The saga of today

I've been waiting for some news all day. It never came, and so the post I had planned will have to wait for another time.

My wife works at a hospital, and her holiday time has to be shared. She got today off, but has to work tomorrow and Monday. My instructions were to entertain Otto, the dog, for a few hours so she could sleep in.

We had some degree of success with what I call poodle time. It involves him zoning out in my lap and leaving my poor wife her one day to sleep in.

I spent a little bit of time playing pumpkin ball, and since the squeaker has been tusked to death, it makes a quiet toy now. (There on the floor in the picture.)

The sun came up, but at five degrees it didn't seem to make much difference. The world was covered in pogonip. This is a Nevada/Indian word for what everyone else calls hoarfrost.

It really is beautiful, and I spotted a great horned owl in one of the trees around town. I couldn't get a shot of him without too many branches in the way, so you'll have to imagine how wonderful it was. The screens at the local baseball diamond were like thin sheets of ice twenty feet tall.

We decided to spoil Otto by taking him to the pet store. He chose a couple of squeaky bones, and a furry football. Then we stopped by Whole Foods and my wife grabbed a pair of lobsters.

Quiet night indoors for us. New Years Eve has been called amateur night by many, and it's a good time to stay off the roads.

I got a new X-Box for Christmas, and we decided to play with it tonight. Not much fun there. Umpteen jillion megabite downloads are required, and it's been pretty useless so far. I've never owned a gaming system before, so this came as a surprise. Then the controller needed an update, then each game needs an update…boring.

I managed a bit of short fiction, and that has to count as my victory today. That's only a writing victory, and the dog, the pogonip, the nice dinner with my wife are bigger victories.

Hope you are all having a nice New Year's celebration, and be careful out there.