Buddies #5

I suppose that this photo of Georgette on the stairs is not really a "buddy" picture, but she's such a beautiful, sweet and gentle cat that I wanted a portrait of her. I suppose you could say that I am her buddy:

 These three Papillons are each others' buddies and also my front seat buddies on our journeys to and from the farm. They're also quite the adventurous little hikers:

 My five "bed buddies" at the farm house. Winky and Seamus sleep on the floor:

 The quintessential buddies: Daphne, Fergus and Seamus at home:

 Bramble and Snoozey are cat buddies:

 Oops, I guess this is another not-really-a-buddy photo. Rocky was lounging in the living room when I took this photo:

 Draco climbed up onto his new cat tree to snooze away from his buddies, the dogs. They seem to be looking up enviously, perhaps wishing that they too could climb up there:

 The famous dog pile at work. Fergus, Clover, Seamus and Daphne, all scrunched up together. I'm painting and fixing up my house to sell, which is the reason for the paint on Seamus' head. He likes to "help:"

Chapter Three, Hays Brook Truck Trail

The dogs' paws had begun to hurt because of the snow, and my ankles were becoming quite painful (I later learned that I'd injured some tendons). So I decided to turn back toward the trail head:

I continued to marvel at the forest's beauty as we proceeded down the trail:

I stopped to admire the Balsam needles all covered with snow:

And the golden clumps of Beech leaves, still clinging to their branches and holding snowy orbs aloft:

The dogs began to run as they realized we were headed back to the car:

We crossed back over the Osgood River:

Seamus' paws were bothering him by then so I picked one up for a look. Well, it was no wonder they hurt. The snow was packed in between the pads:

But the dogs were happy, and so was I:

We continued along beneath the pines:

Clover looked back, much as Madeline had done earlier, to make sure we were still coming:

We hit the access road again, though it didn't look much different than the trail. But the dogs knew where we were and were very excited:

We trotted back to our parked car. We hadn't made it to Hays Brook, but it had been an excellent experience and we can try it again this summer: