Well, Charlie did indeed retrieve Milo last night . . . I woke up briefly to say goodbye to him. He was in the basement, and when Charlie carried him upstairs I had to smile; Milo looked for all the world like a toddler telling that big dog, "Ha! My daddy's got me now!" Maybe I'm projecting, but it was awfully cute.

And the dogs seem to have settled down quite nicely. Wally is even letting us pet William occasionally, which is a huge concession coming from him.

William loves the big picture windows out to the back yard. He's sitting in front of them now, keeping an eagle eye out for squirrels. (They frequently run along the power lines in the back of the yard; I can't wait until he figures that out! For that reason, when we moved in, Emil said, "Gosh, William would love this place.") Wally, who has ignored squirrels since William left, is rediscovering his interest.

So things are looking up. And in the best news of the day: THERE'S A WINTER STORM WATCH!!! We could end up with 3-8 more inches of snow by tomorrow night! Yee, ha! I suppose this is the upside to living in a place with a lot of precipitation. I'm going to hate it come summer, but right now it's just wonderful! I'm gonna go get my wax . . .