Pretty isn't it? That's what the garage at the parental palace looked like last night. Yeah, the ice was there too. Note: When you hear a loud crack, do not blame it on the oven vent. And when you look outside and it appears to be raining even though it's 26 degrees, you have a problem. So several hundred gallons of water later, we finally located the water valve which was helpfully placed on the FAR east side of a 2 acre property. For once I was actually useful as a result of 6 years of working graveyards. I function much more efficiently in the cold, dark outdoors than I do in the glaring bright of daylight. Once we got the water turned off, the garage and driveway instantly turned into an ice rink. I would have made the dogs slide around with me except that I know one of them would have broken a leg and I would have forked out about $3000 for the emergency vet bill.

Luckily, a hapless visiting uncle had been imported from Arizona (because they're so experienced with frozen pipes down there) so he was at the house under the guise of having dinner when in fact he was really just there to be a peon in our clean up efforts. It was great to see you Uncle Joel. Hopefully they let you check in to the hotel with your soaking clothes and dirt stained knees.

It's been a real challenge trying to work with both the dogs given the polarity of their personalities. Hudson has now wracked up 6 broken Christmas tree ornaments. His exuberance is impossible to contain and I am constantly trying to tamp him down, keep him bottled up and under control. The big white one who now goes by Bogart, Bogie for short until I change my mind again, is still learning that in this new world, people harbor only goodwill and treats for him. I am constantly trying to draw him out and teach him to be a dog instead of a wind up guarding machine. The recent snows are the first time I have truly seen him unbridled. He raced around the yard, shovelled snow into his mouth to eat it, flung his bone around and play bowed to me through the slider trying to get me to come out and chase him around the yard. It was a joyous morning to see him so happy and so puppylike. Here he is trying to attack his bone:

He brings me so much happiness, it's hard to remember the days before he came. I can't wait to come home to him after work, or to take him to the park if he's come with me. Every day when I get up and "reappear" to him, he greets me ecstatically as though he were afraid I had left him. Of course I love Hudson too but our relationship is very different. I am Bogie's whole world and we are very sensitive to one another. Hudson barrels his way through life adoring everyone. If you happen to be the human in front of him, you're great. That's refreshing in it's own right, especially when I have begged and pleaded and lured Bogie to perform a simple behavior and he's too afraid and Hudson will do it without a second thought. But my relationship with Bogie is much deeper because it has to be. He is truly MY dog which was what I wanted when I decided to get another dog. I have fantasies of having a big New England farmhouse on some land and about 4 feet of snow outside and Bogie racing around the property in paroxysms of joy. The snow and a few acres is so obviously where he was meant to be.

Speaking of which, it's time to go walk the mutts in the snow now that I have some clean towels for all of us. And then we will retire to the sofa where Hudson will smother me on the left and Bogie will pin my legs from the right and hopefully Hudson will leave me with at least a few ornaments on the tree.