Phew. I could use a pair of snow shoes I think. Carley and I just went for an unplanned walk in the woods behind our house. The sidewalks in town are pretty much useless today because of all the snow we've been getting in the last day or two. So we ducked into the woods and I was instantly glad we did. This snow makes the woods very beautiful and quiet - much more beautiful than in town - and we were early enough to beat all the pesky ski-doo-ers. But walking in all that snow is hard! I don't know why Carley isn't entirely exhausted - she ran and leapt through the snow, and it was all just about as deep as she is tall. We saw fresh moose tracks! Carley tried to track them but I wouldn't let her get too far away from me because we took a trail I hadn't been on before, and I didn't want her running out into somebody's yard, or onto a road [the woods behind our house is on a hill, but about two thirds of the hill is surrounded by the town - see image below].











Well now it's time for breakfast and then I have to get some work done.

I never used to like coffee cake all that much. But now that I do, I have been trying out some recipes. This one is a raspberry swirl. You can find the recipe here. And you can eat it for breakfast, lunch and maybe even dinner.



















Well Carley got a new toy. Meet Chicken. He's already lost his legs - but to be fair to Carley, they were very tempting to rip off. Not really like chicken legs at all - way too stubby and round. So now Bart has a rival. I like them both - and in Bart's favour, his legs can be sewn back on when they "accidentally" come off.

This is Billy. He is currently staying at the Gander SPCA. It seems he and Carley were found abandoned in the same area, around the same time. They are the same age and look so much alike that I am very certain that he is related to Carley - maybe even from the same litter. He seemed just a bit too big and rambunctious for us, so we didn't even really give him a chance. Now I wish we could adopt him, even if he isn't related to Carley at all. I can't stand the thought of such an energetic, young dog in that little cage. And he's been there since June!





























He's still a relatively young dog - only about a year and a half old. The SPCA has had him neutered in hopes of making finding a home for him a bit easier. [If I remember correctly, getting Carley spayed and giving her a few shots cost over $500.] And when he came in, the name on his collar said "Bully". I don't think this helped his cause, so his PR people tactfully changed his name to Billy. If he's anything like Carley [and so many other dogs who end up in shelters], he is there through no fault of his own and is probably a wonderful dog.

When we first let Carley out of her cage at the SPCA, she was a maniac and I was thinking, no way are we taking this crazy dog. She was tearing around, jumping everywhere. Darcey convinced me to at least take her out for a walk to see how she did, and she calmed down a lot right away. Now I know that she was just so ecstatic to be out of the cage, and that it's not her usual behaviour [although she still sometimes acts this way, with very little encouragement, it seems]. Most dogs act differently in a cage than they would in your home. It's just a bit of a risk, I think, when you take home a dog.

Anyway. I've been thinking about Billy a lot in the past few months. If there was another adult in our family and we had a better fence, I think we could do it, but right now it's all I can do to manage Carley. I would be spending all day walking and exercising dogs. Maybe that would be ok, though? Well. I hope he finds a good home soon.

Today I witnessed a dog being hit by a car. Carley and I were out for our usual morning walk and near the end where we turn around and come back there is a house that has a dog. Now that we have a dog, I'm starting to learn all the other houses that have dogs, simply because they are usually sources of much interest for Carley. This one particular house with a dog is sort of set down from the road, on the water. It's set so you can really only see the top half of the house from the road. The road is technically called Main Street, though at this point it's very nearly the edge of town and it's more of a country highway. The other side of the road has a lot of trees and steep hills. The dog that lives in this particular house has never been of much interest to Carley because I don't think she's ever seen the dog before. It's often tied on near the house, which is on the other side of the road from where we walk. Today, however, a man opened the front door and let the dog out. He went back inside to get something, but in the meantime the dog had run up the hill and came right across the road to greet us. Carley was a bit surprised but she allowed the dog to sniff her and she sniffed him in return. It was an older dog, about the same size as Carley, maybe a bit smaller - but slightly thick around the middle with scruffy tan-coloured fur.

It's happened before on our walks that a dog will come to greet us. Some people just let their dogs wander, I guess. It's not really a fair thing to do - not for other people who want to walk on the street, not for motorists, and especially not for people who walk their dogs on a leash. Dogs are naturally curious about one another, so if there is a dog on the loose while we are walking, it's pretty certain that it will come over to investigate us, whether we want it to or not. A few times, dogs have followed us for quite a ways, sometimes walking down the middle of Main Street, which has caused a few upset drivers and minor traffic jams. Carley is always really worked up over all of this. In these situations I am doing my best just to keep her on the sidewalk, so I can't simultaneously deal with someone's wandering dog. Sometimes shouting at the dog scares them back home but not always.

At any rate, today this dog ran across the street to say hello. That is a dog's natural instinct, I think. There were no cars at the moment but I was worried that the dog wouldn't stay put. When the coast was clear I took Carley across the road to the other dog's house, hoping he would follow and then be taken back inside by his owner. I called the dog over but he wasn't interested. At this point, his owner came back outside and I said, "Sir - your dog is across the street!" He didn't seem to hear me and just said something like, "Oh, that dog. He is really old. 14 years!" I tried to convey to the man that the dog would be in danger of oncoming traffic but he didn't seem concerned. So I decided to go back across the street and keep walking. But at that moment two vehicles came down the road into town. I stopped and Carley sat down and then the other dog ran out in front of the first car. The driver had slowed down when they saw the dog, but for some reason they didn't come to a stop. Instead, they sideswiped the dog with their car. I covered my face because I couldn't watch - but I heard a big THUMP. When I looked, I saw the dog go flying back on to the shoulder of the road. The car kept going, and so did the truck behind it.

Miraculously, the dog shook himself off and came running towards us. I couldn't believe it! The car didn't stop. I looked back at the dog's owner and, to my surprise, he looked like he couldn't have cared less. He just kept throwing stuff into his truck. Then he yelled at me, "What a stupid dog! Did you see that? He got hit by a car!"

And then he got into his truck and the dog hopped in after him. I checked for traffic before taking Carley across and then she sat down and didn't want to move. So we stayed to watched the truck pull out of the driveway and drive away. The dog seemed to be fine, but I'm not sure how he could have been. What I was thinking was not what a stupid dog, but what stupid people. The hit-and-run driver, and the negligent dog owner. The dog wasn't the stupid one. If he's as old as the man said he is, his eyesight and hearing are probably deteriorating. He probably didn't even notice that car coming. Most likely all he saw was his owner getting ready to leave in the truck. Not wanting to get left behind, he made a dash for it and nearly got killed.

Anyways. This whole things left me really angry and upset - I'm sorry for the long-winded venting. I will probably tell the whole story - verbatim! - to Darcey when he comes home for lunch in a few minutes, but I needed to tell someone right now.


On a much happier note: my brother is going to get married! To the wonderful Betsy. They are a funny pair, those two. Such clowns. I'm so happy for both of them. The wedding will be in August, and it will take place in SUNNY CALIFORNIA. Hurray!

When the cat's away the mice will play. Carley and I are the mice in this scenario. Darcey is the cat. The cat is in St. John's all week. Here is just a little bit of what he's missed so far:

The first real snow fall. The kind that you actually have to shovel. Carley went out to investigate during the middle of the storm but I stayed inside. Later the snow came much higher. But I was informed by neighbours during the evening shovelling that this was just a little storm. Most storms around here last much longer - days and days, apparently. We have just happened upon a most unusual winter. I don't mind. I could handle a bit more snow - when there is still grass showing it doesn't seem like enough, you know? But I'm just fine with the balmy temperatures. Today it's somewhere around -10 Celsius and sunny. The wind is kind of nasty but it's definitely not Manitoba calibre.









































My Poirot movies arrived! Just in time for the little storm. Nothing beats watching murder mysteries on a cozy sofa with an even cozier dog, sipping on some hot cocoa during a snow storm.


















And I ate cake for breakfast a couple times [till there was no more cake, actually].



















We didn't just lay around all week, though. I did lots of laundry and pulled down all the wallpaper from the office. I might even tackle the kitchen. We'll see.






































And I made some calendars from some old sketch books that I just was never going to use because they were too big. Actually they once belonged to my dad, I think. There were UofM bookstore price tags on the back covers: $1.65. Must have been a long time ago! The font is PTF Nordic by Prismtone. This really has been a good multipurpose font for me lately.












































































Carley is starting to wonder where that Darcey could have gone. She runs to the door at the littlest noise or sits despondently by the window. Soon, I keep telling her but she just drops her chin onto the window sill and sighs.

Today it was time to put away the last bits of Christmas. Fittingly enough, it's been snowing all day. I hope this time it won't get washed away by rain. Taking down and putting away ornaments and garlands is almost as fun for me as putting them up. I like putting the little acorns into their own individual compartments, all safe and snug till next year.




































On another note, yesterday I received a wonderful package in the mail from my dear cousin, who is very good at giving lovely gifts! Included were some crisp, new red pillowcases, which went promptly on the bed!


















Yesterday was also a perfect day to have calzones for lunch. I made them using the olive oil dough from this book. I added some leftover pizza sauce, some spinach sauteéd with garlic, pepperoni and some spicy cheese and ta-da! Lunch! A very good way to use up random ingredients in your fridge. I also think that calzones would be an excellent camping meal, or even a hiking lunch. And if you make a little fire you could even heat them up and melt all the gooey cheese inside. If you have a crisp caesar salad with this then it's perfect.


















Sometimes - actually usually - Carley insists on getting way more than her fair share of the couch. She thinks this is only fair, as we won't share our calzones.


















Anyways. As I was putting away the Christmas things, I was thinking about next Christmas. Hopefully next year we can go home to be with our families. This year was nice and quiet, but maybe a little bit too quiet. Various relatives sent me pictures of the 2008 family gatherings, so I could see what I missed. Mostly I missed all the various relatives! I want to share some of my favourites...


My Delaware cousin Larissa with the always charming little Carter.


















Carter with his Oma!































Carter with his uncle Michi!


















Carter with his Opa! Okay, so these are all just pictures of Carter. Apparently he did steal the show.































Oh wait. Here are Carter's parents. Too much celebrating for these two, I think.


















Kina and her Oma!


















Kina and Lori, in the middle of the Great Tassle Hunt. I could explain this, but really all you need to know is that my Aunt Ilse has a lot of tassles in her house.


















Carter with his greatgrandparents. He and Opa seem to have a matching thing going on.


















Another proper Canadian in the making...































The only reason these two aren't eating is because all that's on the table at the moment is salad. You just wait till the goose, or duck or whatever it was this year gets there.































Carter charming some ladies! Check out that bow tie!


















A bunch of happy cousins with plates licked clean!


















More happy cousins!


















The annual gift exchange game. Always a crowd-pleaser.































Carter and his Great Grandpa - our Opa - at our Opa's 85th birthday party.































We've all had our pictures taken on this sofa. Now it is the next generation's turn!































We'll see you next year!

I am [not very patiently] waiting for some birthday gifts to come in the mail. And I already know what they are because I ordered them myself [with many thanks to my dear, dear sister for the Amazon $$]. These will come in very handy in the next few months of winter nights in a town that is sans movie theatre...

I am trying out a new look here. Please forgive the messiness while I patch things up!

It was almost 2009. About a week before. Not a person was stirring, not even a dog! And it was raining outside! But that didn't dampen our Christmas morning spirit. As previously mentioned, I can't remember a Christmas when I opened presents on Christmas morning. It was always Christmas Eve. I have to say, there is something very exciting about opening presents before breakfast. Not before coffee, but before breakfast. We are not 6-year-olds, afterall. First things first. So I made some coffee and Darcey, the non-coffee-drinker that he is, waited patiently.

And then we opened our presents!































Miss Carley was very curious, but exceedingly patient.
































Lovely [red!] gifts from my dear friend and cousin all the way in Winnipeg.




















And maybe the nicest and most unexpected Christmas present: a late-afternoon rainbow.




















p.s. Darcey got a snowmobile. There is intense pressure for us to get one [a real one], now that we have apparently moved to the Land of the Ski-doo. Everyone has one. Except us. I'm OK with that, but Darcey might not be, so we'll see if the stocking stuffer turns into the real thing next Christmas.




















Darcey got this game from my sister and brother-in-law. We practically haven't stopped playing it since he unwrapped it. It's super addictive, and now that we've learned there are tons of expansions, we are totally set for a long time. Everyone should get this game, but beware: it's super addictive.




















During the few moments when we weren't playing Carcassonne, we found some time to go outside. The next few pictures were taken on the 1st day of January. We got quite a bit of snow that day, to make up for all the snow that melted on Christmas. The flakes were HUMUNGOUS! This is usually a marsh, but now that things are more or less frozen, we can walk through it like a meadow. Carley prefers to run.
































The flakes were HUMUNGOUS!












































Later that same day, I turned 30.



















There were a LOT of candles. A LOT!!




















Darcey is very smug. Now that I have officially reached the 30s, I am no longer allowed to make old-people jokes. At least not any that are directed at him. I should mention that previously to the cake, Darcey cooked me lunch AND dinner. He made komst borscht for lunch and then he made my favourite kind of dinner: corn, schinkenfleish und kielkje mit schmaundfaht. Loosely translated, this is cabbage borscht, corn, ham, homemade Mennonite egg noodles and cream gravy. [I have no idea if that's how you spell any of those words.] It was the first time Darcey made a lot of this stuff, but of course he pulled it off magnificently. It was really delicious - by far the most delicious birthday I've had in a long time. We got this book for Christmas from my parents - I think it helped inspire Darcey's menu choices, although the recipes were all his mom's. Tested and true.

I think I will be using this book a lot in the next few years, now that we are so far from our Mennonite-food-cooking Oma, Grandma and Mom. My own Mom didn't/doesn't cook traditional Mennonite food, even though she grew up eating it. Maybe that's why she avoids cooking it? In any case, her cooking is eclectic and always delicious, and, especially these days, it's much healthier. Russian Mennonite cooking was designed for people who physically work very hard and are outside all day long, often in cold weather. It was not meant for office dwellers. All that dough...must be why I love it so much.
































The next day we had to work off some of that schmaundfaht. We did a walk in the woods which included a stop for a [small] lunch with a fire to make some hot drinks. There was a lot of heavy snow on the trees - even on the skinny Tamarack branches.







































Darcey thinks this is the perfect spot to veer off the trail and into the woods.
































Not impenetrable at all. We'll just forge a trail.
































And then we'll start a fire. Carley was very interested in this part of the expedition. She doesn't seem to understand what "That's HOT, Carley!" means. At home she licks the the inside of the oven door when I open it. The inside of a 425 degree Fahrenheit oven door. Yikes. What some dogs will do to get a taste of human food...




















What? Making a fire in the snow is harder than it looks! But not to fear. I married a man who prides himself in his fire-making skills. So we had a fire, made some hot apple cider and ate some snacks.
































Of course Carley ate some snacks, too. She just ate hers a lot faster.
































After lunch we found the trail again and headed home. Or rather, Darcey and I found the trail and headed home. Carley found the trail and then proceeded to bound off into the woods again, appearing on the trail now and then only long enough to make sure we were all still going in the same direction. Trails are for suckers.























































p.s. Yesterday was a bright sunny day and we saw seals in the bay. Seals! Most of them were resting on the ice. We saw those through binoculars, but later we saw some very close up - about 15 feet away - swimming in the harbour.

So far it's been a very good year for us. I wish the same for you! Happy 2009!