Snow, Shadows, Snowshoes, and Swinging with Ruby

Bassets are at a bit of a disadvantage when the snow gets deep.  When Ruby was younger, she loved playing in it anyway.  She would leap...

and even make her own way thru the deep snow.

However, just like for some of the rest of us-- as we've gotten older, playing in the snow doesn't hold quite as much appeal.

Now, she mostly likes to keep to the paths when she visits my house.  On our walk this morning, we went along the path thru the yard to the woodshed.

The shed is getting rather empty.  You can see light thru the last row of firewood. Spring better come soon!

Ruby explores the areas that have been plowed or snowblown, but she keeps out of the deep snow.  Then she finds some tracks that she wants to follow.

Besides a man in snowshoes, you can see that a deer has also passed this way.  Ruby's nose is already on the scent!

And, she's off!

Interesting to note that a basset hound is about the same length as a snowshoe! 

I didn't notice the shadows Ruby was making until later when I saw them in the photos.  I love the shadow of her tail in this one:

Now, here's a short video to show you how graceful Ruby was walking thru the snowshoe tracks:

As you can see by the end of the video, I can't claim to be very graceful either!

By the way, can you figure out the story of the tracks we were following?

A certain man walked out on snowshoes, had a snowshoe binding break, then walked back in his boots.  He's tough, it was okay!

Though he didn't take a very straight path as he went up the hill...

Meanwhile, Ruby is taking me around the driveway now.  I let her wander.  It's a beautiful morning and I'm in no hurry (which is a good thing whenever you are walking with a basset hound).

Ruby wants to be sure you notice how long the shadows of her back legs are in that photo!

Now, she's getting tired.  The snow is just the right depth for a basset hound pillow.

"If you are tired, Ruby, let's go back inside.  We have cooking to do for your Mom's birthday dinner".  But as we head back to the house, she runs up on the back porch and tries to jump up on the swing.  Everything makes it except for her back legs.  We haven't been on the swing since last fall.  Hey, it's a nice day so I help her get her legs up the rest of the way and I sit down for awhile, too.

 "Great idea, Ruby!  Icicles are dripping and birds are singing... maybe Spring is on the way!"