“Whoa, Lucy. This ground is warm.”

“Yes, it is. The temp is 81 degrees F today. That’s 27.2 C for our metric friends.”

“Why are you laying there staring at the fence.”

“No reason. I just wanted the sun on my back.”

“I’m not buying it. There must be something over there.”

“There isn’t anything, I promise you.”

“Well, that’s disappointing. I thought you would have a reason for laying that way.”

“Nope, just catching the rays.”

“You lay here if you want. I’m going to check out the patio.”

“Hmm, the snow didn’t leave any marks.”

“What? I can’t hear you.”

“Nothing. I was just admiring the vincas. Are these edible?”

“You are mumbling. Come where I can hear you.”

“Okay, I’m here. What’s that over there?”

“Weren’t you saying something about the patio, and now you are wondering what is over there?”

“Well, yes. That’s what I do. Attention isn’t my strong suit.”

“Where you going?”

“I need a drink. I’m going into the saloon.”

“Very funny. What’s wrong with a little deficit in the attention department?”

“Huh? I was looking at that shiny thing on the porch.”

“Okay, I get it.”

“How about it, Little One. Want to go outside?”

“Let’s check the temperature first. Hey Dad, what’s the temp outside?”

“Let’s see. Right now, it’s 41 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 5 degrees Celsius. The high today will be 43 F (6.1 C) The low tonight is 34 F (1.1 C). Want to know what the market is doing?”

“No thanks, Dad. We have enough information.”

“Boy, he loves to go on, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, well, you know how humans are.”

“So back to the original question. Want to go out?”

“You’re kidding, right? It is 41 degrees out there. Nothing good happens in 41 degrees.”

“You know there are dogs all over the world who go out in below zero weather and snow.”

“Yeah, well, they don’t live with me.”

“Should we ask if there is better weather tomorrow, Lucy?”

“We should ask tomorrow. I saw the weather forecast, and it doesn’t look good. Besides, I don’t want to get dad wound up again.”

“So what toy should we play with inside, Little one?”

“I think the tuggy toy is just sitting there waiting for us.”

Here s a shot of the front yard on Sunday as the snow begins to stick. We never get snow, so this was a big occasion.

“Lucy. What is that white stuff starting to form up on the yard.”

“I saw this once at the Coast in 08, Little One. It’s snow. I’ll go down and confirm.”

“Well? Is it snow?”

“It sure is. It’s starting to fall pretty good.”

“Is it dangerous?

“No. It is cold, though. Let’s wait a few minutes till it gets thick, and then we can play.”

“Wow, this stuff is cold all right.”

“Go ahead and sniff around some more.”

“Look, there is still some grass over here.”

“Yeah, the vines keep it from getting snow.”

“You should smell this.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. Almost smells like a wet cat. Look, here are some tracks.”

“Wet cat? You having an olfactory hallucination again?”

“Where did these tracks come from. They smell very familiar.”

“That’s cause they are yours. What is the matter with you, anyway?”

“No wonder they seemed familiar. Can you eat this stuff?”

“Yes, you can, just watch out for the yellow snow. You are right. There is the smell of wet cat.”

“What are you doing, Twiggy?”

“I thought I would wake Lucy, and we could go outside and play.”

“Come on, you and I will go out.”

“You want to run and let me chase you?”

“I’m pretty sure you could catch me in an instant.”

“Okay. There was a ball down there last time I checked. We could play ball.”

“Good idea. The ball is right behind you.”

“I’m not talking about the soccer ball. There is a green ball.”

“I don’t see a green ball.”

“Well, see that is the ball Lucy and I like to play with. Why won’t she come out?”

“It is New Year’s Eve, and Lucy is resting up for the big show.”

“Show? What show?”

“At midnight, there is a big ball that drops in Times Square, signaling that a New Year has arrived.”

“Can’t people just look at their watch to know it is after midnight? Okay, throw the soccer ball, and I’ll chase it.”

“Hmmm. Come to think about it, that is some distance. If I’m going to stay up till midnight, I will need to rest too.”

“So you aren’t going to get the ball.”

“Nah. I think I’ll join Lucy.”

“Well I hope you rest up you two. We certainly want to make sure 2020 is gone.”