hello winter

Sunrise in Madison Wisconsin is at 7:26 a.m. Sunset comes at 4:25 p.m.  This is our "shortest" day of the year, though you probably know enough to understand that minutes don't tell all, as, for example, yesterday's sunrise was also at 7:26 and sunset at 4:25. But the sun is with us for one second less today and so we have ourselves a winner: today we turn around and start the march (more like the slog) to spring!

Henry, this is your first winter solstice. Let's celebrate in our own way: how about greeting the sunrise from Squirrel Hill?

 

 

 

My pup, my prince... 

 

 

No squirrels today, but Henry does dig up a dead mouse. Which reminds me that I haven't done enough training on the new commands. Like "leave it!"  Workin' om it!

 

 

 A breakfast of oatmeal. Doesn't that seem more seasonal than granola? 

 

 

 

Good morning, finches! 

 

 

 

Henry, are you checking my email? 

 

 

 

Oh you sweet, loving dog! I'm so glad you like winter. I do too, you know. At least at its beginnings! 

 

 

 

I was to have a quiet day with Henry. No family, no Ed. But we changed things around a bit because I needed to make a delivery of Christmas stuff for friends of his, and so long as I was doing that, Henry and I may as well go for an off leash walk in the dog park close to the farmette. Ed comes with us. Henry is overjoyed.

 

 

 

 

 

There is almost no one else in the park. Why? Because everything is frozen solid. If yesterday there were rivulets of ice, today there is one huge sea of slipperiness. I have studs in my shoes, Ed has ice cleats and so we manage just fine. Henry is nimble and delightfully unbothered by it. 

 

 

 How he stays upright is beyond me. But he does. Fast as the wind!

 

 

The one bad fall we had was Ed's and it was not his doing: a big dog rear-ended him. Possibly not able to stop himself, he barreled into Ed and toppled him. We think Ed did not break his elbow, but for a few minutes we were not at all sure of this.

Ah, but it was a glorious walk anyway. So much so that we did the loop along the perimeter twice.

And then it is time for me to get home. So that I can finish my puzzle. Yes, my life seems very dog themed right now. 

 

 

 

Good afternoon finches!

 

 

A wintry welcome to the new season. Icy and cold. Not for long though. On the second day of winter I'm shedding my spiky ice shoes and reaching for anything that's good in mud. 

with so much love... 

Saturday funnies

Do you remember the days some of us used to watch Saturday morning cartoons? Often called the funnies? When I was a kid, the one TV in our home was in my parents' bedroom. Sneaky of them, wasn't it! They kept the bedroom door shut when they were in bed and so the TV was basically off limits weekend mornings. No funnies for us. In those days, Sunday morning TV was loaded with game shows for kids. You know the type -- picture Price Is Right or Wheel of Fortune, only with kids filling in as contestants, with challenges that are geared toward a younger set. My school friend's dad was in some way connected to CBS -- a network that had its share of these shows. The taping of them took place on Saturday and there was one such Saturday where a snowstorm kept many of the scheduled contestant kids home. I happened to be sleeping over at this girl's house and her father asked if the both of us could come to the studio and take part in the show. They were desperate for contestants. My parents gave their very reluctant permission. 

I was chosen to be in one of the games -- a stupid one where my eyes were covered with blinds, and where I had to find a big round ball. If I'd succeed, I'd be showered with some toy gifts that Mattel or Ideal or one of the big players dumped on the network for advertising purposes. The thing is, I could see from underneath the eye cover. So I found the ball quite easily. And then was tormented afterwards by the fact that I won the loot dishonestly. Of course, the game hosts wouldn't have cared had they known. They just had a show to tape and air the next day. Just rewards were not at the forefront of their thinking. And in the end it didn't matter, because my parents, no fans of capitalism, did not allow me to take the toys home (and they were indeed dumb toys -- lots of plastic, little value). But there was still the thrill of appearing on that Sunday's TV program! At around 9 I believe. My parents' bedroom door remained closed, but I pounded on it and again reluctantly, they let me in. I was excited: my TV debut! My parents slept through it. To their credit, they often kept late hours due to receptions and diplomatic functions, so there as that. Still, as they dozed, I sat on the floor, watching myself move toward the ball, seemingly blinded, but also dumbstruck, as I drew nearer to my "big win."

*     *     * 

Wild weather swings! Warm two days ago, Freezing yesterday, warm this afternoon, chilly as anything tomorrow, warming up again Monday. So, where do we fit in this morning? Well, just below freezing, with a gusty wind. But the cut off point for me is clear: no sweater for Henry. I can't be making such difficult decisions before breakfast, so I stick to my 25f (-4c) rule. And we are not below 25f.

I'm thinking we should walk up the block just a little, but this proves to be a mistake. My apartment building is extremely pet friendly and so they keep the sidewalk salt to a minimum. The businesses and hotels around us are quite the opposite: salt abounds. I quickly retreat to our usual up and down and all around our building.

(oh those rivers of ice...)

It's so windy that a warm shower seems absolutely blissful afterwards. And breakfast? Even more so! 

Henry eyes me suspiciously afterwards. Are you gonna do those timed release photos were you run back and forth between me and the camera?

(my big hound...)

Yes Henry. Because I love you so much...

*     *     *

Here's a funny thing: I'm waiting for my lesser but probably better smart bird feeder to arrive. As I noted, the original one went back to Slovenia. Or somewhere. Hopefully not the dump. (That's the trouble with sending things back -- the items you reject often wind up in a landfill.) In the meantime, I scattered some seeds on the balcony table. And I have a flood of birds coming to it. Finches, sparrows, and a couple that look awful much like woodpeckers but I am not smart enough to tell you for sure.  (Ed had commented -- why do you need to see videos of birds at your feeder? Isn't the purpose of a feeder to get the birds close, so that you can to see them with your own eyes? Otherwise, why not just watch bird videos on your computer? But of course, it's all an exercise in learning about birds -- their habits, their song, and their identities. This is where a smart feeder becomes very helpful. It's your teacher.

Henry is fascinated by this sudden onslaught of feathered friends out there. 

(that cardinal is not on the tree -- it's a visitor to the Edge balcony!)

 

I'm not sure he expects to ever chase them, but he is definitely on the fence as to whether they require a woof or not. So far he is on the side of no woof. The apartment remains a place of quiet for him.

*     *     *

Ed comes over soon after. We are to take a walk with Henry. It's weekend exercise time! But first, a few essentials.

Like, Henry's greeting of Ed.

Then, I have an errand to do: I want Ed to help me take over the big packages to my daughter's house. They are ridiculously cumbersome and it's impossible for me to imagine carrying the stuff over on Christmas Day, with Henry pulling at the leash.

Ed is not a Christmas guy, but he is a great helper when asked to step up.

The young family is away and indeed, they have a house sitter staying there with the animals, but I am determined to do this while I have Ed's help. I leave him to carry in packages while I manage Henry and their dog Goose.

I have the worse end of the stick.

Henry has always played with Goose off leash and indeed, this is what they do when they spend the day together at doggie daycare: they are free to saunter, jump and tumble. My pooch does not like being tied to me and he tries every which way to free himself. In hanging on to his collar I accidentally unsnap it, sending him flying across the yard in total abandon. 

So now I'm holding on to Goose and trying hard to regain control over Henry and I'm thinking -- these dogs are way stronger than me! 

Eventually, both dogs are where they should be, the presents for the young family are under the their tree (well, next to it, as the boxes are crazily large), Ed and I get into the car with Henry, and let out one big exhale. Or I let it out. Ed is in a perpetual eye roll mode during this project.

 

*     *     *

We drive over to Prairie Morraine dog park. The big one with the long trails. Henry, of course, loves it to pieces.

Ed and I have a tougher time: there is ice everywhere. Slow going for two elderly types who do not wish to crack their bones on it with a fall.

If you stick to the main path, you can avoid most of the ice. 

 

We do not stick to the main path. 

And neither does Henry.

Despite the ice, it's a beautiful walk! A happy walk! 

*     *     *

At sunset, Ed returns to the farmette animals. I'm left with my usual triangle of feelings: I love my space at the Edge. I love living so close to school pickups and to my daughter's place. I do not love living 13 miles away from the farmette and Ed. Those sixteen minutes each way (so long as it's not rush hour) is about fourteen minutes too long. Funny how much a cliché fits the moment: life is full of compromises. The hope is that you make the right ones at the right time.

with so much love... 

dogs, birds, holidays

Well, Henry is the best dog on the planet, the holidays are fast approaching, and here I am, minding not the dog, nor am I tending to the gift-wrapping, instead, I am consumed by a bird feeder. (Yes, there's a pun in there, not a very clever one because honestly, I am not feeling very clever this morning.)

I wont bore you with the bothersome details that lead me finally to disassemble the birdfeeder, pack it up, and take it Kohl's -- the only place from where I could send it back to Amazon without a printer. Needless to say all this took time.

Ironically, when I got back home, I noticed three birds, Finches all, sitting on my balcony railing and table, wondering what happened to the birdfeeder. 

 

Worry not, little birds. Another one is coming soon. A cheaper one that perhaps wont pose the same challenges the other one did. In the meantime, let me contribute to the incredible mess on my balcony and scatter some seeds for you on the table there. I want you to think of it as a happy place for birds! 

 

My dog presents no such feeding problems. Indeed, he is a model pup this morning. Up at 6:30. It is ridiculously cold outside! Rain yesterday, 6F (-15C) today. Of course there will be ice. With a fierce wind added to the mix. On goes his warmest (I think) sweater. A real pain to take on and off for a dog with very long limbs, but worth it (I think). 

Once again, he is not in a hurry to extend the walk today. 

 

 

 

Still, I give him an A- for his behavior: he caught himself and did not woof at the children getting on the 7 a.m. school bus. And he did not woof at the person in the lobby who was fixing himself a cup of coffee. (The Edge has a coffee and tea station for those who do not care about the quality of the caffeinated beverage, nor the fake milk product as long as it gives a pazow hit to get you moving in the morning.) Why only A- ? Well, I went to my storage closet outside the apartment where I kept the box for the bird feeder and Henry ran to the door and jumped up on it after me. That's a real no-no. He could easily scratch the door and leave me with a $$ bill for repairs.)

By breakfast time, all is calm. 

And afterwards, Henry and I play.

And snuggle.

 

I take him to doggie daycare, pick up a few items at the grocery store and go to Kohls to do my return.

I'm not sure what the relationship is between Amazon and Kohls, but they do have a designated Amazon returns station and I was lucky enough to have zero waiting time. But to get to it, you have to make your way to a rather remote corner of the store, passing very many aisles of merchandise. It's been a while since I've been in the clothes sections of a big box store. To say that I don't miss it is the understatement of the year. It's true that after a couple of years of online food purchasing, I've gone back to in-person grocery store visits. The grocery store is closer to my new home and in any case, I do like to check expiration dates and the quality of produce. Clothes? Give me online shopping any time. 

What's missing from this day so far? Holiday prep. And this is getting serious, as doggie day care will be mostly closed next week and I just dont see myself hitting the big packages with Henry underfoot. Ah well. No need to stress about it. Instead, let me start in on a new 500 piece puzzle. It's all about dogs!

 

And then it's time to pick up the kids. Last day of school! PJ day for Sparrow! Holiday garb for Snowdrop! Hot chocolate and movies instead of work! All good stuff. And yet, they appear just a little fragile. 

 

 

 

Nothing that a couple of weeks of later wakeups wont cure. And of course, by the time we settle in at the Edge, they relax, unwind, exhale.

We dont pick up Henry together because they have something to attend to back home. Tonight then, it's just Henry and me, settling in for cozy time by the tree.

with so much love... 

wet

It's a light rain in the early morning. Foggy, wet. The snow is melting. Icy patches remain and Henry is hell bent on licking each one. Yes, he does have water, no it's not thirst, it's... well, it's Henry. 

Yesterday was such a full day for him -- daycare romp with Goose, followed by the training session. Our walk this morning is brief.

And afterwards, he ate, then went straight back to his bed while I lingered over a very light breakfast.

I hardly had time for pup hugs.

Henry had to go back to daycare by 8:30. Not that he minded. Still, it was an early drop off. (I drove slowly, because my pup managed to chew threw his seat belt. We're waiting for the new, indestructible one to arrive.) 

Why the light breakfast and the early Henry drop off? Well, I have a meeting of our Breakfast Club. I dont think we actually call it a Breakfast Club, but what else would you name an event that happens periodically, with the same people, over breakfast?

This time, I'm hosting. I have to say, I had the perfect dish for it! My daughter's croissant pudding! All I needed was time to make it. No such luck. My two friends had to settle for quiches from La Baguette.

It's always so lovely to get together in these informal ways with people you know well. Give me a small group of intimate friends or family over a large gathering any time.

And guess who else visited me today? The Finches are back!  (Sounds like a pair of awful neighbors, no? Well, these birds are actually cute as pie!)

The rain comes down hard now. We expect it all to freeze over by tomorrow and then melt again next week. That is a true December for you! Dare I say that I miss the bitter cold? If it comes with snow then yes, I do miss it.

 

I pick up Sparrow, then Snowdrop. We are on our last days together before Christmas and since I am the world's greatest pushover, I let them zip ahead with their advent calendars. Go ahead, open them all! Except for December 19th! Dont open that because I know I have you here then!

The beauty of these winter scene calendars is that both kids, but especially Sparrow, love to play with them once they are set up. And their play is very much a reflection of their individual styles: Snowdrop will give identities to the figures, Sparrow will plunge into activities that they engage in. 

Holiday magic, all of it.

We pick up Henry and Goose. The two dogs are all over Sparrow in the back seat and he loves it! Snowdrop nuzzles their snouts, the dogs are happy as anything to be heading home.

Home: there is a holiday party at the Edge tonight, but Henry has been such a barker at strangers lately that I dare not take him down to it. However, I decide he can stand ten minutes without me. I leave him for that long -- it will have been his longest solitary time in the apartment since his first week here. 

My pooch was fine in that time, but I know he really is not trustworthy. If  he got spooked, he could damage furniture, plants, any number of things. And he still will not go near the crate. Nonetheless, it's progress. He knows that I come back. And that's a good thing.

 

 

with so much love... 

 

learning curve

It's always like that, right? The startup costs are huge, the learning curve is long. Eventually you get up to speed with it and it becomes smooth sailing. With bumps, but with time -- fewer bumps, calmer seas. Until the next new app/device/pet/sport whatever comes along and you're back there grinding your teeth and pulling your hair out.

Setting up my smart bird feeder was a challenge. I couldn't sync the device to the app and to my WiFi. Not my fault. Something to do with my WiFi company apparently. That's as educated as I am on the subject. But I did fix it, despite the fact that my feeder appears to be a product of Slovenia and trying to reach a person to help you fix problems is basically not possible. You spin from one set of FAQs to the next and hope that eventually you'll find something that fits your needs. Or, you go to the CHAT box and you initiate a nonsensical conversation with some bot called CHIRP, who will not understand your problem.

You can become frustrated, or you can remind yourself that eventually it will all sort itself out. After all, people in Slovenia are technologically very clever, and the device likely works well if you know what you're doing which I clearly do not.

The good news is that I have set up the camera successfully and this morning (drum roll!) two birds came to my birdhouse! I clicked and snapped ten photos. The birds were beautiful, the sky was blue, everything was grand, except... where are the photos now? I cannot tell you. Where is the information I'm supposed to get on these birds? I do not know. A banner appeared momentarily telling me that House Finches came by to visit, but this is all I know.

I'm not surprised that birds flew over to explore. The day is sunny and just above freezing. No sweater weather for Henry! 

I turned my pooch away from his usual morning path and took him to a big field, not so much to romp, but to enjoy a trudge across a field of undisturbed snow. I'd forgotten how much my pup loves to dig in these fields, pushing away snow in search of... I dont know what. Dead rabbits? Buried treasure? 

Well, if it makes him happy...

Breakfast, where Henry wants so much for me to increase his food intake. 

 

 

It's tempting. My pup is obviously still growing. Here, take a look at how tall he is when he jumps up with bouts of affection for me:

Am I a little worried about his size and strength? Not at all! Maybe I love tall guys? My father was pretty short. Should we run this through a psychoanalytic chatbot? Nah... I just love my Henry and he happens to be very tall -- all part and parcel of his wonderfulness.

He is at daycare, I go over to the farmette. The day is warm enough for the chickens to emerge from the barn. And for Pancake to stare at me coming up the driveway.

Ed had gone skiing yesterday and was feeling like perhaps two days in a row was a bit much, but I pointed out that the warming trend has begun. We may not get another opportunity anytime soon.

And then I come home and yes, I should wrap, but instead, I spend the time trying to understand my smart -- clearly smarter than me -- birdfeeder. It is not until many hours later that I finally locate my first photo of my first finchy visitors.

 

 

Once I am done troubleshooting this troublesome device, it is time to pick up Snowdrop.

(We read, then she reads and I fix the Christmas tree. A string of lights stopped working. Up goes a new one.)

 

 

I have to take her back to school in the evening because it appears that there is a school orchestra concert tonight. I'm not going. Ive got Henry on my hands, and, too, there's her level of interest in playing (it's pretty low -- she never practices). Her mom and brother will be there. Me, I pick up my boy. It's a fast turnaround for us too: he has his last dog training session right after supper. The Beginners one. Next year he moves on to the Intermediate level!

(a graduation diploma!)

 

He has learned a lot, true enough, though the greatest benefit for me, his trainer, is watching how the instructor approaches the whole saga of dog training. With treats of course, but also with an understanding of the dog's temperament. Not all dogs will lie down for you in their first year of training. Especially big dogns like my guy. Henry will sit at a bat of an eye, but he rarely goes down to the floor unless he wants to nap. 

(Today's lesson? Leave It and Wait. He already does a Hang Back in the elevator, which is pretty much the same as Wait, but the Leave it is an interesting challenge! But Henry is smart: when he wants to learn, he learns.)

 

And speaking of napping, might we go to bed earlier tonight? No? Well, let's try!

with so much love...