The tongue was not in the cheek, but it was on Logan’s nose! Neighbor Logan (7) livened up our day when he knocked on our door and announced he had shoveled our driveway. As he shed outer layers, John texted Shawn to see if he could visit. They were having an early dinner, so we had 25 minutes to enjoy him. Logan looked at a ship magazine that was lying on the table beside him as we chatted. I don’t know why I asked if he could touch his nose with his tongue. I assumed he couldn’t do it, but he jumped out of the chair and walked closer to show us. Moving at his usual warp speed, he was back in the chair but agreed to pose. Like our children and grandchildren, he is resigned to the fact that a camera is always lurking nearby.

Logan made short work of stomping on air bags I had saved for him. There is something intensely satisfying about leaping on them to make the loudest noise possible. I like them deflated before going in the garbage.

A few days ago dog Smoky came out to the road to greet us. We were surprised he was outside when the temperature was about 14F (-10C). The cold didn’t seem to bother him, but our toes began to protest. The steepest part of the road is right here, although it looks deceptively tame in the photo. I sometimes speak of a half walk or going to the stop sign. That stop sign is at the top of the road. We were quite warm when we came back up the hill. Smoky had retreated to a warmer place.