Little Miss Sophie Jones

Nolan had a visitor on Saturday.  Sophie Jones came over to play with him. Sophie, who is 6.5 years his senior, comes from Shirewood Bichons-the same place we got Nolan.  Sophie belongs to our friend James that we have known for years through working with the parks and his daughter Katy. Nolan was just beside himself with glee that Sophie was visiting. They ran all over the house and yard and furniture and Nolan shared his food and water with Sophie and they were just as cute as can be.  Sophie had lovely manners and Nolan just adored her. Later I felt bad that Nolan left a house full of dogs to come to our house where it is just us in Dullsville most of the time.

Late Winter Canoe Trip

First time in 16 years of canoeing together we had a mishap and ended up in the drink. Water was moving fast and we got sucked into a strainer. I made it under-Andrew had to bail and ended up hanging from the tree limb. We lost the paddles over the side. That left me careening down stream with no way to steer. I weighed my options which were to a) chose to bale or b) smash the canoe in half with me and Nolan in it. I baled and was just barely able to hold onto the canoe with him in it. Got some pretty big bruises on my arm to prove it.  We were all wearing our lifejackets thank God. Nolan wasn't even phased and in fact on his own decided to jump in the water and join us. Andrew ran downstream and was able to retrieve both paddles in a pool. Good thing we had dry clothes in the dry bag. Ruined our D 90 camera lens that was hanging around my neck. The photos survived. On the upside it was a beautiful late winter day.

Pre-Season Prep

It's suppose to be in the mid 50's tomorrow. We are hoping to go on a short spring canoe trip. Last week I ordered Nolan sunglasses and a life-jacket so he would outfitted in case the opportunity presented itself. The gear came in the mail today and he was more than happy to model it for me.

Ring Around the Moon

The forecast for today in Central Ohio:

"Rain, snow, and sleet, becoming all snow after 3pm. Some thunder is also possible. Temperature falling to around 20 by 5pm. Windy, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph increasing to 25 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 44 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible". NOAA Weather

Last night at 9 pm I took puppy out to potty and looked up and saw that the moon was gorgeous and the sky was filled with cloud cover that was swiftly passing across the sky. There were four rings around the moon, which I knew were a sign of an impending weather change. I went inside and got my camera and it took me a few minutes but I finally got a decent exposure.  Wow the things that most people miss while watching television....

It started pouring down rain sometime between 2 and 4 am.  Right now it is sprinkling- probably gearing up to drop a raft of crap on us later this afternoon.

This is what the Farmer's Almanac website has to say about the moon.

"While stargazing, have you ever noticed a large circular band of light surrounding the moon? If so, you have seen a lunar halo.

A lunar halo is caused by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin, wispy, high altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. As light passes through these hexagon-shaped ice crystals, it is bent at a 22 degree angle, creating a halo 22 degrees in radius (or 44 degrees in diameter). A double halo, sometimes with spokes, may be seen on rare occasions when light reflects off water or ice.

The prism effect of light passing through these six-sided ice crystals separates the light into its various colors, resulting in a halo tinged with very pale rainbow colors with red on the inside and blue on the outside. The phenomenon of a lunar halo is similar to a rainbow produced by sunlight and rain falling between your eye and the sun.

Weather lore says a lunar halo is the precursor of impending unsettled weather, especially during the winter months. This is often proved true, as cirrus and cirrostratus clouds generally precede rain and storm systems.

Lunar halos are, in fact, actually fairly common. So watch the night sky – and keep the umbrella handy".

Valentine Weekend

Valentines weekend was a flurry of activity. We were exhausted on Friday after a hectic work week and didn't feel like joining the massive throngs of people waiting in line at every available restaurant in town so we stayed in.  On Saturday we caught up on some sleep and household chores and then went with the "kids" to Inniswood.  Elisha wanted her picture taken with her boyfriend Brooks every season in the same place.  This is the second season they have been together. We goofed around over there for as long as Elisha, who was wearing only tights on her legs, could stand it and then went for dinner.  We chose Carsonies as it is close to the park and they have the best stromboli in the nation.  On Sunday we had my brother and our friend over for dinner. Brother wanted to make poutine, a fabulous French Canadian dish, and I served it along with prime rib patties, a salad and wine.  We tried some new Shock Top beer where you get three bottles each of two flavors in the pack and then combine the two to make a different tasting beer. It was good.We had a great time and I hated to come back to work this morning. This evening the weather guessers are calling for an ice storm this evening and then a warm up after that. I prefer the snow.

 Me and Andrew

 Elisha and Brooks

Spring Run

Valentines Day pic

At Carsonies

Even baby boy got in on the festivities

Shock Top

Poutine and rib steak patties

Snow Days

We've had four snow days from the University during January and February. This is a record for our school. Today we got a few more inches of snow.  It's beautiful outside.  We are lucky that we have a polar bear puppy who loves the snow. We've been playing outside daily and loving it.

Mischief Makers

Nolan and our neighbor’s dog Lightening (read more about Lightening and his Thunder brother here); (Thunder has since moved away with our neighbors daughter but he visits regularly) have gotten to be fast friends since Nolan arrived in January.  We introduced them right away but Nolan hasn’t had much interest in anything but going to the potty and chewing on stuff up until the past two weeks.  On Tuesday Nolan and Lightening spent the better part of an hour running up and down the fence line between our yards talking to each other in their own special barking language.  Of course we were thrilled as Nolan slept like a log that night only asking to get up once to pee.  Yesterday we had a snow day after a whopping 9 inches of snow fell in Central Ohio.  Nolan whined off and on all day to go outside and ever time he got there I could tell he was looking for Lightening while pretending that he needed to pee.  Of course I heard Lightening standing at the neighbors sliding glass doors barking to go out so I called my neighbor and told her that Nolan wanted to know if Lightening could come out to play.  She laughed and said Lightening had been barking off and on to go out for the same reason and said she would send him out. Well long story short those two hatched a plot and in unison starting digging to get under fence in the same spot on opposite sides.  Believe it or not little Mr. Nolan instigated the entire escapade and they both continued to dig until I finally made Nolan come back inside with me.  He wasn’t happy but he did sleep good again last night.  I guess it is better that they are friendly with each other rather than the opposite as Lightening could eat Nolan for lunch.