Awakened by the sound of Sumo wrestlers chasing each other on my roof.

These squirrels are on steroids.

This teeny finch held its ground on the bird feeder.  It watched and waited until within striking distance, then bombed the grays with seed.

Died.

Heaven.

Consists of: 

sea salt pretzel, chocolate piece, caramel ice cream (Target brand) 

pinot noir from a Mondavi by Waterford stem

Windows down in the car, iPod blasting, found some corners.  :)  Took some pics and walked around in the woods.

Now that's how you treat yourself after a grueling week...or at least that's how I do!

There is a bird festival ongoing in my backyard...

It all started with the glimpse of a finch this morning while I was scrubbing the kitchen floor.  It made me think that little thing will drown in the overfilled fountain.  So I removed some water and dead leaves, then filled the squirrel's fast-food feeder thinking maybe once a bird could eat the bird seed.

They have arrived!

Finches and chick-a-dees are everywhere and the near misses!  They could use air traffic control.

Moochie-toochie left last night.  It was strange not hearing him do that full body shake and huff along side the bed this morning.  Many of his characteristics threw me back to Monza, well except that Monz was ADHD king of the pack and Mooch is just a laid back cruiser.

You know how some weeks feel like years or even strings of deja-vue experiences?  Ah yes, that encapsulates this past week for me.  Exhausting.

It's supposed to be a warmer day today and the sun is filtering in the house.  I will motivate myself to get some house cleaning accomplished and then just wander.  It's not all that often that I have time to just wander.

Ugh - time change is a killer.

Saturday was ice rescue training in the Dead River.  I tried making my quasi-dry suit's arm be a leg.  Nothing like bringing laughter to the group.  (note quasi - my suit was the only one to leak)  The sun was glorious - it felt fantastic!  I could've floated or laid on the ice for hours.  It reminded me of the days years ago when we'd have a sunny, warm-ish winter day and I'd use canola oil.  On Saturday I was thinking, gee - I have this real coconut oil in the kitchen...

Sunday was feel sick day...almost as though I had food poisoning.  Blaugh.

Mooch is finally eating.  Of course only when I mix up little venison treats in his food with warm water and make it into a gravy.  It took about 30 minutes to convince him my interior stairs were not too scary.  With treats on each step and me sitting on them to coax, he finally tried one at a time.  It's a little strange for me to have a Golden in the house.  He's a log dog Golden almost all of the time, not an ADHD Golden.  Plus he's only slightly food motivated and takes everything so softly.  Huge learning curve for me.

Off to get ready for work - seems like the weekend went a little too fast.

Mooch-a-Roo is here until....?  I suppose I should've asked his owners when they are returning.  If you recall, Mooch is the Landcruiser Golden Retriever blend.  My mother put it perfectly when she explained that he's the romantic, whereas, CashManDu is the spitfire.  You know the saying about dogs and their owners...fill in the blanks...

Needless to say, Mooch misses his owners.  He'll sometimes eat when hand fed and loves the venison treats I picked up for him.  We played snowballs tonight and that brought a glimmer to his dark brown, expressive eyes.  Did you know all Goldens smell alike on their cheeks just in front of their ears?  Golden toes also smell like Frito-Doritos.   I've discovered not all dogs have this particular scent emanating from their toes.   

And you're asking yourself, why on earth is she smelling dog toes?  It's called living life to the fullest.   Use all of your senses!

"To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.  Wrap it carefully round hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."  C. S. Lewis

With that, I'm off to stare at the lake and take a few pictures in the late afternoon light.