Last Wednesday when Dad picked me up there was an ice storm that downed one of the arborvitae trees in the yard. Uschi and Yara had quite a time chasing one another around the large pile of branches Keith made. For all the playing they did the last week, though both dogs were quite uninterested in eating their meals regularly. I was starting to develop a bit of a complex that it was me and something I was doing, but in actuality I think it was more just the distraction of having another dog around that kept them from wanting to focus on actually finishing their respective food.

Anyway, today marks the end of NaBloPoMo. I don’t really have much to say on it this time around, but that’s probably because my participation this year was rather halfhearted given the daily posting I’m already engaged in for the entire year.

Nevertheless with Thanksgiving having passed it’s officially the holiday season. I’ll be sending out my holiday cards within the next week, so please let me know if you’re interested in receiving one. I’ve also made plans with Alice and Josh to go to the Victorian Stroll, which is this Sunday, and I’m quite excited. And in a surprising turn, my mother wants to go to the Capital Holiday Lights in Washington Park. Which speaking of, most of my street has already put up their lights. It’s quite lovely, but I can’t help being somewhat horrified how quickly time seems to be speeding along towards Christmas. Not that I’m complaining. . . .

Uschi and I have returned from our week at Dad’s. We all had quite a lovely time, though I think the dogs definitely had a superior level of fun given they spent nearly every waking moment playing. I’ll be backdating some posts with a few photos I nabbed of them as I didn’t have the chance to get any blogging done. (We also couldn’t find the password to the wireless network so I couldn’t really get on the Internet.)

For now here’s a slightly blurry photo of the girls supervising my packing this morning:

While Hurricane Irene knocked out my power for almost a week, the flooding it created actually washed away a portion of the road my father lives on. It’s been closed for months now and will probably remain so for at least another year as it’s yet undetermined how to repair the damaged road. The plus side is that there isn’t traffic down by the roadblock so it’s an excellent place for a walk along the road. Keith and I took the girls there for a good long walk and so that I could see the flood damage. Once we were passed the drop off areas we also hiked a bit into the woods a few times. We found a very old outhouse at one of the camps and another path we took brought us right up to the shore of the lake where the girls both waded in and had a long drink. (I was very scared Uschi might drag me into the frigid water since she’s a bit of a history with water, but try as she might to tug me along I managed to keep my feet dry!)

It was very pleasant and a wonderful way to spend the incredibly beautiful day. With weather this mild (and the forecast is for several more yet to come) it’s a bit hard to believe that Christmas is only a month away!

This certainly brings back memories. Yara’s grown very attached to Keith since she’s been living here. (Well, truthfully all three of my girls have taken a quick liking to Keith, including Uschi.) So, I was very surprised when she chose to snuggle up with me and fall asleep rather than follow Keith around the house.

Sleeping routines in the house have been quite interesting the last few days. Yara’s been joining me and Uschi until Dad has called her to bed and this morning she woke up when Keith took an early trip to the bathroom and rejoined us until I finally got up. I think she might stay the entire night with us if Dad didn’t both to call her, but it has been odd that she’s not continued her normal routine of waiting downstairs until everyone (i.e., my dad) has gone up to bed before coming upstairs herself. Between the two dogs, though there isn’t much room in the full bed I’ve been sleeping in so I’m not entirely complaining. Even amongst the dogs there seems to be a bit of disagreement over space and where exactly each should be. (Both seem to want to be right up by my head even though both usually sleep towards my feet when it’s just the two of us.)