Ringing in the New Year

The time train is not slowing down - we are already one full week into this new year. And it has been a bit more full having this 50 pound canine filling up space in the house, bounding around in the snow, and helping lower blood pressure and raise the laughter level around here.

In addition to Ollie, we spent a few days watching some friends' dog while they were away, a schnauzer-like critter named Augie. Just try attempting to call one specific dog when their names are so close together. You call one - you get 'em both.


Seems like Old Man Winter waited for the new year to unleash his fury on a shivering Midwest. We are getting daily snow and other frozen, and from the looks of the radar maps, it appears that most of the country is currently caught up in this mess. I am one of those few who like all four seasons in my year, so I cannot complain about the snow. Yet. This pattern of daily scraping of windshields will get old pretty quickly.

The year gets off to a positive start rather quickly as we spent some time last weekend meeting up with old friends living in Boston who were visiting family in Columbus, and next weekend we will attend the wedding of a daughter of a school buddy of mine from back home.

And in a nod to the need to stylistically usher in the new year and decade and all that, the blog is revamped a bit with fresh new colors and style.

While the new year is kick started on a personal level thanks to two- and four-legged friends, the world around us presents a slew of challenges. It will be interesting to see how we all fare over the coming year, here in the USA and around the world. It ain't gonna be an easy year, on several fronts.

Which brings me full circle, sort of, in that I wonder what people mean when they say things are "going to the dogs". Perhaps, actually, given all that crazy unconditional love they exude, the world would be better off if it were handed off to some canine court of law. On the other hand, watching Ollie and Augie at "dinner time", perhaps we'd just better do the best we can to keep the planet spinning, orbiting, and supporting us.