Do you want a puppy?

That's what I was asked as I settled into a seat on the bus this morning.   "Hmm, what?"  "Do you want a puppy?" the gentleman sitting across the aisle asked me.  That's when I noticed he had a large Rubbermaid grey tote box on the seats next to him. With holes cut into the side.  With two big brown eyes staring out the end hole.  As we rode, I heard his story.  A friend's wife had passed away and someone had decided the friend needed a dog for company.  The friend quickly realized he couldn't deal with a puppy and tried to find it a home.  The gentleman on the bus and his wife agreed to take the dog.  They had had it for 3 months and come to the realization that their work schedules didn't jive with having a dog at home.  So he was on his way to SPCA to drop off the dog.  "It's hard" he said.  "You have it just long enough to get real attached to it, but you know it ain't fair to the dog, the way we ain't home for it.  Her name's Sissy.  She's a real good dog."

He knew he was doing the right thing.  I knew he was doing the right thing.  But I knew he wasn't happy about it.  And I could feel his sadness.

Today's tale from the bus.

A month since the last post,but really nothing is much different....

It has been polar vortex, followed by snow storm, mix and repeat since early January.  The collection of memes going through facebook lately pretty much says it all:

Last Friday we were the coldest place in the country according to a local weatherman.

And then this one pretty well sums up the average temperatures around here.

This one came from our neighbors to the west, but really, it could just as well say Indiana.

While the weather has dominated much of what has gone one this month, it hasn't all been cold and snow.  There was this warm moment at work a couple of weeks ago:

A library moment...

Had an older sister (about 8 or 9) and a younger sister (about 5 or 6) at Tuesdays With Stories this afternoon. Younger sister tells me "I can't read."

We read the story "The magic backpack" by Julia Jarman. Younger sister sees the word "eggs" and recognizes it. As we read the story together she is more willing to sound out words and recognizes words we've already used. She's very into the story and eagerly turning pages to find out what will happen next. Older sister is hanging over shoulder to watch this, but not actively joining in. We finish the book and older sister wants to play a game with younger sister, so they do.

Thirty minutes later, I'm shelving in the same area. Younger sister tells older sister that now they have to read a book because they've played a game. Older sister somewhat reluctantly agrees. They start in on a book, older sister reading all the way through. Younger sister says "Stop! I know that word!" Older sister begins to read with finger pointing to the words she's reading and stopping when younger sister recognizes a word and lets her read. By end of story younger sister is reading almost the whole page. Older sister turns to younger sister and says "I didn't know you could read so good." Younger sister says "I didn' t know I could read so good either."

Two READERS will leave the library today!

Perhaps we have finally seen the coldest and snowiest part of winter pass us by. The long range forecasts do look a bit warmer and less snowy.