Rain, rain, go away...

...Come again another day. A friend is flying ALL the way from her hacienda in AZ to the motherland of the Enchanted Mitten and it's RAINING. For crying out loud. In the middle of January. Whodda thunk? When you think you can count of cold, miserable, blustery, wintery, snow coming down from big clouds and severe weather ALERTS from the other weather nerds...nope. No such pig.

And it's not pretty rain, like rain that might fall from the cloud to the left. No, it's icky, wimpy, spitting rain. Rain that is falling on the snow and sort of freezing, creating a pool of ice. Not even Samson wants to play in it. We got out, slosh through the ice on the patio (doing the geriatric shuffle so as to not land flat on our collective backs) and sink into the sort of snow, that with temperatures in the 50s, will all be gone by Monday or Tuesday. Harumph.

Someone (NOT a weather nerd) mentioned that this is our January Thaw. Well, in order to have a thaw, you would think that we would have to have been frozen over pretty darn well. Not the case. We have had a couple of nice snow falls but nothing that would, in my mind, qualify as a FREEZE. I have enough experience in Michigan to objectively evaluate a freeze, and nope, not yet. Not even close.

So the question that is everywhere these days...is this a result of global warming? The January Series had Bill McKibben speak on this topic - challenging the audience to recover community—and save the environment. You can listen his presentation in the archives.

Friday evening, Paul prepared a fabulous meal - Pan-seared filet mignon in Cabernet Sauce. If it sounds good, it's 10x better than it sounds. ;) Tonight, it was a little easier - Cilantro Chicken. So I didn't have cilantro but I did have parsley which, with the baked chicken in lime/honey/a bit of olive oil, topped with salsa and cheese, was quite yummy. I made way too much so I have good stuff for lunch next week.

No journal entry is complete without an update on the TBTB initiative. We have made ZERO progress but the good news is that that basement is still there. So while we have made no strides this week, we haven't added anything to the basement either.

And lastly, Samson continues to antagonize, amaze and bewilder us. He is smart and challenging and we simply have to outlast the 'teenage' years. We were at training today and talking through some challenges with our trainer, Jeanne. She jokingly reminded us that we picked a German shepherd, and it's in his genes to challenge his pack. Oh, and he does. But along with his antics, he is a becoming a very affectionate pack mate.

It's time for a little more football and an early evening. Goodnight from a rain-soaked Mitten.