Happy New Year!

Well the title says it all, wish everybody the best for 2006!

It started not so good for Macha though. I went to walk my dog this morning - like every morning. However, a couple of days ago we had what is know here as 'ice pellets' or 'freezing rain'. That's like tiny little snowflakes/hailstones that melt on impact with the ground but freeze almost immediately after, leaving you with a very smooth layer of ice on the ground.
Apart from looking beautiful - especially on tree branches which now have a smooth, transparent yet reflective coat of ice - it's also quite slippery. Now on top of that we've had some very light snowfall since last night, with wee little flakes of snow. Since it's -10 outside they don't melt, but instead make a very thin cover over the ice sheet, kinda like makeup dust on a woman's pocket mirror. And this my friends is lethal.
I managed not to fall mostly thanks to my level-10-ninja skills, and partly thanks to good luck. Macha - my dog - has yet to master kung fu though, and she was flying all over the place. Towards the end I had to encourage her to carry on, as it took the poor scared animal more time to get up after each fall. I couldn't carry her either since my own balance was precarious enough; I didn't want to fall on top of her and end up crunching her hip or something. Finally we made it home, and somehow this time Macha was a little more eager to come in and lay by the fireplace. Go figure...