January 2009

January 1 (Thursday)

Actually, I am still sitting here on Wednesday evening of December 31, and LSU added a field goal in the second half to
finish off the Yellow Jackets 38 to 3.  The Tiger defense did an outstanding job.  Kudos to them.

January 2 (Friday)

Before you know it this year will be gone, and it will be Christmas again.  I don't ever do anything "Christmasy."  I want to,
and I intend to someday, but for now, with no family other than my furry family, there is not really anything or anyone to
do anything "Christmasy" for.

Don't feel sorry for me.  I do enjoy the holidays.  I am not sad or depressed.  In my case I am very cognizant of all the
good things that I have.  There are so many in this world and in the past for whom life has not been kind, but life for me
has been very good.  I do look about me sometimes and wonder at how much a shame it is to waste this 16-acre farm.  
There should be kids here enjoying the outdoors, and the animals, and horses, and goats, and pigs, and chickens, and
a garden, et al.  But I am not going to go out and get married or anything like that just so that I can have some kids.

Well, it is a beautiful place, and it is a shame to waste it.  My work schedule prohibits me from enjoying it much.

January 3 (Saturday) 6:30 pm

Not much to report for today.  One more day off and back to work.  I hope I can make it through another year of
commuting to Memphis very day to work.  The only bad thing about the three-hour round trip to and from work is the
three-hour round trip.  I hate wasting that much time sitting behind the wheel of a car.  The drive itself isn't so bad, but I
would sure love to be able to pend more time at Willow Oak and less time in my car.  But, it cannot be helped, and I am
glad I have a good job that I enjoy.

HWY 72 between Corinth and Memphis is beautiful.  The countryside along that route is gorgeous, and is a redeeming
factor.  This time of year, however, most of the drive is in the dark, so I cannot enjoy it as much as I do during spring and
summer.  I typically arise around 3:45 AM and am on the road by 4:45.  I usually arrive to the office around 6:30 am, and
if I am lucky I leave around 4:00 pm, getting me home by 5:45 pm -- if all goes well.  The poor dogs must be kenneled
under the carport while I am gone, and during this time of year they don't get much sunlight from Monday through
Friday.  But I have things down to a routine; each dog has its place; the cats remain safe; and I arrive home to find
everyone healthy and happy.

I didn't get as much wood cut during the holidays as I wanted, but I should have enough now to get me well into
February, and with another weekend or two I should have no problem gathering in the wood I need to get me through
March.  The worst of the winter weather is ahead: January is the mean coldest month of the year, and the stretch from
January 1o to February 10 usually sees the coldest temperatures.  Somehow I feel that those days will be gone before I
know it.  Six weeks from today we shall be well on to the upward side of days getting longer and warmer.  Please hurry!

But I still love the fireplace.

January 4 (Sunday) 9:30 am

Well I am ready to return to work.  NOT!  What I am ready to do is to return to my routine.  I am a very routine individual.  
I do not like long layoffs from work -- such does nothing for me except tire me out.  A regular schedule does more to
refresh me than anything else.  Albeit I do find myself in need of extra time to do things around Willow Oak that need to
be done.

January 7 (Wednesday) 6:30 am

These are the "dog days" of winter, and although the temperatures are usually very low this time of year, they have not
been as bad as I have experienced.  We have been getting what seems to me to be more than the usual amount of rain.
If the temps were lower we would have been getting a lot of snow.  However, rain is often the result of warm air meeting
with cold air, so rain is a sign that the temps are warmer.

Nonetheless, I continue to use the fireplace, and I love it.  A typical evening's activities upon my arrival to home from
work is as follows:  first, I let the dogs out of their kennels and into the yard; then I re-build the fire in the fireplace.  
Re-building the fire consists of stoking whatever coals happen to be left over from the night before -- and there usual
are some coals left over.  There usually is a little mopping and cleaning to do, after which I replenish the dogs' and cats'
food and water.  I give Bonnie her medication, then I take mine -- I take a Zocor in the evening for cholesterol.  Finally I
change my clothes and fix my dinner.  I take care of myself last.

January 8 (Thursday) 11:00 am

I am on lunch break.  Not that I typically take a lunch break, but since I arrive to work every day around 6:30 am, I
usually eat around 11:00.  I don't necessarily stop work, but I may take a break and peruse the internet for a few
minutes.  Taking a whole hour to go eat is counter-productive for me.  I don't do well when I break my routine, so I just
continue to work through.

Taz was out of the fence when I arrived home yesterday evening.  He managed to crawl out of his kennel sometime
during the day.  I put him with Grace.  We shall see how well that works.

January 9 (Friday) 11:45 am

Lunch break again.  Okay, I shall return to work here in a few minutes.  Taz was in the yard when I arrived home again
yesterday.  This morning I locked him into Willie's cage and put Willie into Taz' kennel with Cathy.  Now I get to worry all
day about Willie.  Willie has the ability to scale the three-feet high brick wall that borders the kennel (two sides are chain
link fence; one side is carport wall; one side is 3-feet high brick wall).

Monday I shall return Willie to his original cage, which is a small cage about 2' by 3'.  With Taz in his old cage, which is 3'
by 4', I should be able to reclaim my peace of mind.  I hate to so confine the dogs for such a long period of time, but it is
better than getting lost or run over in the road.

Short of confining the dogs, however, I may have to give them an early send-off to the "Rainbow Bridge."

January 10 (Saturday) 10:35 am

A wet day, which bodes bad for the dogs.  Weekends are their only opportunity to be loose for a whole day, and when it
is raining they are once again confined indoors.  But I have been working on the dog kennels, and I hope I can make
things a little more secure for them.

I have taken some new photos of Taz.  Taz was delivered to my front gate on July 27, and I took some pictures of him on
that day.  Below you can see how he has grown in only a little over five months:
Taz was very little back in July
Five months later Taz sits in the same chair

January 13 (Tuesday) 11:35 am

I arrived home yesterday from work to find that the dogs had managed to escape from their kennels.  Eight of the dogs
did.  It is complicated to explain, but needless to say I nearly had myself another coronary.  All dogs eventually returned,
however, and once they did things settled down.  I was late getting the fire going, but once I did the house warmed up
pretty good.  I say "warmed up:" what I mean by that is that the house became warmer.

Now I get to worry all day as to what I shall find regarding the dogs when I arrive home today.

January 14 (Wednesday) 6:35 am

Cold again last night.  For some reason I had trouble getting the fire going, but I did eventually, and I surely enjoyed the
fire -- I and the crew that lives with me.  This is the coldest time of the year.  January into February see the coldest
temps of the year (duh!), with January 20 thereabouts being the mean coldest day of the year.  But I shall survive.  I am
not crazy about the cold weather, but I love using the fireplace.

Speaking of fireplace, Sam really likes it too.  Whenever I get a fire going really good, Sam goes to it and stands directly
in front of it.  I have to periodically move him away because I am afraid he will burn himself.

January 15 (Thursday) 11:15 am

Last night was cold, and for some reason the dogs kept me awake most of the night.  I probably got only about two
hours sleep.  But I am at work today, and I feel fine so far.  There is a chance I may stay home tomorrow from work.  If
the temps dip below 15 degrees I may stay home -- I am afraid of being stuck beside the road in that temperature, and
given my health I think I might not want to take the chance.

I received the following picture from one of my coworkers.  I have written about him and his wife previously:  they
adopted a couple of animals from the local animal shelter.
Sherlock (dog) and Zanne (cat) were adopted from the Memphis animal shelter.

January 16 (Friday) 6:15 am

Oh yes it was cold last night, as well as this morning.  But I had the fire going early when I arrived home from work
yesterday evening, and I managed to stay warm and sleep well through the night -- and I managed to make it in to work
this morning.

The Daily Corinthian published another of my stories this morning.  I wrote about my sister Susie's dog, Marwen.  
Anyway, if you are interested you can read the story here.

January 17 (Saturday) 11:00 am

Cold, but ah!  How peaceful, with the fireplace going and the dogs snoozing and the cats lounging about!  Saturday is
my domestic chores day:  laundry; dishes; cooking; cleaning; etc.  I'll have all of my clothes finished today by noon; the
food I shall eat for the week will be prepared and in containers in a couple more hours.  And I have more wood to cut.  
The supply of wood I have now might last a week, maybe two; so I shall be out cutting wood this afternoon.  There are
six to 10 weeks of firewood weather left.

January 18 (Sunday) 3:00 pm

I have spent some time in the woods today and brought out a couple of trees, which will become fire wood.  Alas, I had to
buy some wood to supplement my supply -- but the cost of the wood compared to the cost of electricity in small.  I would
like to manage to spend enough time gathering wood this spring and summer that I won't have to buy wood.  It is so
exciting -- sitting in front of a fire that burns wood that I cut myself off of my own place.

January 21 (Wednesday) 6:45 am

Thirteen (13) degrees, thereabouts.  As I have mentioned previously, this is the cold time of year, and there is nothing
for us to do but to get through it -- and hopefully without a lot of complaining.  I am keeping warm at night, though -- the
fireplace is a wonderful thing.

I certainly look forward to warmer days.  What I miss the most this time of year is the sun.  I leave my house in the
morning in the dark, and I return home again in the evening in the dark.  I like and prefer daylight.

Well, it is time to work.

January 24 (Saturday) 2:45 pm

I had a busy week, to say the least.  This morning broke a little colder than expected, but I have the fireplace going
good, so all is well.  I am inserting a couple of pictures here.  The first is a picture that I took today.  I have been seeing
this big yellow cat for at least three years.  Today is the first time I have been closer that a couple of hundred feet.  I
wonder if I have another Buddy story on my hands.  The next couple of stories are captioned and self-explanatory.
This guy looks like he could use a friend.
A recent photo of Taz.  He is such a laid-back pup.
I keep trying to get a good shot of Tiger and Oscar together.  When he is in the house, Tiger
seeks out Oscar, curls up next to him, and here you are!

January 28 (Wednesday) 6:55 am

Bad weather this morning.  The Mid-South region (Southwest Tennessee, North Mississippi, etc.) is experiencing some
inclement weather, although it has been much worse.  I got snowed on during my drive to work, and the roads are
covered in ice right now.  But we shall get over it.  I took the picture below this morning as I was driving.  Well, I stopped
to snap the picture.

January 29 (Thursday) 6:35 am

Snow still covers the ground, but exposure to the sun and wind has eroded the snow in most places.  The temperature
remains below freezing, but as I was driving home yesterday I thought about how quickly time does appear to move
along.  We are in the last week of January, and spring is only six weeks away.  Only six weeks!