There were no objections today when I volunteered to compose the latest dog blog. This was because it wasn’t a high energy day here at Squalor Holler. Alys and had the day off but she didn’t seem to be moving at the speed of light. Yes, she was getting what needed to be done, done, but not much else.

The same was true of all the other animals, except for Sassy. Alys had her out when she was tending to the horses and cleaning the goat pen – she was leaping and jumping around with great abandon. This could have been because it was warmer out than it’s been.

Alys asked her if she would like to compose today’s blog, but she wasn’t in the least bit interested. In fact, she said to ask Swampy if she wanted to write it. Swampy was even less enthused than Sassy. Goats, with the exception of a few, aren’t all the interested in recording key events.

The exception was Ranger, who gladly would have replaced Alys as the dispatch writer, had she allowed him to do this. Of course, after he died (a few months ago), Alys wished that she’d turned the daily dispatch writing over to him. His having a purpose might have enabled him to winter over.

The horses – now they seem to be more interested in eating than anything else. Pete’s been bringing back really good hay from John Priest’s farm, so they are all pretty intent on scarfing down as much as they can as fast as they can.

As for Shadow – right now she’s curled up next to Pete chair, which is next to his desk. Pete took Shadow and me on a bike ride today, and Shadow got tired out. She is a young dog, and she does not, like me, yet know how to conserve her energy. I figured this out a long time ago. I follow behind Pete and don’t bound off into the woods, the way Shadow does, that is unless I hear Squirrelly Whirly, chittering away in the spruce tree groves.

I have just learned that there is more than one Squirrelly Whirly in this world. Actually, the squirrels in the Moose Meadows where Pete (and sometimes Alys) ride are related to our backyard Squirrelly Whirly. They make the same kind of chittering sounds, and they also like to tease dogs.

The chickens are spending half their time these days hanging out in their roost and the other half of their time hanging out on their perch in the chicken coop. They, like the rest of us, are really wanting for it to be spring again.

Alys has been mulling over the idea of getting another puppy. Shadow thinks this is a wonderful idea – I am flatly opposed to it. It took me a long time to train Shadow, and I don’t think that I’d have the energy to raise another puppy. Alys knows how I feel about this, so it will (thank dog) be a no go.

Next: 30. 1/30/23: Hope Springs Eternal