Heather's blog

 When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated.--Sara Paretsky

Pearl is getting a lot of attention. My friend Sabine gave her two tubs of homemade food, one of beef and vegetables and another of salmon and oats. She really likes it, and so does Phoebe, the grumpy old terrier who has also been charmed by Pearl.(This is big, since Phoebe isn't very fond of any of us.) Pearl has been successfully crate trained and is discovering her world. She has learned about wind and rain.

 I feel like a new woman this morning. I am sort of back to work after three days of doing "nothing"-- except hanging out with a sick toddler and a brand new puppy. It has been a long time since I was a full-time mom for longer than  a day, and frankly, I don't know how I did it back then. If you live with a mother, take very, very good care of  her. Help her. There are so many simple things you can do that make a huge difference, such as walking the dog, changing the baby, picking up the toys, going to the grocery store. Cooking something. Anything.

 What am I crazy? Housebreaking a Golden Retriever puppy in the winter? THIS winter? What was I thinking? But oh my, she is so perfect I just keep smiling.  Even after a long day with an ill two-year-old Pearl is still cheerful. Here are a few scenes from our first full day at home. 

 My daughter JJ is back home for the semester student teaching in the Haines kindergarten before she receives her degree in May. She calls us "the three best friends." We have been snowshoeing or walking after she gets out each day. Yesterday we couldn't drive to any of the trail heads thanks to all the latest snowfall, so we walked around town, checking out the snowy winter scene. She said the best thing about winter is that the days end early, which means we have that nice two hour lull from sunset to suppertime when we can't do much of anything.

Here is the difference between November and January: In November when it snows a foot we cancel 6am Morning Muscles class. In January, we look out the window, pull on our boots and coats, take a fifteen minute warm-up thanks to the fresh snow to get the car out or cleaned off, and then, just to be on the safe side, we throw a shovel in the back of the car and bust out through the berms and slip and slide up and over the hill to get some exercise before we come home to shovel out more thoroughly.  That's the nice thing about all this January snow, it keeps us in shape.

The Haines Borough has been posting updates on the ground motion issues on the Lutak Road hill on the borough website. It is the best source of information on this developing Haines story. 

Okay, so that is not news. It was pretty funny though, when the sun rose yesterday and we once again couldn't see the chicken coop. Then my neighbor Betty called to tell me it was waist deep at her house. "I give you permission to skip church," she said. I could snowshoe. 26 of us had hiked up to Lilly Lake and back on Saturday as part of the Well& Fit community fitness challenge, just as the storm was beginning. I could have walked. But then I got the call that began, "I never thought I'd say this, but we're canceling church today.

From Unless it Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, by Roger Rosenblatt:

"Everything contains significance. But some significances are more equal than others. The writers whom we agree are the great ones only deal in matters of proved importance. They are great because their subjects and themes are great, and thus their usefulness is great as well. Their souls are great, and they have had the good sense and courage to consult their souls before their pens touched paper."