More casualties of winter

We officially had another 17-18 inches of that stupid white stuff yesterday - you know, that four-letter-word that begins with "s" and ends with CRAP!!!! No, it ends with "w" - it is my enemy and yours, SNOW.

Seriously, we tried to make the best of it. The house was all cozy and warm, I made delicious chili for dinner, we played scrabble on my husband'd beloved iPad, we watched movies, we lounged, we took the dogs out for walks in the snow...We really, really tried to be in the spirit of winter and the prettiness of the snow and all that crap.

It didn't work. I just am done done done done DONE with winter. Last winter was oh, so do-able. This winter? Not. Last winter, we'd have a bit of snow, then it would melt and be nice. This year? Not. As I mentioned previously, this is decidedly NOT what I signed up for and I am NOT amused. Not one iota.

The only member of this house that is enraptured with the snow is, of course, our little, vapid girl, Sadie. She begs to go out almost every 1/2 hour or so. She loves it. She loves to wander in it, sit in it, lie in it, lick it and then the most fun is when she comes in and she has to get rubbed down with a towel! This is great fun in her little pea brain!
Doesn't she look happy?

And then we repeat the cycle over and over and over and over and over! I cannot tell you how many times from her last walk of the day until I go to bed that she asks to go outside. Without exaggerating, it's easily 8 times. From about 6pm to about 11pm she goes out, stays out for probably 15 minutes, starts whimpering at the door (pitiful) and then she gets let in and rubbed down. Then she comes into the living room, lays on the couch for approximately 13.67 minutes and then starts doing laps around the couch where we sit, only stopping to look pitifully at us as if to say that she has never gotten to go out in her entire life and that there is ONE and ONLY thing that will make her happy. Is to go out. AGAIN.

She has us trained well, as you can readily see! Who's the dumb one again?

In any case, she loves loves loves going out, so we let her out and then our other dog Koty just looks at us and sighs. He's just sick to death of Sadie and her retardedness. Oftentimes when she comes in from being outside (in our back yard), Koty is laying nearby on one of the orthopedic dog beds (they have it rough, I tell ya). Sadie, in her state of elation upon being let in almost always goes over and walks all over Koty's head. She has no boundaries, that one. And, Koty, instead of getting mad at Sadie, looks at me with this disgusted, quizzical look like "Why on EARTH is she living here again? Who decided that would be a good idea?"

Koty enjoys the snow to a lesser extent. The best part is that squirrels are easier to see. Here he is on his ritual morning squirrel hunt:
All I have to do to get Koty out is to ask - very quietly "Are they out there?????!!!" and he goes running, as fast as he can, to the back door and then he jumps around, barking, as if to say "LEMMME GETTTEM!!" He really hates squirrels. They are scum. So are cats, rats, huskies, German shepherds and anything else that might catch his eye!

Oh. Here comes Sadie again now. I'm in the kitchen on my computer and Sadie is ambling up to me again. She was literally outside 10 minutes ago and now thinks it's time again. Anyone out there want a dog?

So, let's get on to the subject of this here post. My huge butterfly bush in the back yard is taking a proverbial beating this winter. I have had this thing for probably 7 years now and NEVER has the snow caused such damage. I'm really afraid of what might happen to it. We lost the main part of the butterfly bush yesterday. A HUGE section snapped right off. Look at what remains:
There is that one clump sticking up and that's about it. The rest is either destroyed or about to be. It's not in good shape. I'm really hoping it'll survive the winter. Jeez. Never have we had so much trouble with snow destroying our plants. NOT HAPPY!

Well, that's about it. Another rant about our dumb dog and the dumb weather. 23 days until we're on our vacation.

Happy Thursday, kids!

Hasta la vista!