Completely out of the blue Saturday morning, Mom put my leash on and we got in the car. We didn't go very far, but when we got to where we were going I was so excited! Little white dogs...the faint smell of rats...we were going to do some earthdoggin'!
I spent all week thinking today was the first day of Spring. I made plans to spend the day frolicking about to celebrate, and I made Sweet Husband promise he would go to the local feed store with me so I could stand and gaze longingly at the baby chicks for awhile.
So, um, the dogs. They, um, like to lick each other. Or rather, Moe likes to lick Porter. I swear I read somewhere that it's a "pack dominance" thing. She's the alpha so he has to groom her...or something like that. Usually we just let them get on with it.
Today, I am four. I think Mom is maybe a little sad about this--me entering middle age and all--but I'm completely down with it. I don't mind being older so much, and birthdays always mean fun!
I love dog blogs. I don't mean blogs about dogs--although those can be fun too--but rather blogs "written" by dogs. I particularly like the terriers, of course. Bogart Handsome Devil, Mr. T-Bone Beasley, Molly and Taffy, Cassidy and Big Harry, the Ayatollah Mugsy (a pug, but still hilarious)--I have so much fun reading their adventures each day.
'Cause he kicked him.
Everyone was posing (reasonably) nicely for the picture, when the photographer's assistant started squeaking a toy to get the dogs to look at the camera. Which sent Moe into a complete frenzy, of course. Poor Santa held onto him valiantly, but--from the familiar way he was rubbing his side when all was said and done--I'd say Santa got some mad, crazy terrier paws in the gut.
But I'm sure Moe was just thinking, "Wow thanks Santa! I see you already got me just what I wanted, now let me down so I can go kill it!"
Moe cannot go for a walk in winter weather without getting snow-beard.
I cannot go for a walk in winter weather without my spotty new galoshes. They're so much better than wet feet. I can't believe I didn't get a pair years ago.
He rings the bell to go outside, again and again. Finally, exasperated, I flip the heavy blanket off my lap and rise from the warm couch. As I open the door, the snow and cold air make me silently curse as they hit my face and bare feet. He tilts his head, and gives me a look that says, "Well, maybe I should stay inside after all." I raise my eyebrows, and unceremoniously toss him outside by the scruff.
He runs frantically from one half-snow-buried squeaky toy to the next, grabbing each one lightly with his mouth for the half-second it takes for the cold to register on his tongue, then dropping it just as quickly. He's terribly upset to be leaving his best friends to perish, but unwilling to bear the freezing rubber long enough to save them. At last, after attempting to save each toy in turn, he scrambles back toward the open door knowing that, although this rescue mission was a failure, he'll try another as soon as he can convince me to open the door again.
I tucked Moe's sometimes-sleeping basket up next to our new little tree, and there he's snuggled almost constantly since. Talk about Christmas peace!
This stocking? Originally full of squeaky toys (which I thought I had placed rather sneakily), now will be full of coal for the rotten little dog that can't seem to let his mama celebrate Christmas like a normal person. (You know, minus the Christmas trees in jail and complete lock-down of anything pretty.) Grrrr....
Hold on to your hearts bitches, it's Moe, the beach-dude-dog, here to wish you a very Happy Halloween!
Our final morning at the cabin...
...I finally took time to gather some pecans. The whole time we were there you could see and hear both pecans and walnuts dropping from the trees almost constantly. It's a wonder none hit us on the head!
...Moe played a few last games of fetch in the woods. Another of my very favorite things about this place was that the dogs could run loose. Although they did go a little far one morning, for the most part they were content to sniff and explore within sight of the cabin. It was great not to have to tether them to us or worry about them bothering/being bothered by other dogs or cars or people.
Then we packed up and headed for home. Although if we came back with friends we would probably have to opt for one of the bigger cabins, I think a trip back to Rock Eddy Bluff Farm--maybe during summer canoing season--is definitely in our future.
For some more pictures, see here.
...Porter slept. Although I think she had a good time on our trip overall, I could tell she was exhausted by the end of each day.
...Moe rolled in poop. Which I thought was really soooo adorable, until later when all he wanted to do was cuddle on my lap.
...We took time to read some of the notes left by others who had stayed at the Line Cabin Camp, and then listened to the presidential debate on the radio.
I considered whether it might not be a little sacrilegious to bring modern events into the little cabin, but in the end decided that listening by radio was in keeping with the spirit of the place. It was easy to imagine being there a hundred years before when the only source of current news might have been a radio. Although I felt like we were missing a lot because we couldn't see the candidates body language and facial expressions, Sweet Husband said he actually liked it better because he wasn't distracted by all of that.
The clouds from earlier in the day were covering the moon and stars that night, so it was incredibly dark out. It was so dark that--here's my brave confession--I made Sweet Husband walk out with me to the potty before we went to bed!
By afternoon the rain had let up, and we decided to go look for the Maramec Fish letterbox in Maramec Spring Park. The dogs were ready to be out of the car by then, and, although Moe was interested in the fish (there is a trout hatchery there), he was well-behaved.
Despite bravely sticking my hand into several old tree stumps, we didn't find the letterbox, but the walk was beautiful....
The second morning at the cabin, we woke up to this:
Although the real Missouri wine country is a little bit North of where we were, I knew there were at least a few places with vineyards and tasting rooms in St. James, which was only about thirty minutes away. So, we packed the pups into the car and headed that direction.
We hit all five places in the area, but decided that only the two that were a little off the beaten path were worth writing home about. (If you go, skip the ones that are right on the highway unless you like sugary grape juice.) 
Our favorite was Heinrichshaus.
It could be that the man who did our tasting was Heinrich himself...or it could be that he won my heart in his first few sentences analogizing "real wine" with "real food" (i.e. unprocessed, whole, etc.)...or it could be that we got an entire history lesson about grapes and diseases and politics...or it could be that his wine is just really good! Whatever it was, this was our hands down favorite, and I highly, highly recommend dropping by if you're ever in the area. (Peaceful Bend was also pretty good.)
And now for probably my favorite thing about the cabin--what I've been hinting at and alluding to all along--the outdoor shower.
For those of you who don't know what a solar shower is, basically it's a bag of water with a nozzle attached. The idea is that the sun warms the water, so you can take a hot shower. In the summer, I could see how this might work, but, as the air temperature just wasn't getting that hot during the day, our hosts recommended we heat water on the stove and add it to the water in the bag in order to get a warm shower.
It worked very well. Although, it was a little cool when the water was off (which is why I'm glad we were not at the cabin any later in the year) with the water on it felt great. The cabin was secluded enough that I wasn't really worried about privacy. And it was freaking beautiful! I felt like I was taking part in some kind of wonderful woodland fantasy shampoo commercial. I'm totally building on of these in my little dream garden someday--although perhaps with piped in water!
Once we were squeaky clean, we cooked up some carbonara on the little antique stove...
...and sat down to enjoy a lovely dinner entertainment of dancing leaves in the sunset.
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