It seems that a clean dog is a happy dog—Zeke has been quite frisky since last night, and his coat is so soft today. He regularly requests cuddles anyway, but they're easier to give when you don't have to wash your hands after a back scratch and an ear rub.

More mud in the den this morning, tracked in after a gentle overnight rain. Combine this with the short dried out Bermuda grass beyond the patio that clings to their coats any time someone rolls and you have the makings for adobe bricks coming in on their feet and coats. Spring will relieve this, but we're weeks away yet. At least with snow all of that is out of the way for now (though yes, I know about the consistency of mud after a thaw.) A modern-day version of the Housewife's Lament. (The thing I will never forgive my mother for is she finished her family genealogy and mailed it out to 70 family members. I got my copy and instead of listing me as a park ranger, a forester, an interpretive naturalist, or a writer - she said I was "a housewife" because at the time I was raising kids and doing freelance writing. Something I never in a million years would have used, and I confronted her about it, I even sent her sheets of stamps so she could mail out the corrected version. She died before she got to it.) #rant off