Saturday

It's after 5 PM and it's not dark outside.  I'd say that that is a positive sign of things to come.

Sounds like 1.01 has become even more mobile.  A few steps maybe?  I missed the Over/Under on that one by three weeks.

I am minorly impressed with the results of my travel book ordering process this week on Amazon.  I wanted to get some background stuff on northern Spain, The Pyrenees and southern France for the trek 4 and I are scheduled to make in August.  (I had not been disappointed two years ago when I did the same thing for Italy in advance of the trip that 2 and I made in September 2009.)  I've already received one of the books in the order, notices on shipment of two others, and one cancellation for "out of stock".  I ordered two other books after getting that cancellation notice, so, we should have plenty of resources.

This past week has been as "wintery" a time as I can remember in the last few years.  Global warming, I'm sure.  We've had snow, bitter cold, and freezing rain.  The sidewalks are uniformly hard-pan snow/ice combinations.  This morning, there had been a dusting of snow over night, and with it on top of the ice, even The Winniferous was spinning her tires!  You know that you've been spending too much time walking the dog when the only tracks in the icy-snow all week are your own.

My immediate favorite Cabernet is Napa Cellars 2007.  The 53rd Street Hy Vee had this bottle for $19.99 when I bought my last case, which dropped the price to $18.  Full-bodied with a very smooth after-taste.  My pal Bill had a Napa Cellars Merlot in his last wine-club delivery, and that one had good reviews as well.

One of the more humorous side-bars to my dog-sitting duties this past week has been another example of the "hunter" instincts of The Winniferous.  She tends to "whine" from her sleeping spot on the floor near my bed in the early AM, and I'm not really sure if she needs to go out to do her business, or if she is just ready to get up.  I don't want to test that question, so I get up to let her out.  Which in this cold means getting coat, shoes, cap and gloves on (and leash) to take her to a spot by my drive-way.  And she'll normally do what she's supposed to do.

However, Wednesday or Thursday, at Oh-Dark-Hundred, I do the routine, open the back door to let her out, which spooks a little rabbit in the bushes next to my neighbor's house, and Winnie's hard-drive is fully scrubbed of any thought of personal plumbing!  It was all I could do to keep a hold on the leash.  I told my pal Roy that it was the equivalent of a teen-age boy trying to do statistics after catching a glimpse of a breast!

The W's first move coming out of my back door is now consistently to check those bushes for varmits!  It's in the genetic code.

I'm looking forward to seeing 2 tomorrow.  Hope her last night with 3 in NYC is a good one.  And that travel has few bumps in the road.  Be safe, Kiddo.

BCOT