I have an apology to issue today to our good friend and neighbor Chris Lavender. I hesitated to even bring this up, because of personal embarrassment to our little miniature Dachshund, Rudy the Sailing Wiener Dog. But as the informal motto of the CIA (the Central Intelligence Agency, not the Culinary Institute of America), states, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free". (John, 8:32)
So, here is the truth (as I know it).... I was walking Rudy and Gretchen early the other morning, shortly after dawn, and had not yet had my first cup of coffee. (This information is provided to explain my apparent lack of situational awareness.) We were passing Chris' driveway, and by the tightness of his lead, I noticed that Rudy had stopped, which is quite normal, since Dachshunds have to stop and sniff EVERYTHING their noses detect. I waited for him to move, and then glanced around behind me to see what he was sniffing... and in horror, saw that his back leg was lifted, and he was peeing on... Chris's newspaper! "RUDY! NO!" He obviously was unaware of the lack of neighborliness of his actions, because he looked back at me with this "Who, me?" look on his face. I knew he didn't do it maliciously, because Chris always greets him with a smile when she and her Shih Tsu Suki come outside. I also knew that Rudy wasn't making a political statement about the newspaper itself, because how could anyone criticize "The Happy Paper"? In any case, I quickly scurried back to our driveway, grabbed our clean, dry newspaper and swapped it for Chris' wet one. Yuck... Of course, after our walk, Rudy and I had a heart-to-heart talk about his irresponsible actions, and he vowed never to repeat them. That same day, after My Lovely Bride finished her daily meditation, I told her about our newspaper incident. She thought it was funny. But when I laughed, it wasn't about Rudy and the newspaper. It was about her hair. It was a combination of bed head and needing a trim. Normally I wouldn't be so unkind, unwise, or suicidal as to criticize Suzanne's coifs, but this was really funny... I wanted to take a photo, but she warned me that I would be sleeping on the lanai if I did. She quickly primped up for breakfast and made an appointment with Judy, her stylist.
As everyone in the USA knows by now, most of the country is in the grip of very cold weather caused by something called the Polar Vortex, which was created by the Tea Party to poke fun at Global Warming. We in central Florida are also affected. In preparation for the arrival of the cold front, I wrapped up our tropical plants in their stylish winter apparel. I even had to shift from Bermuda shorts to long pants yesterday afternoon. Another sign of the frigid cold is the lack of a long line at our favorite ice cream parlor, Peach Wave. But the most drastic measure taken to save lives here in The Villages was the delayed opening of our golf courses until 11:30 AM. That could cause a revolution among the snowbirds. It was so cold this morning (30F at 0730) that our puppies' initial foray onto the lanai to seek out invading geckos only lasted 24 seconds for Gretchen and 35 seconds for Rudy, who is hardier in the cold. We had planned to go camping in The Coach for a couple of days, but decided that it would be too cold today to enjoy hiking on forest trails in 30-35 degrees and bitter north winds. So we moved the RV to our street, plugged her in, and turned on the heat. She's now in front of the house where we will pretend to be out in a state park surrounded by a pine forest... actually, we will go camping just for one day, after the weather warms up to a balmy 55F. It's also a good time to prep and load The Coach for a trip in a few days to warmer climes...
Speaking of Suzanne's speaking events, our 2014 Summer Tour is coming together, with opening events already confirmed in Atlanta, GA (25-26 April); Greenville, SC (30 April); and Charlotte, NC (3 May). A tentative route map is posted at upper right on the blog; we are planning on another 10,000 miles, continuing on to Ann Arbor, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Denver, Coeur d'Alene, Portland (OR), Seattle, Vancouver, Banff/Lake Louise, Calgary, Jackson Hole, Ft. Collins, Colorado Springs, Dallas and many others... although it's hard to think about those Frozen North cities right now. More details to follow!
This has been a busy week, what with being outside every day enjoying the warm, sunny weather we had up until last night. (Sorry to rub it in). I also got to read a new book I received as a Christmas present from My Lovely Bride, Daniel Silva's thriller "The English Girl". I could hardly put it down to sleep at night, and it's his best yet. I recommend it highly, particularly to those who think Russian President Putin is someone you'd like your daughter to marry. One last comment on the weather. We haven't heard from Terri of the Frozen North since Minnesnowta officially shut down the government, schools, airports and almost all bodily functions due to the extreme cold (-30F, with -60F wind chill). We hope she's safe and warm in front of a crackling fireplace. Terri, give us a shout if you need some firewood or another blanket. Good luck to her and all our friends in the 90% of the country dealing with the cold. I should be able to shift back to shorts and tee shirt on Thursday.
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