All I can say is brrrr!

We woke to a chilly cold wind that gusted from 20 to 30 mph and whipped right through to the bones. But it was still off to obedience class outdoors where I tucked my hands into my sleeves to keep them from freezing and even the dogs might have liked a sweater.

Its a pretty morning drive with little traffic through farm country.

Domino did fine even though my quiet boy likes to bark at girl dogs because he thinks its a really good "come on line". So he made friends with a flat-coated retriever, a bulldog and even a baby papillon. After everyone settled down we were able to work pretty well on a loose leash walk with an automatic sit. It was a big class so all the dogs were really excited.

On the drive home we finally pulled over a couple of times after missing shots of herds of wild turkeys grazing beside the road and even an old-fashioned team of horses plowing a field...not something you see every day.

And I vow to stop one day to take a picture of the farm with black and white horses.

Domino and I spent most of the day trying to warm up. Domino was snuggled under a blanket all day and I was fighting with Charm for another one. But eventually we decided it was maybe warmed up enough to go morel hunting. With a quick stop to check out how my decorating job was going and pleased with everything there. It's all coming together.

We wandered off every little trail we could without any success.

Wondering how many ticks were going to be hitchhiking a ride home with me as we wandered down deer trails. (Oh yeah, it definitely makes me itch to think about it).

The wind had dropped branches everywhere and the trees growned overhead.

We looked in every spot we could think of and I wondered if it might be possible to teach the dogs to find them?

Cuz Domino thought he was being really impressive showing everyone how neatly he could roll over at obedience...he probably thinks it impresses the girls, such a lady's man. We did spot some mushrooms, but not the ones we were looking for.

We did not come home totally empty-handed and we will definitely keep our eyes open in the next few days...but sometimes the hunt is much more rewarding than the prize. Did you know you must always cut the morels so that they can continue to spread? I think a lot of people have scoured the woods over the years and maybe in the future there will be more morels if they are left alone.

So it may have not been a too successful day. But Domino got to meet and greet a very tiny dog and he did fine and that makes me feel good. He was so curious about tiny dogs and you always have to use caution in introductions to make sure it IS curiousity and not a case of mistaken squirrel identity. But Domino gets along with everyone and every dog.