Snow!

For those of you living in non West Coast environments, snow may be just another annoying/fun/inevitable part of winter. However for us Vancouver Island peoples, it's occasion for MAJOR ISSUES. In Nanaimo, Malaspina University-College shuts down almost as soon as the first white flake dusts the Arts building. Drivers don't comprehend that a sudden dump of snow and freezing temperatures mean that they should take their foot off the gas pedal. Children are liberated from school and adults take out their pristine snow shovels and start resentfully clearing their driveways. This is Vancouver Island, not Whistler. It's not fair.

I had to work. Since I bicycle everywhere, I am at somewhat of a disadvantage when it snows so deeply that my tires won't bite anything. So my boyfriend drove me to work. Some hours into showing yet another eager customer towards the doggy coat racks, my boyfriend phones me. Tierce had refused to come in and was bouncing out in the snow.

Tierce stayed out there for five hours. Mischa threw snowballs at him, which he chased and ate. He ran up and down the compost heap until he wore his own track. Then he chased himself around the yard... again.

When Mischa drove me home, having finally persuaded Tierce to delight in the comforts of the house, I immediately dug my cross-country skis out of the closet, attached Tierce to my waist belt and headed outdoors. We went down the road and back. I am afraid that Tierce's sole skijoring moments were confined to random lunges towards the deep, fluffy snow on the lawns that we passed. I guess that he needs more lessons on how to be a good sled dog. He did pull my creatively snowified boogie board up the hill, though.

It wouldn't work by itself, so I had to duct tape some garbage bags to it. Tierce seemed to have a good time running beside it as I whipped down the hill and using his harness to pull me off balance. I think that it's gonna be a few more months before he starts channelling Yukon King.