Pulling Stakes: Seven Day Weekend

The kids don't have school next Monday or Tuesday (teacher workdays), and with our recent snow dump, it works out that they are getting a very, very, very, very long weekend. Our cable, internet, phone and power are back on today, so that's something, although we did enjoy watching the fireworks in the powerlines. They've been enjoying the snow and having fun sledding in our backyard, which has just enough of a slope to make it fun for them and not too much of a concern for me (yes, I am that mom, the one who makes them wear helmets when sledding among trees). The best part is that they are old enough to get all their gear on and off by themselves. I may or may not have bribed them to learn to do this with hot chocolate and cinnamon toast.

The only annoying thing about all this snow is the dog. When we lived on the island, because we had seen several coyotes, he was trained to always be outside when the younger kids were out there, and he constantly stayed within ten feet of them. His other job was to keep the chickens out of the flowerbeds, and he took both jobs very seriously. In Virginia, it seems his job is to figure out how to slink onto the 'good' couch without anyone noticing, and to bark at the churchgoers on Sundays. But all of a sudden the kids are outside and it's flipping cold, and he gets little snowballs in his hair (Wheaten Terriers have hair, rather than fur, which needs to be groomed and cut regularly-but no shedding, so it's a win as far as I'm concerned). Anyway, he spends the whole time the kids are outside, whining and trying to herd them back into the house so he doesn't have to be out there in the snow. They get tired of him and put him inside, and he spends the rest of the time whining to go back out because he knows it's his job to be by the kids. So, I let him out and the cycle starts again.