Outdoor Adventure with My Favorite Furry Tourists

Hello Friends,
I was inspired by a Minnesota friend's blog to look for an outdoor adventure this week.  Yes, it's been cold and snowy - but if those northerners can venture out to enjoy it, then we can too!  And Fontenelle Forest (1111 North Bellevue Blvd) was offering free admission from 8 to 5 today, which made it a perfect stop for the "Free to $5" tour.  Their website asserts that there's no such thing as the "dead" of winter, and they have a month-by-month guide explaining what birds and animals to look for as you hike their 26 miles of trails. 

But animal issues closer to home led to a change in my itinerary.  On Thursday morning, I got a message at work saying that my dog was having her third seizure in 10 minutes.  She's had seizures before, but never with this intensity.  She spent the rest of the day at the vet's office for observation and tests.  She was back to her normal, chipper self the next day, but we're still waiting on results from one more test to determine what's causing the seizures before we can start any medication.  Until then, I don't want to leave her home alone.  Yes, I'm being over-protective - but she's my baby.

Like most nature reserves, Fontenelle Forest doesn't allow dogs.  But the Omaha area has lots of great parks and trails that are pet-friendly, and mine are always up for a jaunt.  With the temperature hovering in the upper twenties and the wind calm, we set out from downtown Papillion to see what we could see.

After a short walk through the city park, we started down Halleck Park trail.  It was covered in about an inch of snow, and judging from the tracks, we weren't the first to go down it today.

 

I'm blessed to have dogs that walk well together.  And also know how to wait patiently when I pull out my camera!  

Looking at her now, you'd never know this girl had such a rough day on Thursday. 

 

When we got to the park, we found three intrepid ice fishermen trying their luck on the pond.

 

We're blessed in Nebraska to have beautiful, sunny days even in the winter time.  Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.  Most of the landscape was white and gray, broken only by the dark brown of naked tree limbs stretched out against the gray sky.  But here and there we found a splash of red...  

It's been a hard winter for many of us in many ways.  But spring will come.  And in the meantime, we can still enjoy our time with those we love - both humans and furry, almost-humans - and look for those splashes of color that so often come when we least expect them. 

Vet Bill:  $344.00

Saturday stroll with two of my best friends: Priceless