2020 Life Logs, Day 4: Return of the Snowboarders
Date: Saturday, January 4, 2020
Weather: Totally Overcast with Rain; High 41, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I haven’t seen them yet, but I got a text from Heather announcing that the snowboarders had returned from the North Country.
She posted a couple of photos on Facebook, so I was able to see the Goldpebbles in full snowboard regalia. It sounds like everyone had a great time. Here’s what Heather posted on Facebook: “Started 2020 with so much fun in Bethel (Maine) this week! The boys were the last ones (except ski patrol) off the mountain 2 out of 3 days, and the last ones up the lift on the third day. Jed tested his mettle on some lightly groomed advanced runs. And I got reacquainted with my cross-country skis after far too many years.” Hopefully I’ll get a first-hand report tomorrow.
I must be better because for the first time since before Christmas, I got back on my computer and started editing the photos from the holidays. The fact that I didn’t post any photos from Christmas tells me that I really must have felt worse than I thought. I always post my photos, no matter what. Just not this time. But I’m back on it now. I still have some congestion and my energy level is not 100 per cent, but good enough that Shadow and I could take our mile-long walk in the rain. By the time we got back, he was soaking wet, so I took the opportunity to give him a bath . . . not his favorite thing. He lets me bathe him without a fuss, but he just is not ready for the hair dryer. So basically, I wrap him in blankets and hold him for an hour, feeling sorry for him while he shivers and dries out a bit. I can’t believe how big he has gotten. Somehow I thought he would stay tiny for a few months, but he is half grown now and does his best to pull me at a fast pace down the street when we walk. It is definitely time for some training, so I must look into that this week. He is doing great with potty training, but sit, stay, heel, and down are actions he just doesn’t care to engage in on command. And I’ve made very little progress on ‘no bite’. When Heather and Justin were little, they loved reading Maurice Sendak’s book, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. The book is about a little boy called Max. His mother calls him a ‘wild thing’ and he says to her, “I’ll eat you up.”
He is then sent to his room without his supper and there he imagines that he lives in the land of the wild things. “And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till Max said “BE STILL!” and tamed (them) with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things.” Sometimes I think Shadow wants to eat me up, he loves me so. I need to learn Max’s magic trick!
