The last two days, we’ve been snowed in. Yep, 6 inches, here at the beach. It’s been a great “hunker down” time. You know the kind of “forced” slow down. I mean, we’ve hardly been out of our jammies.

Today, I got up before sun up. (We went to bed so early last night...I mean, 10 hours of sleep was plenty.) Anyway, after finding out I had painted an entire commission piece vertical instead of horizontal, I decided, I’d better get my thinking cap on straight. (Thank heavens it was a small piece. Whew!)

Snow days work great for Jerry. His world is reduced to a perfect little world with all he needs: his house, his dog and me. Maybe that’s why he’s done so well the last two days. He’s been less anxious, he’s let me go downstairs to paint for an hour at a time, he even got dressed all by himself. (Remember, we kept on his flannel jammie bottoms.) He’s been fairly alert and communicative. (sort of) The only time we got in a little “tiff” was when I had scooped up a hot plate of spaghetti, turned around, and bumped into him. I had placed him in his chair with the news on, but he kept getting up. He was ON MY TAIL and no matter how many times, I asked him to step back, he couldn’t. So when I turned around, I nearly spilled the whole thing all over him. It scared me to death and I yelled, “Back up!” Then, he got mad and grabbed the leash to leave. I put down the plate, retrieved him, and desperately tried to smooth things over, saying, “It’s dangerous. I’m not trying to be mean. I nearly spilled a hot plate on you. I need you to sit down."

This poses a new dilemma. Do I still place him, when he’s alert? It will kill him...or at least send him into a complete frenzied downward spiral. In the last few months, I’ve seen him “disappear”, but now, he’s back. I know this thing comes and goes, but does this mean, I can hold on a little longer? Oh, what to do. What to do.