In December I made a nearly spontaneous two-week trip to my hometown, Viroqua, Wisconsin. Let’s just say I moved to Fort Lauderdale for a reason… I absolutely cannot tolerate the cold! And wouldn’t you know, winter had been mild so far. That is, until I arrived. Then we got a blizzard and below-zero temperatures! I was snowed in at my sister’s house for two days. Ay! At least I had my long underwear to keep me warm.

My last day at my sister’s house I grabbed my camera and took her two dogs outside so I could get some pictures to remember them by. I was amazed at how lovely the pictures came out. I guess it makes sense: all that snow reflects the light marvelously.

This is Hailey.

She’s the reason I want a golden retriever someday. She is sweet and so, so gentle. She’s also hilarious because she is totally and utterly obsessed with playing fetch.

Really… I won’t go home for a year and then I show up and she chases the car I’m in with a big stick. Or I’m dragging all my stuff out to the car to go back to the airport and there she is, stick in mouth. She either does that to everyone (likely) or just remembers that I’m a big sucker for dogs and will throw that darn stick until my arm feels ready to fall off. I usually end up throwing ONE LAST stick and then jumping in the car and driving away as fast as I can so I don’t have to say no to her. It breaks my heart because I can always see her in the rearview, chasing the car with the stick hanging from her mouth. “Come back! Who is going to throw my stick?!”

Thankfully for Hailey, my sister has had a couple of kids now. I kid you not that Hailey would bring little sticks and lay them down in front of my nephew Kyle when he was only, like, two years old. Ahh, Hailey…

You can tell what Hailey is thinking here, right? “THROW THE STICK THROW THE STICK THROW THE STICK!!!”

Here’s Hailey playing our toned-down, indoors version of fetch when we were stuck inside on account of the blizzard.

She’s getting on in her years. She can play fetch like a pup, but the next day she’ll seem a bit slow on getting up. That’s one of the hardest things about being away from home — everyone seems to grow old exceptionally fast when you only see them once or twice a year. For dogs it’s multiple times worse.

I love you, Hailey!

Here’s Hailey’s new dog bro, Buzz.

He’s a miniature beagle (whatever that’s supposed to mean!) and just a pup. In fact, while I was there some of his little needle-like puppy teeth fell out!

I think my own dog Gretchen must’ve texted Buzz with my phone or something (she’s smart like that) to tell him the be-extra-cute tips: Paw up, ear back!

I think Buzz has been great for Hailey. She plays with him sometimes just like a puppy. And true, she has to put up with him humping her… a lot… but she loves him anyhow. They sleep all snuggled up. It’s adorable.

Buzz workin’ the puppy dogs eyes inside (my niece was quite messily eating a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and Buzz was correctly guessing that if he stared like this, I’d give him her leftovers).

And now just one last picture, so my other sister’s dog won’t feel left out. Say hi to Sofia, a sweet little pug who spent her first three years as a puppy mill breeder and now getting to enjoy the good life:

Those eyes only LOOK sad.

Check back for more pics of Hailey, Buzz, and Sofia sometime this summer!