Category Archives: Dog

Joy Jam

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What were the 3-5 things that gave you joy this week?

1. Oatmeal with peaches.

2. Sick days. Okay, I don’t like feeling sick, don’t like having to take time off from all the things I wish I were doing instead, but…paid sick leave, clean sheets (my favorite set), down blankets on both the couch and the bed, naps, flannel pjs and wool slippers, hot soup and oatmeal, new episodes of 30 Rock on hulu.com (finally), snow falling outside, dogs who like to cuddle–it’s not all bad.

3. Sleeping dogs. Way too cute, probably so cute it’s not even legal. I came out yesterday, and Dexter was napping in the sun in Obi‘s chair, and then, just now, I caught him cuddled with Sam on the couch.

4. Ingrid Michaelson‘s new album, “Human Again,” and tickets to go see her when she’s next in Boulder, at my favorite venue with one of my favorite people.

5. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by the women of Glee. I have a sentimental attachment to Roberta Flack’s version of this, but as they often do, Glee stayed true to what was good about that, and made it their own, not better but different while just as good.

Joy to you, lovely people. It’s time for me to take another nap.

Small Stone: Day 26

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Small Stone: Morning Walk


On our morning walk, my intention is to find a small stone. Instead, I return home with a pocket full of pebbles.

Walking before dawn, we are alone, together.

The boys smell something, track it in the dark with their sensitive noses. I see a blur, and catch a single reflecting eye with my headlamp, but it’s gone before I can turn my head all the way to meet it. It was probably a fox, usually is.

Along the river, it’s colder. It makes sense, because the water was snow not that many miles ago. I’m glad for the extra layer, the warmer gloves, and the thicker hat.

I smell a skunk, and am glad for the headlamp. I scan the path, its edges too.

Just before we reach the Soft Gold Little Dog Park, Dexter stops, looks at me happily, tail wagging–a tennis ball!

On the wooden bridge over the creek between Wood Duck Pond and the McMurry Ponds, fresh raccoon tracks. I wonder, as I always do: is it the same one that leaves footprints most mornings?

I scan the trees for owls, even though mating season is long over and the babies have most likely left the nest. The branches are empty, the sky quiet.

The back pond is thawing, but the beavers don’t come out of their den. Sam is ready anyway, hopping on his back legs, yodeling and whining, straining against the leash.

The dawn turns the clouds pink and the sky light blue.

Even though the water is clear, when we color the river, we see silver, gray, and mostly blue, with a touch of green. Walking this early, the river is also black and gold.

Towards the end of the trail and our walk, through the trees, the sun looks like a fire–which, I suppose, it is.

Photo by Mara