Wow, two post in one day. I'm really getting off to a good start, or the Layercake Australian Shiraz is kicking in.

Julia and I took the Dogs (Rainier and Chinook) on a hike today. We left out of the fish hatchery parking lot and up the Catgap loop trail. All was going well until we reached Pinkelheimer fields. The trail follows a little creek called Grogan creek up to a large field, were it is dammed off by a beaver dam. We have had a relative cold snap this last week with the temperatures down in the single digits, so the pond had a layer of ice on it. Julia and I have hiked passed this pond in the summer and it isn't that deep. It is probably say anywhere from one to four feet deep, so I wasn't that concerned when the dogs decided to run out on it. They splashed around by the bank breaking through the whole time for a few minutes. Then they hit a solid piece of ice and were on top and running. Before Julia and I could get them to come back they were in the water. This time though they were in above their heads. I guess the pond has gotten deeper since the last time we came by. The whole scene was like on T.V. The dogs kept paddling and the ice just kept breaking. At first I didn't think much about it but when the dogs started yelping I genuinely got concerned and damn quick. Julia was freaking out calling the dogs. Rainier got herself heading in the right direction pretty quick and we had her out, as there was a section free of ice all the way to shore. Chinook couldn't figure out that the safest way wasn't the way he came but toward shore. He kept paddling himself out on the ice. This of course didn't work and soon he was getting tired. I was about to go in after him as I was pretty freaked out by now. I really got freaked when he slipped under for a second and came popping back up yelping. I took a large stick and started breaking the ice that lead out to him. At this point he realised that swimming toward me was the best bet. He swam through the broken ice and I pulled him out. I didn't even have to get wet, yippee. And after all of that craziness to steal a term from Brandi, the dogs were wrestling on the bank. So all is well in Dogville.