Unlike my usual posts, today is a status update of sorts.  I am heading out on a road trip this morning to drive south to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet up with my sister who will be there on business.  Due to a change in her living situation I will be taking her nine-year old lab, Murray back home with me tomorrow.  Murray will have his first and likely last plane ride this morning, after that he will live out his golden years in lovely Western Montana where he can walk on unpaved ground, lay in the sun and generally live the good life.

The adventure, besides the eight-plus hour drive each way, is that contrary to the weather forecasts, I awakened to flashes of lightning and rolling thunder.  As I watch the mountains to the east lightening with the sunrise, to the west the thunder continues.  Forecasting is not a science here, not even an art really, more of a crap shoot at best.  Why I continue to look I have no clue; at least I will not have packed sweaters and boots for Utah when the high today is, dare I say it, forecasted in the high 80’s.  I guess that means it will be safe to take the snow shovel out of my car.

I haven’t had a dog on my own before, there were always other family members and a fenced yard to rely on.  Here it is just me and a cantankerous cat on ten acres with no fencing.  I expect that I will have to carve out time to make Murray’s life a good one with long walks and lots of supervised visits to the outdoors.  This may be a good time to cut back on one of my guilty pleasures, computer games.  At the same time it should make it easy to get in my daily ten thousand steps and plenty of natural Vitamin D.  Perhaps Murray is coming my way as part of my Happiness Project; and here I thought I was just doing my sister a favor.

Time to hit the road!