Once a year, I make my little doggies (Sassie, the Yorkie, and Jake, the Min Pin) earn their keep. I hitch them up to plastic sleds (one a small flying saucer and the other a regular sled) and we trek into the woods a hundred yards from my house. While I gather twigs and small branches for enough kindling to last me through the winter, they explore, sniffing and territory marking to their hearts' content. Then I "load" up the sleds and they help me pull it back to the garage for winter storage out of the snow. Their reward is that they get to snooze in front of the crackling fire on cold winter evenings.

This is an example of what inspired me to write Meltdown: Winter, 2008.

And here's my poor little Jake in the path that turned into a snow tunnel for him.