One cold day.

Not much going on today. It's just plain cold. We took a walk up through the wash to the left canyon as far as the kettle and came back through the brush following the ridge. Beauty's been coming with us regular, and a couple of times I've convinced Bruno to come along but Redgirl has never come farther than halfway down the driveway and I had to coax her with treats even that far. Most times as soon as the pack comes by she just turns and pointedly goes back into W's lair. She's waiting for Vizinni.

I've been wanting to go into town to get W's mail and should have yesterday when I had the chance with J, but put it off till today when it turned out J was on his way to a trade show out of town. Probably worked out best, though; his wife H was waiting for a UPS delivery that turned out to be a set of tires for this late-60's muscle car J bought, so I was able to help her with the tires and felt like I'd paid her back for the ride. I swear, W gets more mail in a week than I have in the past three years.

Kinda feels like old times here. I've got two more weeks before W comes back, and I can spend that time all by myself. I've gotten kinda spoiled since last winter, which I spent mostly alone and came through looking like a Buchenwald inmate. Since then I've gotten used to higher income and regular trips to town. It's kinda nice to have a few weeks to myself, to remember what was nice about that time without the attendant danger of freezing or losing all my teeth to scurvy. Still got lots of propane, too. I run the heater whenever I want, this winter. Heh...I remember last winter I used to go hours and hours barely able to feel my fingers for fear of spending an unnecessary ounce of propane. It wasn't that I didn't have the money, it was the hassle of getting it from town. Back then, the body heat of the dogs was a major factor in getting through a morning. But the two biggest boys are gone now, and I do admit sometimes I sure miss them. Magnus the Magnificent, Fritz the...big beautiful dork. Yeah, there'll never be better dogs than them.

I do admit, this sure has been an easy winter compared to last year. But sometimes, when you're in the right mood, "easier" doesn't seem like "better."