9/10/2012 West Virginia Watching the fog lift off the road leading to our cabin. As the sun hits it it rises like clouds of smoke. The whole morning process of the sun coming up over the ridge, about 8:30 this time of year. The sky is light at 6:30 or so, but it's slow to come over the ridge. The birds very happy that time of day. Cardinals, jays, a pair of hummingbirds, woodpeckers, don't know the other species, magpies of some kind, crows. No raptures today- we do have a hawk who likes to hunt here and a flock of buzzards that love the thermals- so beautiful in flight and so nasty up close! The owls at night. Suki is holding her own for now. She has her routine around meals and forays in the yard around the cabin. She loves to go over the hill and down to sniff at the little swamp where the frogs and willows are. She stumbled into that yesterday and I was afraid she was stuck and would have to crawl down into the brush, but she finally found a spot to turn around without continuing to go downward. And she loves the walk to Honeysuckle Pond. Last year Tom set up a chair there and I spent some time everyday meditating there. She would wait with me, sniffing around. This year it was overgrown and I ended up getting covered in chigger bites so I've not had the inclination to linger. Dan and Tom did clear it for me, but I guess I'm leery. I do still walk down there every day with Suki though she has a bit of trouble getting back up the hill. She just takes her time. This is the first year that walking the road out to the mailbox is too much for her. Sweet old dog, sad to watch her growing so old. The Vet's Best pills I found seem to be helping- White Willow Bark and Glucosmine and not the terrible side effects of the Ibruprofen.