A Rude Reminder

We awoke early this morning to a surprising sound ... thunder! At the time I thought, oh, that rain that was supposed to come through finally made it here, then I laid back for a bit (it was well before the alarm would be going off), pulled the covers up a bit and snuggled back in with Pepa. Then the second round of thunder came through ... what had been some initial rumbles that woke me had now turned into some rip snorters that managed to rattle the windows as I heard a noisy rain coming down outside. After a pleasant, sunny high of 55 on Wednesday, it seemed to be just a comforting return of early Spring thunderstorms, something we always look forward to in this season.

Then, as it always does, the alarm went off and after the usual ritual of hitting the snooze button a few times, I got up to go downstairs, take Pepa and Rolly out and get my first cup of coffee (man, do I love that programmable KitchenAid coffee maker!). As I opened the window shades on my way I had a rude reminder that winter doesn't seem done with us yet! There was snow and accumulated sleet (and perhaps even a bit of small hail) in the drive and the ground was quickly becoming covered with a light layer of snow! UGH, I thought ... just when things had been looking more spring-like of late, here it was again. Needless to say, that realization didn't exactly put me in the cheeriest mood to start the day. It was one of those late winter, early Spring days filled with grey skies and chilly temperatures (I think it eventually made it up to about 35F) when you just want to stay in bed and ignore the nasty weather outside, but such was not my lot (as it always is!).

One of those days when something was constantly coming down ... sleet, rain, snow and no sun to be seen. Those kinds of days when I would love to just be a dog for the day and spend my time curled up in a warm blanket snoozing away the hours. Well, Pepa and Rolly certainly had that kind of day, making me somewhat envious that I couldn't just go back to bed and take a nap. By the end of the afternoon, the snow intensified significantly, right about rush hour (as it frequently does) and from about 4:00 to 7:00 we had a dandy snow going on outside. Fortunately, it wasn't accumulating much on the streets or sidewalks and only the grassy areas let on that it had been snowing today. The brave early bulbs (snowdrops and crocus) were definitely taking today off, and the crocus in particular had closed up tightly, hoping for better days to come, I'm sure.

I suppose it had to happen. There's a bit of folk wisdom here in Des Moines, that during the state high school basketball tournaments (which actually happened earlier this month) the tradition is for one last blizzardly blast of snow to arrive. Well, we thought we had dodged the bullet this year (after all we did end up having the 5th snowiest winter on record), but Mother Nature decided to remind us that warmer weather and sunshine are still on the horizon ... oh so out of immediate reach, yet inevitable. Just. Not. Today. But soon! Believe me, we are sooo ready for that day!

So, I didn't achieve my dog's life fantasy after all, but at least our furry loves (thx Olivia for the term) were able to profit from it. I took the picture of Pepa (above) late last night as she was happily snoozing away in her new favorite chair (the blanket is a big draw for her). I think a lot of us say we envy the dog's life for its relaxed and carefree pace. But it's worth considering that our perceptions of what it must be like may not necessarily coincide with our dogs' perceptions. And as if we needed more proof, I'll conclude by including a link to a wonderful short film that Olivia sent me last weekend. It's called Dog Years, and is an instructive reminder of what our furry loves might be thinking. Check it out, it's a good little film. Maybe I would have felt this way today if I had had my dog's life fantasy after all.