First Snow!!!

Mrrrr Friends,

Yes, we are still occupying the kitchen table, sometimes in shifts. Nevertheless, I had to go celebrate the first snow of the season!

It was coming down so hard that it was darkish out there, so the photographer (who you might remember is quite, um, unfocused when outside with the cat) sometimes had the flashy thingy going.

Here's me heading out:

I have to get up on Oom's shoulder sometimes to get the lay of the land:

We went out to the brook to see the snow hats on my boulders:

By that time I had to hop up on my bench cause, frankly, my feet were a little cold...even a purebred Wisconsin Snowcat has to acclimate.

Our house is nice and warm so I can head right in and warm my toes after playing a bit with Oom and making sure she gets some exercise.

And tomorrow is Turkey Day! What a great way to start a long weekend of play!

SNOW!!!

Now, that's more like it! I could hardly wait for Oom to get her boots on!

Ready, set, go! Out to the brook straightaway.

Contemplating how to make a cat angel...

Digging turns out to be more fun. The leaves are still right here.

The cameraperson can't keep up with me!

Off to visit my friend the white pine.

Cold paws...time to head in!

A Bare Inch

Mrrrrr Friends,

It's true that my blog has pretty much come down to snow watch. Today there was about an inch.

I took a nice walk to my brook...

And had a  cool drink. Always good to expose the paws to new season snow...gets them ready for the big stuff.

It was a day of quiet adventure...the world seems a little bigger as it gets whiter with snow.

The obsessive weather people say more tomorrow:

It's a Start

Mrrrrr Friends,

Well, we did wake up to a powder sugar coat this morning.

It's a start.

It was a crisp snow...stiff and wet under the paw. The temperature dipped below 20 last night in human degrees. My brook had ice on the boulder tops.

I walked around a bit, following a few interesting tracks in the snow. It was coming down lightly the whole time...you could look up and see little snow crystals in the slanty half light.

Woodswalker commented the other day that she was amazed I like going out in the snow and cold. And my neighbor cat pal Brewster, he doesn't get it either. I love the snow...I really do. I guess it's in my genes, being from Wisconsin and all. Here's a pic from a earlier blog - a younger me in the snow at our house in Rock Springs. This was about 3 feet of March snow pack so, with wise paw placement, a fellow could stay on top...most of the time.

My paws are pretty furry in the winter. Nice tufts of fur - not long - between each pad help keep things insulated. But, I gotta admit, as I get older, my tolerance for cold paws has diminished. Perhaps I got soft during the two warm winters on Long Island? Who knows.

This is a bad picture, but here's one strategy I pursue. Occasionally, I'll ask Oom to kneel down. I can hop up, warm my paws and do a little grooming. Or, when the white stuff gets deep, I'll clamber up on her shoulders and ride for a bit. Usually, she gets that I don't want to go inside already and she'll head off in a direction I'm interested in exploring. My paws warm up in a few minutes, and then I'll do a Diesel Dive, clambering down to go on my merry way.

I'm looking into getting a pair of catluks though. You know, mukluks for cats? Nice moose-hide catluks would really make the difference, especially on my longer snowy treks and for rock hopping in the brook during the winter. I wrote the cool people at Steger - Boo has a pair of their mukluks - about a set of catluks - like small sled dog booties but for snow cats. I haven't heard back from them. Hmmmmrrr?

Tomorrow's forecast?

Snow 101

Mrrrrr Friends,

As you know I’m a Wisconsin Snowcat. So imagine my pleasure on waking yesterday morning to find a lovely carpet of snow here in my new New York home. I’ve missed the frigid, snow-filled winter that other Snowcats in my home state have experienced this year. Nothing like falling to the bottom of a good 10 foot drift to help you rethink your priorities and the meaning of life! Snow in Wisconsin is not just about the joy of snow cat angels, sliding down hills, and playing guess-the-tracks, it’s about community, helping one another, and meeting your neighbors, furry and feathered.

I like snow. Actually, I love snow.

So moving to this water-based strip of land – while it has been a wonderful experience in new sights and sounds – has been disappointing on the snow front thus far this year. The beach is nice, but in summer it is warm out there when you’re furry. It is wicked hot to the paw, and the sand accumulated on your coat does not melt away when you come home – requiring assistance to be nicely groomed for the ladies.
Yesterday morning’s snowfall was quite fine: mostly plates, some with dendrites (petals to you), some wiithout. Humans recognize four kinds of snowflakes, as I understand it: plates, needles, columns (which we had earlier yesterday morning), and bricks. They can all have petals or not, depending on the circumstances, and when there are petals, there are always six, though they are rarely symmetrical.

But cats, especially Snowcats, are more explicit about snow…more like the Yu’pik or other Eskimo human groups. We think of snow in terms of how it rests on our coats, how in compresses under our paws, how long it lasts, how it holds a track, sticks to a tree trunk and – critically – how it tastes.

But after all this fun, I do note that my friends the Carolina Wrens, the Common Grackles and the two Red-tailed Hawks who are apartment hunting in the neighborhood, are convinced that spring is right around the corner. My little furry friends, the moles, have not chimed in yet.

I wonder what my old friend from Rock Springs, Marmot, is doing right now?