar and onto a chair lift. Today we went to Bear Valley, where both Diane and Frankie have considerable experience. Peak rates because of the holiday weekend, but Frankie was home because of the holiday weekend. And Bear's only about 40 minutes away, so what the hell. We got up early and headed up.

On the plus side, I never fell. Not once. Two times down the bunny hill for some instruction, two times down Cub, three times down Super Cub (both sides) and I didn't face-plant once. Turned, stayed balanced, zipped around pretty well for the first time. (There was one near-fall and a couple of "turn...turn...TURN...TURN!!! moments, but no falls.)

My big question was when did I turn into a complete and total wussy when it comes to heights? (Or was I always?) Chair lifts are way up in the air, and sometimes they rock back and forth. This is NOT GOOD. I did it, and the last two runs down Super Cub I really enjoyed, but I never got comfortable on the lifts. Maybe in time, I guess. Maybe in time.

Further Updates

We have more Spanky news, and it isn't what we hoped.

The pathologists are pretty sure what they're seeing in Spanky's biopsies is cancer, so we do have an answer. Because of where it is as much as what it is, treatment isn't much of an option. The doc is looking into one drug that might shrink the swelling, but beyond that, there isn't much to do. We have drops that seem to prevent the bleeding pretty well.

So that's the news. Spanky's home and happy. He led us on our 2.5-mile run yesterday and a 3-mile walk today. He eats and sleeps and likes his biscuits, and as long as he's happy and comfortable, we're happy. We'll value the time we have, and say goodbye when we have to. Thank you for all your good thoughts and wishes. Spanky wagged his tail for all of them.

Spanky's Home

Spanky came home today and slept.

And slept.

And slept.

We had visited him Sunday and he looked great -- happy and frisky and excited to see us. He was excited to see us this morning, too, but it had a "I want to go home now!" edge to it. But he got to, and we have drops and no results. Probably start to get those tomorrow, although the fungus test takes weeks, apparently.

Anyway, we're happy and poorer, but Spanky's home. Yea!

A Spanky Update

Spanky had biopsies done today and came through the surgery fine. We were gonna go see him around 4, but the doc thought it was best not to excite him.

Yesterday was a bad day that included serious thoughts that it might be time to put Spanks to sleep. His nose is worse; bleeding off and on. The problem was that when we had him in last week they didn't actually do anything to figure out what was going on with his nose. Our vet did non-invasive tests, basically looking for signs of cancer that has spread. He saw signs that something was up, and expected the test results to confirm the worst, so he didn't do the nose biopsy. The tests later came back negative.

But yesterday Spanky's worse and I don't want him to suffer and Diane and I are talking (and crying -- lots of crying) and wondering what to do. And I'm damn upset because we don't know what to do. We don't have an answer about what exactly is causing the problem, and because of that can't know for sure it's not treatable. So we're wondering whether to put Spanky down, knowing there's at least some chance he could be cured. It was not a good day.
I called our vet and vented, told him I was upset -- upset at him, upset at the situation. He explained his approach and basically offered to do the nose tests today instead of next Tuesday. (His partner, who is the specialist, even came in today to help him do it.) They're charging us for the tests and surgery but not for the hospitalization. Diane and I even had to work through that -- are we putting our boy through surgery just to make us feel better and not him -- but decided the potential good outweighed the bad.

So we don't have answers today, but hopefully we will soon. And maybe they'll good ones, because Spanky's a good boy! (banga-banga-banga...)

The World's Best Dog

This is the world's best dog.

If you get a chance, think a good thought for him.