It’s too cold to go outside today. 17˚F with a clipping north wind. Nobody is more bummed out than Tenzin, who can’t understand why we’re all too lame to go out and enjoy a beautiful sunny day. She’s lounging in the snow out there. Griff would be disappointed too, if it occurred to him. If I say “do you want to go outside?” he marches right to the front door, opens it and goes out into the snow room to go see outside. Then the irritating requisites start of putting on boots and coats and hats… we have been spending an hour or more outside everyday lately. We walk around, I hold his hood in case he pikes onto his face and he swats my hand away endlessly. We visit the mailbox. He says “aD’laya!..” and points to it, meaning “Holy box on a stick! Look at THAT interesting thing!” It only seems to get more interesting.

We then sort of saunter, in a path that has nothing in common with a straight line, up the street. This is exciting terrain because not only does Sidney– Tenzin’s arch nemesis– live at the next house, so does Horse the horse and Gus the goat. Sidney is not all that nefarious, he’s more of a galumphing nob– like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh, but not quite as likable. Sidney, a German Shepherd, barks incessently at Horse to “herd” him. Horse is totally over it, poor guy. Sidney once charged Tenzin when she was a puppy so when she grew up, she started to find excuses to give him what for. When Sidney is around, she pretends like she’s cool and aloof, but if she’s lying in our living room and you say “Sidney,” she’ll tie her limbs in knots to stand up fast enough to start barking. Very ungraceful.

While Griffin doesn’t get the nuances of all this drama, he really likes going to see Horse and doesn’t understand why I won’t let him walk up to Horse and touch his knees. Horse is really curious about this miniature human, too. Sidney is just happy to see us and fairly pounces towards us and Tenzin bristles and vigorously protects us from him. Gus the goat’s bell jangles as he climbs to the top of his pile of rocks to see what’s going on.

So neither Griffin nor Tenzin wants to leave after a scintillating visit with the neighbors. I usually have to hoist a protesting Griffin onto my back to get back to our yard. But there’s always the mailbox to look forward to.