Today, my favorite little creature in all the world, Siddhartha Lamont Sanchez Demski, turns 12 years old! He’s still very spry for an older gentleman. Here’s to many more years of treats, belly rubs, and ridiculous adventures together!

Love always,
Dad

xoxo

Hi everyone! My, you’re looking swell. It’s Sid here with you today.

Now that my back and hind leg are functioning better, I have been able to go on much longer walks. So just the other day, I was out at Winnemac Park and I noticed that the sun was shining brightly, humans were wearing shorts, jacket-less pets were running around everywhere, and even several robins were out looking for worms. It was a gorgeous day.

I got back home and casually glanced at my calendar only to find we were still in the month of February! Here, I thought I had just hibernated through February, March, and April, but in reality it has just been one of the most unseasonably-warm Februaries in Chicago that I (or my dad) can recall.

Usually February is one of the harshest months of Winter in Chicago. I mean last year most days were below zero! Does this mean people are going to start planning their tropical winter holidays to the balmy Midwest?!

That first snowfall earlier this month was very pretty but the snow only lasted a day or two. Remember, though, that this is December in Chicago so naturally it wasn’t long before we got another dose. Our morning walk that day took us once again to our favorite neighborhood spot: Winnemac Park.

Upon arrival at the park, Sid became sour due to the added difficulty one experiences when one is trying to sniff out the perfect pee spot and everything sniffable is covered in thick mounds of cold fluff.

But his mood did a complete one-eighty when he set eyes, or rather nose, on the raised garden beds located in a corner of the park near the high school. The beds were overflowing with dried plant stalks which are an optimal medium for sending/receiving pee-mail, so I am told.

I do hope we keep getting snow here because the added humidity the snow brings makes it feel slightly warmer than usual and prevents the city from becoming a stark frozen tundra. And it sure is purdy.

Yes, folks, it is now OFFICIALLY winter here in Chicago. We got a few inches of snow yesterday in the form of large fluffy flakes. Of course the first snow is always the best, especially when the temps are still bearable. You’ll certainly get a polar (pun intended) opposite opinion if you ask me about snow in April, but for now Sid and I are enjoying it immensely. Well, maybe me more than Sid.

Have you gotten any snow where you live yet?

Some days, just going for your afternoon walk requires way too much effort. For Sid, today happened to be one of those days.

I think he may have been partying too late last night.

Or perhaps it was a series of intense dreams that prevented him from getting his normal 12 to 14 hours of shut-eye.

Or maybe this is all just a ploy to get us back home faster so he can get his routine post-walk treat.

Okay, okay, little guy. Let’s get you back home and revive you with some baby carrots!

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend! I know we will!

Last evening in Chicago the clouds were making unusual formations and changing the light in surreal ways. It looked as if there were purple mountains off in the distance. Sid thought we were back in California.

I couldn’t resist going outside to Winnemac Park to check it out, and of course I wanted to bring Sid with to try and get some images of him with such an incredible backdrop. The lighting made everything look dramatic.

There was even a sun-shower at one point. It’s always a weird experience to have rain drizzling down while the sun is shining and half the sky is still clear bright blue.

P.S. Sid and I would like to thank you for all the positive thoughts and good juju you sent us in regard to his little back tweak fiasco. He is totally back to his normal self so it must have just been a fluke thing which is a big relief for us both!

After all the vet visits earlier this month (including a yearly check-up, rabies shot, dental cleaning, and a trip to the emergency vet after an episode that I shall refer to as “The Vomity Calamity”), Sid and I were happy to have a fairly normal and uneventful week or so.

Being that it is still mid-winter here, we did get some more snow this past Sunday, but just enough to make everything look pretty and not the kind of snow where people collapse on the street while attempting to extract their cars from gigantic fluffy white mounds.

Winnemac park looks especially beautiful with a coating of snow. We’ve been getting up earlier than usual now that sun comes up sooner, so our morning walks have been very pleasant.

The park holds all the wonderful smells that Sid dreams about each night. I think the snow must enhance the smells as he can spend a good five minutes with his snout plastered to the base of a light post.

He also gets to observe and greet fellow canines. Or, depending on the pooch in question, he’ll just huff and puff and eventually bark at them from a safe distance (as he is demonstrating above).

He will sometimes track human boot prints in hopes that he may eventually find the human and they will have treats for him.

If this little guy tracked you down through the snow-filled tundra, you’d reward him with some baby carrots, right?