Right after the holidays Central Oregon got a huge boost to the snow pack. In the few years since moving here we’ve grown accustomed to these “foot in a day” dumps of snow. The scene outside our front door can change dramatically in a matter of hours.
Luckily the neighborhood gets a regular snow plowing and our Subaru has it’s winter boots on. We’re basically ready for winter’s inevitable challenges.
As pointed out numerous times in our blog, morning walks with Tip is how we start the day. The addition of a layer of snow means you need to add traction devices to boots and boots to paws.
The latter can be a bit of a challenge. Tip doesn’t mind wearing boots, however they do add to prep time. Then there is the occasional occurrence with boots coming off in deep snow.
Often the walk will start with boots on and end with them in pockets … we’ll get the hang of this eventually. For now we don’t let it interfere with the morning’s activities.
There are 30 plus brew pubs in the city of Bend and more than half of these places are craft brewing operations. There is even a 
December’s snow melted away between Christmas and the first part of January. We took the opportunity to do some exploring along the upper Deschutes River. It’s closed to fishing this time of year, meaning far fewer people and with only a hint of snow on the roads you can get nearly to Wickiup Reservoir via USFS roads.
