Let me count the ways.
I miss you for your promise of fulfillment
in this so empty time of fear and frustration.
I miss you for the understanding you help me find
when I wander my thoughts and concerns.
Ok, Elizabeth Barrett Browning I am not. But at heart, I am a writer. And I really need to settle into a blogging routine. Writing to my mind is like hitting the road to a runner. When I reach that magical point of engagement, that point where it's working, I get my writer's high. It's been too long. I want it. So here I am, looking for it. It's gonna take some practice. I hope you'll bear with me. (Anybody else get the giggles when people write "bare with me?")
The biggest change in life since last I came here to the blog is, well, big. Kodi Hagrid, House Bear, goofy good guy, is 
around 120 pounds now, more than a hundred pounds bigger than when he joined my 
household last October. And still growing. How much bigger will he get? I dunno. He's 11 months old now, and in his 1st few months here, he gained about 11 pounds a month. He "slowed" his growth a couple months ago, to 10 pounds a month. Over the last 3 weeks, he grew half an inch, and is now 29 inches tall at the shoulder. He lowers his head to rest it on the table. He only has to lift his snout a little to grab things off the front of the kitchen counters. When he stands on his hind feet, he can reach almost anything on those counters, and possibly even the lower shelves of the cabinets. I know this because he has developed a taste for onions and apples. I can't keep them on the counters anymore. Nor paper towels, mail, plastic storage containers - the list is long. Genetically, House Bear clearly favors the St. Bernard side of his St. Bernard/Golden Retriever parentage. Saints continue to grow until age 18 to 24 months. The food bag says to decrease his food starting about now, so presumably, his growth will slow soon. Whatever size he ends up, he will still be a big ol cuddly lap dog. If I disappear, I'll likely be squashed under him in our chair.
Bunnies are still here. This is Hayley Hopdoodle, one of last year's babies. Her coat is not quite what it should be because several months ago, she developed GI stasis, stopped 
eating, and nearly died. But I brought her out of it and she's now back up to good weight. She was just starting to grow in the lovely undercoat but it's too hot to leave her with that much coat. She got a haircut this morning. Her next coat should have more of the soft floof than this one does.
Nope, didn't reach that giddy good high, but hopefully, this marks the return to more regular blogging. Hope you find your high today.
