Predicting Snow. Or Not.

I should whip out tarot cards or attempt some tea leaves, I couldn't do worse than the Weather Channel vs. Weather Underground vs. the local chirpy Weatherbunnies. Nobody has any idea of the weather forecast for the next 5 or so days. Read/watch 5 forecasts, get 5 opinions. We will get actual snow, or maybe snow mixed with rain, or just rain, or flurries which may or may not accumulate, or maybe the sun will shine...it's so nutty, the guy bagging groceries (by his accent, a local country boy) was quizzing customers as to their opinions, and shaking his head too. It makes as much sense as watching the weather forecasts. Whatever. We shall wake up tomorrow and see.

People keep saying things like, "Huh, you aren't in Florida anymore!" (like maybe I just woke up here after a tornado picked up my house and my little dogs too?) but I'm feeling very much at home - the DC area goes through this unpredictable weather forecasting in exactly the same way, except people here don't seem to feel compelled to buy every loaf of bread, gallon of milk, and roll of toilet paper in a 30 mile radius at every threat of snow. I could actually grocery shop like a normal person today.

I've been knitting away on my headband and will finish it tomorrow, if not this evening. I want to wear it hiking on Sunday, provided we aren't all buried by Snowmageddon, aieee! If we are, I'll wear it to walk the dogs. My ears are the only things that suffer in the cold wind, they always have and always will. I am not much of a hat person; give me a scarf and I feel toasty, unless the wind is blowing, and then my ears are very, very unhappy.

Sophie went for a pedicure today - her nails really needed trimming, and if I try to do it she screams like I'm murdering her. On a grooming table at a dog salon she stands like a perfect little lady and submits without a peep, because this is the world she grew up in - like a canine Elle Woods, she feels the grooming table and the dog salon are her mothership. I am not willing to invest in a grooming table to give her the pedicure experience she prefers and her nails had gotten too long, so we checked out a local dog salon for a quick pedi - I liked them, and Sophie relaxed and submitted to her pedicure without a shiver or eyeroll, so I think they'll do.

Next Friday we will test them with Murphy, who needs the full, expensive grooming. I adore Murphy more than words can say, he has been my best buddy and sidekick through a decade of really bad shit, but honestly, if you are considering a Yorkie, consider the upkeep, or invest in grooming lessons, a table, clippers, a razor.... They ain't cheap to keep. Not that I begrudge him a dime of his upkeep, either grooming or veterinary, he is worth every penny, but this wasn't a noticeable issue when I had a really good job. He is a High Maintenance Dog, but far more worth his keep than Paris Hilton or any of the Kardashians. I doubt any of them visited nursing homes to comfort family and random strangers, loving every minute of it, or alertly guarded their house through hurricanes, or were beloved by every kid in the neighborhood.... Yeah, Murphy has earned his upkeep.

My real estate classes are great fun, though soon we will leave the stuff I have known forever and venture into NC specific laws, and then I will have to spend a lot more time on things other than the math needed for the test. The instructor is wonderful, and I'm remembering why I enjoy real estate (especially the dirt stuff). Even the math is getting less scary, though I will work a hell of a lot of those algebra-based problems about taxes and shit before I will feel totally confident that I won't stare at a test question and panic because I don't know which number gets divided into the other to find the X whatever. It's like riding a bicycle - those turns were scary at first, but it came back.

As I was sitting here in my little office tonight, I could hear a neighbor practicing the piano - it was so lovely. I am looking forward to spring evenings with the windows open, when it will sound even better.