Wow

We had a rude arrival of REAL winter weather: it was -17, -26, and -18 the last 3 days.  Yes, I had frozen pipes but this year, as a special treat no pipes burst.  Yay, that was impressive.  The laundry room pipes froze, as usual, but the hot water pipes also froze (for a change of pace).  I heated and heated the laundry room and finally, after 2 days I had success and they thawed.  Here in the North Country we call that "unthawing" your pipes.  No one seems to understand what unthawing would really mean.  Like, my pipes were unthawed until I heated them.  well duh.  We all say things that don't make sense.

I'm watching the Westminster Dog Show, one of my favorite-ever events.  I recorded it last night after I went to bed.  Just watched a shar-pei from Foster, RI.  I skipped the Toy Group, I don't care much for those breeds.  That's the luxury of watching a recording.  Now we're into the Non-Sporting Group, which is sort of all the left over breeds that don't fit in any of the other 6 groups.

Aside from keeping warm I haven't been up to much.  Stoking the stove, pacing around the house, that's about all I've done lately.  I did clean my refrigerator, washed the shelves and everything, because my friend Annie might be staying here tomorrow night.  She's coming north from DC and will either stay at her house (if she comes Thursday) or my house (if she comes Weds.)(she has company staying at her house here).  It's great to have an excuse to do some serious cleaning.  Why don't I do that for myself?  It's NOT because I don't think I deserve a clean house, let's not read too  much into this.  It's simply because I'm lazy and don't like to dust, sweep, vacuum, clean my shower or clear the dinner table.  I will do all those things today and tomorrow.

The weather made a quick transition from yesterday's -18 to 28 degrees today, with sleet and snow but nothing serious.  I already drove out to get the paper and the roads are fine.  We got a few inches of new snow, now covered with a crispy crunch.  The dogs went out and I saw them actually playing with each other.  Must be Tess is feeling pretty great, she usually tucks herself in the woods when Treasure starts running around.  Today they were chasing each other, aw, how cute.  They were fine in the cold weather, only when it was -26 did they feel they couldn't stay out more than a few minutes.  Yesterday's sub-zero didn't phase them.

I went to Plattsburgh yesterday, had some errands, it was great because there was no traffic and there were no people in the stores.  I do love being retired.  I can clean what I want to during daylight hours.  It's sure easier to dust when it's light out, isn't it?

Oh, they just announced that one of the breeds to watch is the shiba inu.  I came close to buying a shiba several years ago, I saw one on the ferry one night and was really taken by it.  My then-kennel woman said they weren't good pets, were like miniature akitas.  Then I met my Lab breeder, who was also breeding shibas and she said they made great pets.  I chose to believe neither of them and stuck with Labs.  With no regrets.

I may spend the entire day without seeing another person.  Annie just called to check in, but I haven't talked to anyone else yet today.  I don't have plans to go anywhere or see anyone.  Do I mind?  NO!  I used to spend entire Saturdays without talking to another soul and always felt that was a special treat.  I don't think it's so much a treat any more, I just don't worry about myself much.  I leave that to other people.