Cricket is very emotionally expressive

Most dogs don't really like hugs. They just tolerate them for our benefit. But Cricket likes hugs.

She likes to cuddle with DL more than she likes to cuddle with me, but I'll do in a pinch.

A cuddle while I wait for others to join my morning meeting

But here is her true preference!

If she needs a hug, and you ignore her, she sulks.

Brrrr! It's gotten cold again. I wish it'd snow some more so our skiing will be more cushioned, but I guess I can't complain if we can still ski at all.

Here is a kerflop photo. I wish Thistle would like to cuddle because she is so sofff. But she is coming around and now requests the occasional bellyrub. She also graciously accepts my hugs, although she does not seek them out and so in the interest of respecting her bodily sovereignty, I limit myself to 4 a day. Maybe 5. Sometimes 6.

I took a screenshot this morning of my colleague's cat demanding a cuddle like NOW. I like to see my colleagues' pets, and even hear their human children chattering in the background. It brings a human element to the covid isolation.

Good Morning

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.

--Prayer of St. Francis, although not evidently written by St. Francis

Good eats

One the Seventh Day of Christmas, we cooked up the last of the Christmas ham! The ham and bean soup is always the last thing, and apparently (I never knew!) white bean and ham soup is called Senate Bean Soup, having been served in the Senate restaurants daily as early as 1903. The senate version does not contain greens, though! I always add either collards, kale, or well... No, I think just collards and kale are my favorites. I put chard into this one, and I definitely prefer collards or kale!

Way back in March, before the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Alaska, I made two rather indulgent purchases: a cast iron pizza pan (this is indulgent due to space, not price. I think it cost $40, but it takes up an entire rack of my oven, and I have to move it in and out every time I bake something that is not pizza), and a ridiculously tiny 1.25-quart Le Creuset pot. It will heat soup for two (if it's a side), soup for one (if it's your meal), and it cost almost two hundred dollars! But I waaaaaaaaaaaaanted it, and I have to admit that I use it at least three times a week to heat up soup or beans for lunch. And since it has such a high thermal mass, I use it to melt chocolate, too! Both of these purchases were excellent pandemic indulgences--I have made so many pizzas, so many focaccias, and so many quick lunches! Here is a favorite: Condensed chicken noodle soup with leftover pico de gallo.

It's healthy since it contains tomatoes and jalapeños, and it's fancy since it's in Le Creuset!

Sunday Omelettes! Omelette you admire the perfection:

While I am grateful for grid electricity and my trusty Subaru, I think my favorite Modern Invention is our food production, delivery, and storage systems. Look, I made a peach pie! In Alaska! In January! Just think of all that went into that! The crust is half Delta-grown barley flour from the Alaska Flour Company. It's more finely milled than whole wheat. You can barley tell it's healthier!

Here is what we had for supper tonight--brown rice, baked salmon in teryaki sauce, and sautéed kale. This exact meal is in our rotation frequently.

Here is a photo of Grumpy Bastard™ Husband and Incorrigibly Spoiled Princess™ Dog. They look pretty harmless, don't they? :~D

And here is a photo of Queen Thistle, so she doesn't feel left out!

Couch Ladies

I'm not gonna lie; when I'm on work meetings and other people's dogs are barking and carrying on in the background, I'm very smug and proud of my Quiet Couch Ladies. ❤

And GUESS WHO I got to "meet" today?? Our own COVID battle commander, Dr. Anne Zink, the Chief Medical Officer for the State of Alaska and guiding light of knowledge and prudence during this pandemic (think the State version of Dr. Fauci).

And also Dr. Joe McLaughlin, the State Epidemiologist.

I am totally starstruck!

A warm spell

We got a chinook. Although temps have not come above freezing, more overflow appeared in new patches on the trail.

Such is the strange behavior of water and ice, that while the actual creek passing has gotten wider, it's still frozen solid.

It was so warm, and the snow so packed, that I unhooked the girls for the downhill portions.

My Skijor Line Bag™ works well--it's roomy enough to coil up the lines without them getting all tangled up, and there is a front pocket for Yummy Chummies!

Such good girls! They stick nearby. I had forgotten how much fun it is to ski downhill with just gravity, instead of battling the dogs while I snowplow and they lunge to go faster. They are all "Look how fast we can run!" And I'm all, "I know how fast you can run, but it's Not Necessary!" Everything's beta, with just mgsinθ!

However, when we get close to home, I have to hook back up, because they like to make a mad dash for home, and I don't want to lose sight of them. I used to let Autumn and Linden and Roo do that, but since losing Roo, I keep them on a much smaller radius. That was a loss I don't think my heart could bear again.

The overflow has gotten so wide that I take off my skis to cross it now, since my boots have better traction than my skis. The girls are pretty patient, and I've taught them that I do NOT appreciate being yanked off my feet.

Low Sun Days

Here I am with my full outfit!

Okay! Headed down to the pond!

For the long, straight, flat stretches, I let them go as fast as they wanted for a while. It's also an opportunity for me to straighten up and release the lactic acid from my legs from snowplowing!

And here we are at the pond where I did my thesis work!

Check out these cattails.

There is a clump of them in the middle of the pond. It must be very shallow. But I've never been here in summer. I'm sure the trail is a muddy, boggy swamp.

The light looked pretty from behind the hay farm.

Such patient girls!

Sequence of Events

1. Lounging on Couch

2. An apple is Being Picked Up.

3. Miss Thistle Comes for Share of Apple.

4. Miss Cricket Comes for Share of Apple.

5. Apple is gone. Return to Lounging on Couch.

Sunrise to sunset skijor

These Very Good Girls wait so patiently!

Look at this overflow we have to cross! Ugh. I take off my skis and walk across it in tiny, tiny steps. As people in icy climes say, Walk like a Penguin!

Sunrise

Around the ridge

Sunset (the homeward side of the creek)

Actual colors of the sunset, from the porch

Happy 2021!

Waning gibbous:

Although we still have not finished the ham (remember that Dorothy Parker quote about an eternity being defined as a ham and two people?), I had to make tamales for New Year's, so... more pork!

Miss Thistle wanted to sample the pork, but I told her it was raw and a trichinosis risk. She was unconvinced. Such sad, liquid eyes!

I have a knack for finding great avocados. In Fairbanks, too.

Pico and guac:

Ready to start wrapping!

This is my superpower: I am very good at eyeballing Exact Quantities of Things:

Cricket is compulsively snuggly. When DL got up, she said, "Why is he staring at this thing and petting me with only one hand?"

Another use for the pressure cooker: Tamales in 30 minutes!

Look! Thistle tolerated a snuggle for a few minutes!

Do you think they are comfy? I sure hope they are comfy.

I wish all 12 of my loyal readers a safe and happy 2021!