Orange

It's hunting season in Richmond, and you know what that means. Yep, it's the orange vest these days for me whenever I go out. Which isn't that bad, I suppose. On the one hand, whenever it's time to go out (ie when I start getting over-excited in the house), I have to wait while my owners put the vest on me. On the other side, I can run through the thickest burrs in the woods and only get them on my head and tail instead of all over my body. See the vest not only makes me visible; it also offers effective burr-pro.

Still, I'll look forward to running through the fields of Richmond free of the orange vest constriction. It's just better that way.

Excited!

I am excited! Saturday, I hiked up on the side of Mount Mansfield where there are -- no exaggeration -- like 6 or 7 inches of snow left over from last week's storm! Mark and Ali talked the whole time about backcountry skiing in that very spot. And as you know, I love skiing! I love playing in the snow, I love leading the way up, I love following all the tracks... The only thing I don't love is how on the way down, I'm not the fastest. (That, actually, bothers me a little, but enough of that now.) Ski season is almost here, so, let me tell you, I am charged up.

So charged up in fact, that I couldn't contain myself this morning. It was a little warmer -- 38 Fahrenheit, in fact -- and I was so excited that jumped full speed right into the Winooski River. And swam all the way across. On November Third. In my hunting vest (see photo, which came out dark, but it wasn't really that dark). Once I got to the other side, I didn't really know what to do. I mean, there I was on the other side. And that water was cold!

So I ran a few laps around the beach on the other side, and then jumped in and swam as fast as I could back to this side. Whew -- exhilerating! It's like in February when all those people jump into Lake Champlain through the ice as a fund-raiser. Which is all well and good, but I'm thinking that maybe my swimming days will be over until next summer.