It’s warmed up today enough that snow has been rumbling off the roof all morning, the invisible freight trains passing on nonexistent tracks frightening even our profoundly phlegmatic J the W, who is tucked even more completely under the coffee table than usual. I just sit here, listening to Gene Autry sing Tumbling Tumbleweeds on Radio Heartland, where Dale Connelly has just announced that his computer, by vote of listeners, has been renamed…Jasper!

I mentioned that D, T, and B came to help us last Sunday. They brought some wonderful housewarmers, organized the kitchen…

added a bunch of nice touches, did a little shufflin’…

fixed us a lovely lunch, and, as the ads say, much, much more. We’d still be deep under water without them. Family and friends: we’re blessed.

Somewhere along the line, sweet B needed a nap, but boxes everywhere and the whirlwind of activity made it impossible to put her down in a place that was comfortable, safe, and within hearing…except one. Here she is, snoozing away under the alert protective observation of Jasper—the Wonderdog, not the computer: