Mud!

Stopping at my parents' house,
I collected the small furry companion called,
"Buddy".

Back in the car,
we headed to Blendon Woods to enjoy its very nice dog path.

As my daughters, my nephew and myself wandered along the trail,
leaves blew.

Our bitty pooch chased them merrily.

Enjoying the sun and the company,
we took the patches of mud in stride
and counted ourselves lucky to be rid of the snow.

The kids and I tried to walk around the muck to varying degrees of success.

The dogs?

The dignified Buddy,
older,
wiser
(and with an intense hatred of mud),
managed to walk around the icky stuff and had perhaps one or two drops of mud on his tummy.

Maggie?

Well...
As you can see from the above picture,
she jumped in every puddle.


She even managed to find two ticks
that tried to hitch a ride on her soft white fur.

Silly pup!
I guess everyone is happy winter is over!