Maybe it was the long sleep last night, but I got outside today. It was cold, 20 degrees. Slight wind in the afternoon made it seem colder.

Played 30 fetches with Jett, twice.

Made stir-fried vegetables with eggs for lunch.

Tried clearing the upstairs bathroom sink, again.

We did laundry.

Glad we have only ten days until Christmas.

The surgery went well and Peter has done a great job organizing for his long recupe.

I did nothing today besides make the bed and fail to print out holiday card labels.

I’ve love a Christmas tree but with Jett curious about everything, it would be nerve-wracking to put one up.

We talked about harvesting our conifers for indoor decorations; retail is so expensive.

Cancelled Jett’s grooming appointment. Turns out I have to go to Bennington that day for my annual with the dermatologist.

No interest in group activities of any kind.

Ron’s missing boots were perched on the toolbox in the kitchen.

His lost hat was hanging with his winter coat in the downstairs bathroom.

I installed a new furnace filter. It’s supposed to be good for three months.

Got more info from Peter about his surgery tomorrow.

We made the trip to Pittsfield for a new hearing aid demo. We were late getting started. We hit flurries on the way down.

Fortunately his audiologist had a cancellation, so she was able to see him.

He’s been wearing Oticons and likes them. It has a pretty nice app which is on my phone (he forgot that he brought his).

On the way back, we stopped for greens and soup at Red Jacket Farm. Their store is very nice, upscale country style, and the soup was superb: squash and red pepper.

I bought cinnamon buns at Great Falls – very expensive, won’t do that again. Also some so-so pastries at Wild Soul River. Won’t do that again, either.

It was bitter cold yesterday. We are just recovering from whatever bug hit us a couple of weeks ago and letting Jett in and out all day, keeping him company because otherwise he won’t take care of his excretory needs, wore us out.

Plus, we’ve had a slew of big bills this month and last: heating oil, first installment of homeowners insurance, excise tax, property taxes, water and sewer. It’s been brutal and we’ve stayed away from unnecessary spending.

So, we blew off the Williamstown Christmas frolic this year. No raffle, no soup contest, no dog parade, no Las Posadas, no nothing.

We were turned down for heating assistance. I spoke with someone at the Salvation Army yesterday, hoping for an appointment soon to apply for their Good Neighbors Fund.

I did stop by the Senior Art Show very briefly and watched the annual Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols at Williams College on WilliNet and YouTube. We might do the Clark tomorrow since it’s free and maybe the Mummers Ball hosted by Wild Soul River, also free.

Ron misplaced his glasses. We looked all over for them, found them hanging from the upstairs bathroom shower.

Ron had done a lot of shoveling earlier this week and today I took a little more snow off the deck.

Great snowball and snowman snow. Jett loved eating it and trying to catch snowballs.

Ron went out this morning for cookies at Job Lot and water filters at Aubuchon. Said the roads were terrible. He stayed behind a couple of plows there and back.

Very little wind and that was a relief: no outage. We were able to cook, do laundry and watch TV.

I made a vegetarian trainwreck on two sheet pans: seasoned tofu, delicata squash, carrots, onions, potato. A bonus: found Jett’s original fetch ball in the oven drawer!

Changed the sheets.

Added a couple of apps to my cellphone.

Had to reload the brother printer. The drivers may have been corrupted.

At my request, Bennett sent samples of their writing. I think they have the knack for short stories.