Winter explosion

Today is the coldest day of the season, so far. There's snow on the ground. And this is what greets us every morning! I don't know why our azalea is exploding in January - but I'm happy it is.

About a dozen flowers and tons of buds ready to open.

It's not a pretty plant - leggy and woody and kind of dull green. The flowers make up for that - and bring us memories of the dear friend who gave it to us many years ago.

Cabin Fever

Another dull January day. (But I'm glad we don't live on the East Coast, with all the snow out that way.) One ray of sunshine is the azalea blooming at home. It makes me happy every time I look at the plant. A friend gave us this plant many years ago. She passed away longer ago than I like, but the azalea keeps going.

Last night was a difficult one at Agility Class. It seemed that many dogs had a bad case of cabin fever and were reactive and over-stimulated by the other dogs and the different environment. Fortunately I was mostly able to keep Tango focused on the small behaviors we were doing between the more active ones. We're still in Beginners class, so the behaviors are simple. But Tango jumped over all 3 jumps on the recall. And he kept me at top speed for the curved tunnel - straight tunnel sequence! (Hope said that Dee, our instructor, commented to her, "Look at your sister go!" Yup, I was truckin'!)
-Fran

Typical Chicago Weather

The last couple of days have reminded us that winter comes quickly here. Today it's warming up to 20 degrees! Remember, winter is still 10 days away. And Dax hates wearing her coat. As cute as she is in her little parka (Chillybuddy Winter Jacket), and no matter how cold it is, Dax will try everything she can to scrape it off! Silly girl.

A really, really bad day

When I got to work this morning, I knew something was wrong. This is how the door to the building looked.The landing leading to our store wasn't good, either. And this was the sight that greeted me when I unlocked the door. Apparently some pipes in the upstairs apartment burst. And water cascaded onto our suspended ceiling, bringing it and a deluge of water into the shop.

This is my desk. Poor little mouse.

My desk, again. Believe it or not, the desk lamp did work after we dried it off.

Fran's desk didn't look any better.

Our comfy customer chair was ruined.

Apparently I couldn't get over the mess of my desk.

There was about a half an inch of water all over the floor.

More mess.

My desk, again. It apparently was in the path of the waterfall.

The worst part of it was that our landlord didn't even call us when it happened. We lost a day, the label printer that was on my desk, a good bit of inventory, and our composure. We're really, really sick of winter. And water.

Bears have the right idea

You know it's going to be a long, long winter when you're tired of it before it starts. December has been a brutal month, weatherwise. Not improved by the furnace dying in our shop - two days with temperatures in the forties, inside! It was practically impossible to think - totally impossible to type. (Apologies for all those typos on the packing slips to our customers!)
And I have a question - Why is it that of all species of apes, only the furless one doesn't live in the tropics?

Sapping our strength

I'm so darn tired of writing about the weather. But there's nothing that's had more impact on our lives lately. You don't feel like going anywhere, doing much of anything, because it's just such a hassle. Boots, coat, scraping ice off the car, treacherous driving (the village ran out of road salt), and on and on.

If I put on my PollyAnna hat, I'd say that it could be a lot worse. I love my job and my home. Even if it's been hard to find under all the snow this season.

Nothing's easy

Not easy to get to work
Not easy to get home

Winter is HARD! I don't know what early ancestor thought it would be a good idea to populate the "temperate zone" but he was WRONG! He should have stuck to the Tropic and Sub-tropic zones. Now we're stuck and can't move because of all the essential trappings of life - silly little details like family, friends, home, business, clubs, and the entire network that makes life fun the other eight months of the year.

The Chicago Tribune had a headline last week: "Shovel, Salt, Repeat." So we are.