Snow!

This is what my deck looks like right now:

We got sleet, then snow, and now we seem to be getting more sleet. Normally, I’d grumble about that — especially since Ron has to drive home through this stuff tonight, and I have to drive out in it tomorrow morning to cover two assignments — but it’s been so dry here that I’m just grateful for the moisture, no matter what form it takes.

Song isn’t having a very good night. He’s been a real pest about chewing up … well, just about everything.

I can’t trust him unsupervised, but I hate putting him in his crate so much of the time to keep him out of mischief, so I finally decided to crate his destructive little mouth and let the rest of him roam around the house.

He hates it, but at least he isn’t stuck in his crate. Hopefully he will get out of the habit of chewing on things, and then we’ll be able to take the muzzle off. He’s a good dog; he just can’t seem to keep his teeth off of things that don’t belong to him. In the meantime, he looks like a canine Hannibal Lecter.

Jason is not expressing his opinion of Song’s muzzle here … just trying to decide whether or not he likes yogurt. He made such a funny face, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it.

One more thing: The 2006 Tulsa Area Green Directory, published by Sustainable Tulsa, is out now. Ron picked up a copy for $1 today at Wild Oats. If you don’t live near Tulsa, an online version of the directory should be available this spring. Lots of good hippy-dippy stuff in there. I highly recommend it.

Emily

Required reading

I just finished reading one of the best nature books I’ve ever seen: Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn, by Hannah Holmes.

Holmes basically spent an entire year doing exactly what I wish I had time to do: Sitting around her yard, paying attention to the critters that live there, and dragging in experts to tell her what she’s looking at.

Go to the library and get a copy, or buy your own here.

If my vocation (journalist) and avocation (Route 66 preservationist) didn’t require so much driving, I would give serious thought to trading my Scion for a Schwinn.

Since that’s not a viable option, I am going to buy a Terrapass instead.

Terrapass is basically an obscenely expensive bumper sticker. The price ranges from $30 to $80, depending on your vehicle and your driving habits. The proceeds fund clean energy projects, such as wind farms. The idea is to generate enough clean power to make up for the carbon your tailpipe is spewing into the air. Not perfect, but a good start….