Yes, I have a chihuahua-type dog and, yes, she wears a jacket in the wintertime. It's been frigid by Portland standards this week, so I had to keep the little one warm. Plus she looks pretty crazy adorable in her purple fleece (she's become a true Portlander), though it does cause a fair amount of static.
My mom and I laughed over the phone together this past Sunday evening at the city of Portland freaking out over two inches of snow.* They had already pre-closed the schools that night, and schools have been closed 3 of 4 days this week. We'll see what tomorrow holds.** Yesterday the school closings were truly ridiculous, as there was absolutely no reason for it. It wasn't even that cold, and any ice left had turned to slush. The snow lazily made its way down from the sky like its mom was calling it for dinner, dragging its feet and complaining, "I don't wanna!" But of course that only lasted for about 15 minutes before Snow forced down its meal and retreated back to its room to continue playing World of Warcraft and listening to the Cure.
Of course I used the "snow" as an excuse to work from home Monday through Wednesday, and was also getting over a flu thing, so I shouldn't complain. I did take a break yesterday to walk the jacket-wearing chihuahua-type dog and have a snowball fight in the park with the boys. The pup was so freaked out by the snowball pelting that she tried to climb into my ear (at least I think that was her objective), or possibly my mouth, scratching my face in the process. MP decided to "protect" her at one point, effectively turning her into a canine shield instead. And, yes, she wound up in the middle of some wrestling and pilings-on, after which she immediately (and impressively) found a hole in the fence and ran the 5 blocks back to MP's all on her own. That old lady can BOOK when something's freaking her out. It took me a while to catch up, put her in the house, and turn back for more, pockets filled to the brim with snowballs in anticipation of the attack I knew awaited my return. It rained yesterday, which made for perfect packing snow. Hurts, though, when someone whips a firmly packed one at you.
We had agreed on no snowballs to the face or crotch (or chest area for me). However, I received at least three crotch shots, two boob shots (after which BP remarked that I get hit in all the "vital spots"), and one smack in the forehead/glasses. After this one, BP said, "OK, that's it. You hit my dad's girlfriend in the face. You're goin' down," and rightly pummeled MP. Sorry, I just thought that was too cute.
So, I'll be shufflin' off to Buffalo on Tuesday (unless my flight is canceled) for a quick holiday trip. It's also the little niece's 11th (!) birthday on Xmas eve, so I have to be there for my girl. And, the giant insane Italian family Xmases are pretty freaking fantastic, plus we have an addition to the family: my cousin Bodge's brand-spanking-new baby boy Luca Calanni. He was born just yesterday morning. I've noticed that my cousins happen to make great-looking kids, so I can't wait to see how this one turned out. Damn, I really have a lot of cousins. I can't even count how many first cousins I have, let alone the second and third and, yes, fourth ones. My grandparents were an arranged marriage, and it must have worked out well because they had 11 children. Grandma Calanni was birthin' babies from age 17 to 46, I kid you not. (No pun intended.) So when almost all 11 children then have multiple children of their own, and those children have multiple children of their own, it makes for a hell of a lot of cousins—and one giant insane Italian family ya gotta love. Oh, and some great food.
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*This post was written on Thursday, 12/18. There has been a LOT more snow and ICE since, and I'm not so much laughing anymore.
**School was indeed closed again.
