Beautiful...But Inconvenient

Submitted for your approval-two photographs. The one on the left is from today, showing the 2 inches of snow Nature provided us, and the warm glow that emanates from within the cabin. It looks like the place is on fire, but in the dimness of twilight that's how the bright lights of the house appear. It's for certain we didn't go with an orange interior color-scheme. Please also note the fine landscaping idea of tree rounds littering the yard in an artless style that makes it appear that they landed right where they fell. Also, note the dog of some five years walking in his master's footsteps so that a close-up can be taken of him in the snow...which didn't turn out.
Now, to the photograph on the right showing my lovely wife at our old digs in Normandy Park where, five years ago this week, a new snow greeted us, soon after bringing home said previously-mentioned dog at the tender age of eight weeks. (Awww..and no, Scott, I don't want a puppy) Five years, 50 miles and 50 pounds of dog separate these two photographs.

But, no, it's beautiful out here...if inconvenient. Both cars are down on the street on level ground, awaiting the morning's scrapings and pre-heatings, all to the tune of Paul Simon's "Slip-Slidin' Away"-a particular favorite on the Island. I was encouraged to hear the sounds of dripping while brooming the snow off the satellite dish (so I could send this to you) this evening. Nice while it lasted. Good to see it go.
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"What a Difference a Toe-Nail Makes"

Smokey (^ dog? Remember?) was down in the dumps all week. Cling-y. Had to be around one of us. Irritable. He (and Katheryn) had been attacked by previously-friendly dogs on Tuesday. So we attributed it to shock (Katheryn's fine, by the way, but mightily p.o.'d at Nature...just a month and a half ago, she was bit by a spider and got to see her hand swell up another 50%...she's okay, but, brother...living out here, with creatures and raptors, you don't get all-gooey and Disney-ish about being among wild-life...it's every creature for themselves and Bambi-be-damned). One sad dog. Mopey. Are you getting the picture that he was not well? We also thought it might be because we left him alone in the house for a few hours Wednesday (K and I went on a date), and Thursday, Thanksgiving (we had a lovely meal with my sister on the Mainland--a buffet Thanksgiving that couldn't have been better, and good company and good wine, and lawdy, lawdy even the ferries were with us!), so along with the attack, we thought he might be feeling fragile (An Australian Blue Heeler, whose usual mission in life is to bite the noses of cattle, "feeling fragile"...This is how pet-owners think). He'd limp after walks. We were worried about him. Friday, we gave him an all-points inspection and, lo and behold, a split toe-nail! Not just split--splintered, and very deep. Next morning, we're able to squeeze in a quick trim and Smokey's good to go. Walks. Rides. Breakfast-brunch this morning (we smuggled out some bacon for him), and a long walk in the snowy woods out by Coupe Deville. Back to his old self, free of pain--happy as all-giddy-up. "What a difference a toe-nail makes"
Have you checked your toe-nails lately?
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"Deja Vu" ain't what it used to be

Went out last night and saw "Deja Vu" with Farmer Scott (^ Scott? Has puppies?) and had quite the enjoyable time (The review is coming, but given how "The Departed" took three weeks to find a space here, don't be holding your breath for it...there's other stuff on the run-way). Pizza at the theater, and "mmm-mmm" pie at Denny's after. Scott's been in New Zealand for the last couple of weeks and he regaled with stories from Next-to-Down-Under, and we had a nice enjoyable chat (plus he gave me a couple of good jokes for the review..."Schrödinger's Cat!"...HA!). Now, Scott hadn't taken any e-mail addresses with him when he went, so to contact me while away, he did so through THE BLOG. And we discussed various aspects of this thing as a communications tool. One subject did come up: "Why don't people comment?" Some do, but it's sporadic. The usual crowd does a shout-out or two, and a couple of "strays" in the blogosphere have said some nice things (for comments, many thanks). But there's not a lot of give-and-take. I expected there to be some on the "Anytime Movies" and "Personal Heroes," but really...not so much. Scott had an answer for it: "Because you're RIGHT!" Yeah, I'll take that. But I'm going to throw something in here over the next couple of weeks to generate some responses, I'll just call them "Queries"--Questions that require a personal answer. Sherrard, a "00" at the "Casino Royale" showing, had a good one--in fact, he just threw it out as a conversation-starter. I've got another which kinda stumped Scott. They're personal questions that either require some deep thinking, or you know immediately...right off the top of your head. But they require responses. And there are no right answers. Just yours.
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Also, remember, coming up Friday is this. At this point, I don't even know if I'm going, but keep it in mind...and it's free.