We've seen a lot of animals during our walks at Bronte Creek - squirrels, chipmunks, cows - but lately we've been on the lookout for gnomes. Apparently, one of Duncan's preferred walking routes runs right through their natural habitat.
We've seen several of their houses:
And even a tiny little gnome outhouse:
But we haven't actually spotted any of the gnomes yet. Except, of course, on Facebook:
We've been walking at Bronte Creek Provincial Park several times a week lately, and Duncan and Darcy love it! There is so much for them to explore - that road in the photo above loops around the whole park, has excellent Ditches with Smells, and nobody except park staff (and us) seems to use it, plus there are trails, woods, a farm (with animals!), a play area (with more animals!), and lots of big grassy open areas.
On hot days, we take their collapsible water dishes, and stop for a drink:
Darcy always checks to see if Duncan has left anything in his bowl that might be worth stealing:
It took Duncan a few visits to get the geography down, but now he likes to be the one who chooses our daily route. The farm is one of his favourites. The sheep haven't moved into their pens for the summer yet:
But the cows are already in the fields:
... and of course, there is the barnyard. SO. MANY. SMELLS!
The wooded trails have lots of potential, too, but we're going to hold off on exploring them until after mosquito season.
It's been a long time since we last checked in with our Dynamic Duo. They had a quiet winter - it was so cold even Darcy liked to stay in where it was warm! But spring has finally arrived, and to celebrate, we treated ourselves to an Ontario Provincial Parks annual pass. That means we can go walking at Bronte Creek Park anytime we want!
Our first visit was this morning. We stopped for a group photo near the children's play barn, then spent almost an hour exploring the park - and didn't even make it onto the trails. There are enough trails to keep us busy exploring for a long time, and there seem to be many interesting smells everywhere, so this will be a popular place.
It's about time we had another Big Project around here. Two years ago, we ripped out the old deck and built an new, smaller one. And of course, three years ago we spent the whole spring and summer taking out the pool.
Those projects were pre-Darcy. Projects post-Darcy are on a whole new level of interesting!
This year's goal was small compared to the others: just levelling and re-sodding the area where the old deck was. We ripped up the old sod, and lugged in some topsoil. Then we levelled it. You may remember that Duncan advised a roller for that job:
Not Darcy. She doesn't need any tools, she just rolls it herself. Notice how she leapfrogs right over Duncan near the end? He's gotten very good at ducking:
Finally, it was all ready for its last inspection before laying the sod:
(which, apparently, smells quite interesting):
This whole "working" thing is tough, and not at all what Miss Darcy is accustomed to. She needed a nap (right where the next roll of sod was to go):
I was sitting there a few days ago, peacefully reading, when a small haystack galloped through the living room waving a flag. Darcy had been helping Daddy organize the crawl space:
It's traditional, as spring approaches, for us to realize that our dogs are looking a bit shaggy in their winter coats, but this was getting ridiculous. So with less than two weeks left in winter (yay!) we dove in with combs to try to get them ready for spring haircuts. No problem with Duncan - he's shaggy, but his coat always combs out nicely. Darcy, not so much. Her coat mats if you blink at it. Apparently, we've been blinking a lot. Under all her fluff, she was so matted we couldn't comb her out without hurting her.
We had to bring out the dreaded clippers.
By the time we finished, Darcy had almost disappeared. Her hind end and legs are almost bald, and the rest of her isn't far behind. And what little hair is left is pretty lumpy and uneven (she wasn't entirely cooperative...) Who knew that our big girl, who outweighs her brother and nearly always wins their battles, was such a tiny little thing? Who knew that she had such a funny little tail under all that fluff? We felt very sad to have reduced her to this:
(Her worst angle. Head-on doesn't look too bad.)
Fortunately for us, she's very forgiving. Other than occasionally peering at what's left of her tail with a puzzled expression, she doesn't seem to mind her new look. And it won't be long until her coat grows back!
Oh yes: she may look smaller, but she can still win against Duncan:
Last Thursday we decided to go to Mountsberg Conservation Area for our morning walk. (We have treated ourselves to a Halton Conservation annual pass, so expect to see lots of walks at their parks coming up.) It was a grey, damp, muddy day, but Duncan and Darcy didn't seem to mind.
First we hiked the big loop at the bottom of the map. It's called the Wildlife Walkway - only about a mile long, but many interesting smells, and at the far end there's an enclosure for bison. We did see some bison, but they were way down at the far end of the field so D&D weren't impressed.
After our hike in the woods, we strolled down the path to a little dock on the shore of the reservoir and explored a bit. By now, they were beginning to look a bit muddy:
Finally, on our way back to the parking lot, we found the remains of a big snow-hoop. Duncan and Darcy had a great time jumping through it - even though Darcy cheated and jumped through first to steal Duncan's cookie - and as a bonus it helped to (temporarily) clean their paws:
By then the buses were arriving, full of kids on school trips, so we hopped in the car (with the back seat carefully covered in an old blanket) and headed home.
