9 May 2011 by ben.

Raffle was the mother of our previous corgi, Bear, who died quite young of health complications.  When we adopted Raffle a month or two later, it felt like a band-aid for our hearts as she began to mother us.    Within a few weeks, we took her on her first camping trip near Leavenworth, where she proceeded to get the dirtiest ever in her life, and she loved it!  And then a few months later, we adopted a puppy named Pippin who turned out to be her own great grandson, and they always got along swimmingly.  Pipping was bigger, faster, stronger, more clever:  but Raffle was the Grandma and the boss!  The next year, we took them both to Manzanita, Oregon to our beach house rental, and both had a chance to run in the surf of the Pacific Ocean.

Raffle turned out to love playing in the snow, and her breeder, Gloria, told us that she was born in Alberta, Canada in early December, and so probably only knew snow for the first four months of her life.  By the time she was two, she was a champion corgi, winning local and regional best-of-breed titles. 

When she was older and had trouble keeping up with Pippin on walks, but still desperately wanting to join us for every outing, Sandy created a nest for her in her wagon.  When we had a big snow storm in December of 2008, Sandy pulled Raffle around the ‘hood to enjoy the beautiful snowfall. We’ll always remember you, Raffle, you were a good dog!!

Raffle in December of 2008… click for more

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22 December 2008 by ben.

Snow continues.  Raffle gets a lift.  Everybody is happy!

The first day of winter brought the 2nd consecutive day of 6+ inches of snow falling in our neighborhood.  This is definitely the whitest week I’ve seen since I moved to Seattle in 1979.  Raffle (the Snow Queen) was born in northern Alberta in December, and so she only knew snow for the first five months of her life.  The snow in the backyard finally got too deep for her, so we cut channels so she wouldn’t vanish in a drift.

From left to right:  Pippin, Bonnie, Raffle, Sandy

Raffle enjoying her life as the Snow Queen, being waited on by Sandy

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21 December 2008 by ben.

Our snow and cold just won’t go away!  The low on Saturday morning was 14.9 degrees F (-9.5C), the coldest ever reported by my weather station, with the average for the past two days just 23 degrees F.  Saturday, another snow storm moved into the area, dropping 7″ (18 cm) of new snow.  My brother, Nathan, in Montesano near the Pacific Ocean, reported 14″ (35.5 cm) of snow by 10 pm last night as it was tapering off at his house.  Seattle was spared most of the high winds from this powerful storm, which generated gusts of 70 MPH in Enumclaw and 100 MPH in Cumberland.

Kim and I got back from the Christmas shopping shortly after the snow began to fall in earnest just after 3 pm, and so we were able to enjoy the rare spectacle of snow on a very cold day in Seattle.  I took these shots after 10 pm around our home.  In this first photo, our older corgi, Raffle, plays a bit in the snow.  She’s about 86 in ‘people years,’ but bursts with exuberance in the snow!

Raffle loving the snow

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11 January 2007 by ben.

Seattle doesn’t get snow very often, and when it does, it’s usually with the temperatures close to freezing and so the roads end up being icy and treacherous. With our numerous hills, driving is an adventure, and so for the third time this school year, Sandy and Bonnie’s school has been cancelled due to snow. Another day was cancelled due to the huge wind storm in mid December.

Here’s Raffle enjoying the 3″ deep snow she discovered in our backyard this morning:

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