This morning we got up to little ice pellets falling from the sky. The hubby is usually a pretty early riser, and I often am, as well. The dreary damp outside this morning seemed as good of an excuse as any to stay in bed an extra hour... or two. Which meant that the dogs where released into the yard this morning instead of their (mostly) usual walk. I thought the kids and I would walk them a bit later, but it was just so cold... and everyone seemed inclined to hang out in their pjs. So that is what we did.

With Naisey, our 10-year-old dog, this has been a strategy that has worked well for us in the past. She's pretty easy to get along with and content to sleep on the end of my bed for most of the day. She usually joins me in the kitchen when I am fixing food (eager to do her part, help me clean the floor if I drop anything) and she sits with us in the living room if we are watching movies or cuddled on the couch reading.

Our young pup, Nancy, however... she was all over the place yesterday. Up and down. Over and under. Zooming through the house. Knocking things over. Stealing things off the table. We kept sending her out into the yard where she'd race a couple of loops before coming back in (it was cold out... and probably lonely). By the time hubby got home, the tension in our house was running high. The kids were being short with the dog and with each other. I was being short with the dog and the kids. Even Naisey, the older dog, was more intolerant than usual of poor Nancy. She could barely move in any direction without getting hollered at.

Hubby took about three minutes to assess the situation, then gently said, "Perhaps this would be a good time to bundle up in winter clothes and take everybody to the park."

The answers don't always seem so obvious from the trenches.

So we put on our warmest clothes. We topped ourselves with hats and mittens. And we trudged off to the nearby park. Each of us took a turn running with Nancy in a huge circle around the soccer field. But the kids found plenty of other stuff to do, as well. And it was probably an hour before we made it back to the house -- cold and wet -- but relieved all of all the tension that had been building.

Nancy spent much of the afternoon -- not all, but much -- sacked out on the floor. She makes these funny groaning, stretchy noises when she sleeps. We all laughed at her. And the day, though still cold, was much, much brighter after that.