Saturday, December 04, 2010

Dogs and QR Codes

So far this winter seems colder and snowier than most here in Kelowna.  This morning is the first time in a couple of weeks that Sandy and I have been able to go for a long morning walk together.  The weather cooperated.  The temperature hovered around freezing, and it was not snowing or raining when we left the house.

Sandy loves the snow.  Even in her twelfth year, she wants to roll in snow, dive headfirst into snow, run through snow, and most of all track things through the snow.  In fact, she likes to track things on our walks in any kind of weather any time of the year.

Just about the only thing I like about snow is taking Sandy for walks.  I like being able to see what she smells. There were many tracks today, and I’m sure they tell a story.  Sandy seemed to think so.  We walked a long way,and her nose was to the ground most of the time.

I saw tracks that might be a deer, and was reminded of my friend Frithjof, who just started using QR codes. A QR code is like a barcode, and can be read by smart phones with reader software installed.  It can contain a link to a website, text, phone numbers, contact information, and who knows what all else.

Might be a deer
Sandy's built in scanner read those tracks and got a lot more information than I ever would.  But without the snow, I never would have known about the deer at all.  Maybe snow isn't so bad.