December

The sun has been out quite a bit this month, unlike last winter when we were buried under snow upon snow upon snow for six long months… A week or so ago I took the dog for a walk in the wetlands behind our house, now frozen and walkable (plus—no ticks!) to enjoy the sunshine, take some photos (see the slideshow at the bottom of the page), and get some fresh air and exercise. While I was distracted by wild turkey tracks, Casey decided to head back towards the house, who knows why. I called to him and clapped my hands, trying to pierce his old-dog deafness. He stopped, looked around blindly, then kept heading for the house. I took off after him, afraid that in his senile dementia he'd run out into the road and get hit by a car, and for a few moments I lost sight of him. Tromping along as fast as I could in my big snow boots, calling and clapping, visions of screeching tires and yowling doggie road-kill in my head, I finally saw Casey—running up the stairs on our back deck, looking to see who was calling him to come home. I pondered as I caught up with him and told him our walk wasn't over yet: be annoyed with him for running away? or happy with him for running home? At least in his dementia he went home when confused. I guess I'll be happy with that. I kept him on the leash for the rest of the walk (which would have made a great comic video, me trying to cope with a dog on a leash while taking photos of turkey tracks and dried milkweed pods).

Casey is as happy as we are today to have Jesse & Mike up for the weekend from Brooklyn. Mike is perhaps Casey's favorite person. Poor Mike woke up this morning to Casey staring him in the face—he'd left their bedroom door ajar and Casey just couldn't wait for him to get up! If his hips weren't so arthritic, I'm sure he'd have climbed into bed with them. He's done it before. And he knows he's not allowed on the furniture. Like many old folks, he uses his age as an excuse to take liberties. Senility comes in handy sometimes.