The End of Fall

Hello everyone. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

After a beautiful, wonderful, amazing autumn here in WNY, we finally had a change. Last Sunday snow was predicted. In the middle of that day, we got this:

This might look like snow, but it's actually something called graupel. 

Please refer to the following diagram for an explanation of what graupel is and how it forms.

After the graupel melted, we got some real snow.

By night time, it looked like this outside:

This all melted by morning. But there was still something interesting on the ground. Dad found a little birdie nest that had been blown out of the maple tree. If you look closely, you'll see the birdie used some dental floss, bits of fabric, a piece of scotch tape, and lots of squeaky toy stuffing. What a clever little birdie! I'm sure her babies were nice and comfy in that nest!

You'll have to excuse me now. I'm still pretty tired from my ordeal yesterday. I had to spend the entire day at the vet! Harumph!

Note from ghostwriter: Chester is now 14 years old. He was diagnosed with Cushing's syndrome about a year ago, and it was time to do some tests to make sure his medication is working properly. He also had some tests for other problems because he hasn't been eating much, and has lost a lot of weight. He stumbles around due to arthritis in his legs, hips, and back. Sometimes he just stares and whines quietly. We're still waiting for the vet to analyze all the tests and decide what to do. However, we've seen this before. It's called "old dog syndrome." Hopefully he'll have some more energy tomorrow after some  rest. We'll be sure to keep you posted.