Magical snowy Buckhorn

Yesterday morning, I looked outside and saw that my world had been transformed into a winter magicland.  The glittery white snow was clinging to tree branches and to roofs. The sky was as white as the snow, and the upper tree branches, naked and stark, pointed like outstretched fingers toward it. My world slept, covered by a soft white blanket that glimmered with delight and with dreaminess.

The vivid whiteness of the snow that covered nearly everything filled me with joy. I know that snow is an insulation for the ground.

It is composed mostly of trapped air, and, if you were to go inside a structure that was made of snow, the inside temperature would be warmer than it would be outside the snow structure. Animals often burrow into snow to hibernate.

But humans don't hibernate. There are times when I wish that I could hibernate. But yesterday was not one of those days. I put on my warm coat, my hat, my mittens, and my boots, and I set off to Buckhorn Island State Park to take pictures of the winter wonderland. When I arrived, I saw that the woods looked sparkly, and the ice was growing into the river. 

Very few people were in the park. I met a man there named Larry.

He carried a dog leash and said that his dog, Daisy, was in the woods and would come out and greet me. I shouldn't be surprised by a friendly, happy dog.

He said that she liked sitting and waiting in the woods because she is part pointer. Also, she was wearing a cow bell so I would hear her coming. I kept walking but the cow bell noise was very faint. Larry started calling for Daisy to come to him. Then I heard the cowbell getting louder and, before long, I saw a happy dog greeting her daddy. She saw me and introduced herself.

Larry said that Daisy was a rescue dog from Texas. About two and a half years ago, she was outside and chained up. She had had a litter of puppies but no one seemed to care about her, until a dog rescue organization found her and sent her north to find a loving family, which was Larry and his wife.

They also foster dogs, and, last summer, they fostered a 17-year-old dog that was not well.

They had already nursed Daisy, who came with heartworms, back to health, and they helped this elderly dog heal, and that dog was adopted. They fostered another dog, who also was able to go to a FUR-ever home.

I petted Daisy and she had a happy expression on her face, and, at that moment, in the winter wonderland, I had made a canine friend for life.