Dorothy, your adventures in real estate and wandering around the northern countryside finding things and meeting people never ceases to amaze me. And that was a great gesture with the mug (it sounds lovely)! I'd love to have a glassed in room at the back of the house (one with those insulated and louvered panes so you can block the light without having to put up blinds, shutters, etc.)

My office is at the front of the house so when cars pass I can hear that the street is still crunchy. The paperwork is paying off and I finally found the conference proceedings for another paper: through the process of elimination I have matched up most of the papers to the conferences where they were delivered. I surprised myself at how many of these I wrote (and attended).

Now to lure the dogs out the back door with the offer of a treat so they can take one last potty break. That is about the only way to get the pitbull to go outside in this weather. She simply detests the slick cold crunchy surface on the lawn.

SRS