Finally Happy Chappy

It might be hard to tell in this picture, but this is one, happy dog.

Finally, for the first time all winter . . . and just squeaking it in before the beginning of Spring . . . Chappy got an honest-to-goodness snow storm. Not rain and sleet mixed with a little snow, like on Valentine's Day. Not a measly little inch of snow, like a couple weeks ago. But actual snow, inches of it. Knee-deep (at least, to Chappy).

He's ecstatic. You can't tell in the photo, of course, but his tail did not stop wagging the entire time we were out there.

Not only that, my office closed at 1:00 today, so he got his Mom home early for the weekend. We sat on our chair in the window. We played in the snow. We were together....

What more could a dog ask for? (Yeah, I know, food. But he got an extra biscuit when I made some tea around 3:30, so that's covered.)

Naturally, of course, this whole thing has made me miserable. Spending extra time with my dog? You can imagine how that makes me feel. A chance to curl up with my book? Ugh. And, good heavens, time to spin?? How boring....

We won't go into the unfortunate batch of brownies I made. I don't know if it's because of the hot chocolate Mom would make for us after playing in the snow, but I always want something chocolate on a snowy day . . . I'm just really disappointed with the way the brownies came out. I was making a half-batch and mentally re-calculating the ingredient measurements as I went, but forgot to halve the flour . . . so even though I added some milk to thin out the batter . . . it's more like a kind of dry chocolate cake . . . This is going to take some thought to figure out how to fix. It tastes perfectly fine, but it's not, well, brownies. So, really, this whole afternoon, as you can imagine, has been dreadful.....

Well, okay, I can't fool you. I loved every minute, too. Well, maybe not the post-snow-romping bath to wash the ice out of his fur (see the photo to the left), but he needed that anyway to combat that recurring staph infection. And a bath is a small price to pay for all the fun.

But, did you catch how I actually found some time to spin? Not a LOT of time, what with all the other stuff, but still. I made a deal with myself. If I can get this current "batch" of merino/silk done--that means getting this hat of roving spun, and the two bobbins of singles plied together--then I can bring something new and different with me next weekend. It'll be such a treat to spin something else! Working on anything else will be a treat all by itself. So I really want to get this done.

What? Next weekend? Didn't I say? Chappy and I are going down to visit Liz and Max next weekend--woohoo! It'll be so great to see them again--especially Max, who I haven't seen since July. (Liz said she'd see if Shelley could come for Saturday afternoon, which would be fabulous, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. She's been completely swamped at work for months now, so I have no idea what the odds are that she'd be able to come--but it would be nice!)

Anyway, originally Liz had suggested either this weekend or next, and I picked next weekend because it wasn't St. Patrick's Day. (Even in the middle of the day, those revelers can be hazards on the road you know, and really, why risk it?) Besides, sometimes my office does something for St. Paddy's Day, and if so, I didn't want to miss it . . . as it happens, we didn't this year . . . unless you count the freebie afternoon, which I'm happy to credit to St. Patrick if it makes everyone happy. But. . . that's actually the point. I'm SO HAPPY that I chose next weekend! Because, even though I know they're getting more rain than snow down there in Maryland, I would NOT have wanted to drive 200+ miles today with my carsick-prone dog in the backseat. Not in this weather. He wouldn't have enjoyed it, either, I mean, not only the drive, with the traffic, but.... he'd finally have snow in his own backyard, and we were leaving? It just wouldn't have happened, and then I would have felt terrible about cancelling, and . . . isn't it nice that we picked NEXT weekend?

Our timing today was really good, too. I came home, ate lunch, and then relaxed with Chappy and my book for a little while, but at 2:00, figured it was a good time to go romp in the snow. There'd be plenty of time to play, for Chappy to get his bath afterward, and still have time for me to do other things before dinner. Little did I know that the snow was going to be changing over to sleet at around 3:00 . . . it was just shifting when my snowball-throwing arm got tired and we headed inside, and it's basically been sleeting nonstop ever since. Playing outside while it's snowing can be fun. Playing outside in sleet or freezing rain? Not so much!

Really, you know, it's been quite a nice afternoon.

So, thanks St. Patrick's Day/Mother Nature for getting me the afternoon off--I certainly tried to make the most of it.

Oh, and wish my sister and niece luck for tomorrow--they're (hopefully) going prom-dress shopping. (We're all hoping the weather won't have interfered with that plan, since she's in the school's spring musical, and most of her weekends from here on in are pretty full.)

And, I forgot to tell you yesterday, that our neighbor came home yesterday. Mom brought her over some salad and some homemade muffins that I sent along, and said that she's really sore from the procedure, but feeling fine--we certainly hope so. Thanks for all your good wishes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! (Not that I'm Irish, but again, I got the afternoon off from work on a Friday, so I'll credit anyone who might have been responsible. Thanks, again!)

Comments

[Beth]

Oooh - spin the burgundy/orange stuff toward the front of that picture - sooo pretty!

Sounds like you had a great day.

[Mary]

Having ice cream with those brownies would moisten them up! Chappy looks like one happy snow bunny. . . uh, that is snow puppy.

[Cara]

Chappy's very lucky!! This side of the Parkway we got sleet. Lots and lots of sleet with a little snow and some rain mixed in. I would've LOVED a real snow.

[Debby]

So glad you were able to make the most of a winter day! Looks like Chappy had a ball. And I'm with you, the extra reading and knitting time weren't awful either. Enjoy your weekend!

[CindyCindy]

I'm so glad you got the afternoon. And, lil Chappy got to play in the snow. Spinning. How lovely. And, everyone is Irish on St. Paddy's day, donchaknow.

[Rachel]

Apparently yesterday was the celebration of St. Urho, the Finnish patron saint who, as legend would say, rid Finland of the those pesky grasshoppers that tried so hard to destroy the proud Finnish grape crop. So maybe that's who you have to thank for the afternoon off, not St. Patrick! :)

Glad you had a nice afternoon to kick off the weekend!

[Jessica]

Yay! Chappy finally got his snow! We got more ice than anything around here. Your spinning looks beautiful! Where's the fiber from? Hope you have a great time on your trip next weekend (and have much better weather for the drive too!).

[Kim]

What great photos of Chappy! Too bad about the brownies. Maybe dump some chocolate pudding on top!

[Chris]

I bet ice cream would've solved the brownie problem. What did you end up doing, as you suffered so terribly?! ;)