Can you smell the excitement?

She is going for a WALK with Grizzly Adams. She. Is. So. Happy!!

I don't want to invade Gary and his psyche too much, and I certainly don't want to embarrass him, but I will say that it has taken several years for Gary to warm up to Peg. Gary has a kind heart and means no harm to animals, but it takes him a bit of time to warm up to them.

He and Peggy have bonded on some snowy walks these past few months. He lets her off the leash and she runs off manically happy but comes back to him every few blocks. He comes home, amazed from these walks, that Peggy comes back to check on him, feeling safe, loving his companionship.

Who wouldn't? Gary, at his core, which is hard to find sometimes, is a good person with dog-loving tendancies.

Timely post linked on Instapundit

For the first time, scientists have discovered a difference in serotonin transporter levels in the brain in fall/winter versus spring/summer, opening the door towards a better understanding of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the relationship between a person’s exposure to light and his mood, and people’s general mood changes from season to season.

This scene from Fargo pretty much sums up winter Minnesota. Oh, you betcha.

For Mary

Funk? Get the funk out of here.

For those of you who don't live in Minnesota, you may not know that at this time of year there is such a sense of foreboding. It's not Alaska, but. But! Such a sense of darkness and cold, cold wind. Shoveling in the 30 below windchill so you get to work on time. Shoveling so the kids can get to the bus stop. Strong Minnesotans steel themselves. Weaker ones (who moved here from Iowa) cry themselves to sleep on howling-windy nights in October and November.

But when we emerge in the spring? In mid-June? Sweet, sweet joy. Joy. Warm, manic, crazy joy.

And in the meantime I will wait patiently for another sighting of the aurora borealis. I can make it through the cold if God will let me see that again.