Today I am grateful for:

Decent sleep, though it was fairly interrupted.

Today we are meeting our friend from way back in Wyoming, and his wife, whom we have not met previously.

We were able to meet them on time, at their air B&B that was literally right next to the dog park we agreed to walk at today. I thought that was kind of amazing for them, as it was perfect for them to stay there with their dogs and have access to a good place to walk them.

I wondered yesterday if we were just going to walk their dogs all day, and yes. We more or less walked their dogs all day.

Thankfully it was a pleasant day for it, cool but not cold, and sunny.

We walked for at least two hours, though the pace wasn't too bad. We probably did something around 12 kilometers.

That's more than I'm used to doing, and I did okay but my left leg was cramping up by the time we finished.

It was surreal to see our friend, now about 20 years older and a lot of life experiences under his belt. It's HARD to try to catch up on everything that's happened, and to get to know his wife.

We talked, and talked, and talked, and it was great to connect with them this way.

His wife is very down to earth, funny, smart, and very much on the same page as we are with a lot of our values.

They are considering moving to Canada, and I think this trip, begun with the main idea to see the mountains and several people in different areas to reconnect with them, has made the idea of moving more attractive to them as they see the possibilities.

It would be surreal if they ended up moving to the city near us, after all this time.

After a short break at their rented house after the walk, we went out for supper. Our regular places were oddly both closed since I guess Tuesday is a slow day for dining. We went to a place we hadn't been before, and the food was FANTASTIC, though I ate more carbs than I normally would (sweet potato fries, sigh).

They even picked up the tab, which we were thinking of doing ourselves, but they insisted.

We also went to my husband's favorite ice cream place, which I guess stays open all year long, and I passed on the ice cream but they all got some. It's very good hand made at the location ice cream, made with some local flavors (like Saskatoon).

They were very intrigued by all the work we've been doing at our place, and the very fact that we moved an old farm house onto a new basement on our property and have been doing all the work on it for about six years now.

She likes to do home renos too, and recently did a kitchen renovation that looked great.

So I invited them to our place, if they had the time, and they are hoping to come this Thursday, as they drive onward (we're not that far out of their way of their planned itinerary).

So THAT's exciting too! I'm going to have some pottery put together, and let them pick a few pieces to take with them.

So it was not so much a BUSY day, as one that felt very full, as it felt information-dense and heavily social.

We came home and my husband was able to get to bed roughly the time he normally does, as tomorrow is a normal work day (he took today off so we could be with our friends).

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

I did feel anxious in a general sense today, though there was no solid reason for it. Just this sense of "lots to do".

We have gotten a small amount of rain. A literal drop in the bucket to make up for the months of dry weather, but enough to knock the dust out of the air.

It's cold and blustery, lots of wind, and grey, so feeling very much like the beginning of winter.

I did get to pottery, though it was later than I would have liked. I didn't have much time, but I was able to trim the rest of the mug forms and get handles on them. I don't feel like with the new "classes" that limit our studio time (only two years ago, I could come in at any time and stay as long as I wanted. Now I have to leave by about 5:30 because there is an evening class).

I did see D, and though she had to leave, she expressed that I should give her a call when I had time, which is nice. I haven't seen her in person in the form of a visit for weeks now. We've both been busy.

I did go to Winner's, mostly for socks, and found underwear as well. I hate that cotton socks and underwear seem to be becoming a thing of the past.

I went grocery shopping, and I am very grateful to be able to do so.

I came home and my Sweetie was out in the pottery studio working a bit more on the electrical, so that's nice.

I brought in the groceries, and by then he came in and we put them away together.

I made supper and he warmed up with a bath.

I called our friend from Wyoming who is in Canada with his wife on vacation. We were good friends with him and his family when we lived there, and we haven't seen him for almost 20 years now. We haven't met his wife.

We talked about what they want to do in the city tomorrow, and...it sounds like mostly they want to do things where we can walk their dogs. They have been traveling through Oregon and B.C. and were in Banff and Jasper over the last couple of weeks, and it sounds like they've been mostly hiking. So, not concerned so much with seeing museums or other points of interest. Walking their dogs.

Okay.

So I guess we're meeting them in an off-leash dog park tomorrow, whatever the weather may be, and we're...walking their dogs.

Then we might go to the historic downtown area in the city, where they can walk their dogs while we..take turns looking in stores while someone stays outside with their dogs?

Then they are willing to leave the dogs in their vehicle to have supper.

Well, I guess I will be wearing my hiking shoes and wearing layers.

Today I am grateful for:

Decent sleep.

My Sweetie made breakfast.

We went outside, my Sweetie worked on electrical stuff in the pottery shed, and I pulled weeds.

We worked with Dandy today. He was a bit fidgety with being harnessed, so I paused and worked with him at Liberty for a while, and he was really connected with that. He went back to being a bit fidgety with being harnessed anyhow.

I long-lined him around the pasture once each way, and he seemed very comfortable with that.

He was once again upset with being in the shafts of the cart, though as far as I know he hasn't had anything bad happen there. I spent some time with that, so that if he was upset in the shafts, he got to come out but he got to work on the lunge line for a while until he could regulate and have a calm, steady trot. When he relaxed, he got to stop, but went directly back to the shafts of the cart.

A few tried with that and he was more relaxed. We then only "loose" connected him, and that meant my husband had to half pull the cart. Dandy seemed uptight for a lot of that work, in spite of him seeming so comfortable with it only a week or so ago.

This regression is a bit mystifying.

He did relax a bit after some time, and that's where we stopped.

So, I guess it's going back over this again and again until we get more comfortable again.

Then we went to the barn to see River.

River was good, in terms of his energy. We worked on our homework, which focused on getting some bend in his ribs.

Then we went upstairs to visit the kittens. They are now at the stage where they are very playful, and starting to run around more. It was a lot of fun watching them play fight and chase little paper balls we made for them (a favorite with our cats at home).

Then we came home, ate, and my Sweetie needed to get to bed.

I'm glad we bought him some pants, as the jeans he wears to work are pretty much finished. He prefers to only have maybe two or three pair and wear them ragged before he buys new ones, but he might have cut this a little close. They are very thin on the fronts of the legs.