Ghosts of Toboganners Past
I let Bailey out for her ablutions after breakfast this morning, as usual. The only thing that wasn't usual was her chain: the snap-on connector thing was frozen shut. I had to hold it in my hand until it thawed enough for me to pry it open. All the while, she was doing her peepee dance and whining. Listening to that shite before I've had my first coffee of the day tends to get me very loud, very fast. I had to smile when she actually looked shocked at my 6:00 a.m. verbosity.

I'm not thrilled with this cold weather. Two days ago it hit -21C overnight. I opened the back door and just stood there, listening. The earth seemed to be creaking. That, my friends, is brutal cold. I much prefer it when the temperature hovers around the freezing mark, when the snowflakes are huge and light and there's no wind to buffet you as you try to walk somewhere. Occasionally, when I visit Mom and Dad in the country, I will take a walk down to my old toboggan hill. The track begins at the same level as my parent's subdivision and twists downward through the woods, not unlike a BMX track. We even iced it sometimes to achieve maximum speed. We ceased that practice the day we had to deliver Debbie to her Mom with a huge bleeding gash in her forehead. There are no longer young kids on their street, so no one goes there anymore. It's just a lovely stroll through the trees. My old Thinking Stump is still there and if you choose just the right day, the stillness is deafening. Maybe Mother Nature is the person I need to speak with these days. Maybe the silence will chase the myriad voices of Circular Negative Thinking out of my head. At the very least, I'll be able to concentrate on getting some wonderful shots on my digicam. Distraction is also helpful, I've found.

Today, I will once again try to knock some items off my ever-growing To Do list. I can't really understand how I used to achieve so much at work, but now that I'm home, getting two items completed is cause for celebration...

Posted at 9:44 a.m.