Walking Purple in a Winter Wonderland

The Chicago area received some snow accumulation a few weeks ago, and we decided it was time to take a walk along the nearby Evanston lakeshore with Katie.

We enjoyed lovely and clear views of the city to the south of us, and picturesque frozen tree branches in all directions.  We didn't venture too close to the rocks which were treacherously slick with several inches of ice cover, but it was still possible to appreciate the creative artwork on the rocks from a distance.

Because Katie has difficulty when walking on much ice, snow, and salt, we'd gotten in the habit of carrying around her "Paws" rubber booties which we whipped out at the beginning of the walk.  Unlike the more expensive set we had gotten earlier which were secured via velcro strips, these rubber ones had tight elastic tops which ended up staying on Katie's paws much better (despite her fairly constant efforts to kick them off somehow).

We got the size appropriate for her big furry paws (which happen to be "Large") and each package was color coded, hers being purple.  We hadn't needed to think much about the color before, but then we noticed that we were getting more than usual number of looks around the Northwestern University campus when we took our walk.  It didn't take us long to remember then that Northwestern University color is purple, and we realized that our Katie unwittingly had become the university mascot.  (She would argue that, as a wolf descendent, she's not really a "Wildcat," but you get the picture.)

So, we weren't too surprised when, instead of the usual "What a cute dog!" exclamations, the comments we got instead were: "What cool dog shoes!"  We thought maybe a university official would admire Katie and offer her an advertising contract to promote Northwestern, but alas...