Snow is on the ground but only a little. It isn’t as high as the tops of my shoes. The snow is heavy and made a crunching sound when I walked on it. I went to get the papers, but I couldn’t find them. I suspect they aren’t there. The papers are usually wrapped in colored plastic which is easy to see so I walked around the front garden and the car expecting to find them. I was disappointed.

Henry likes the snow. He has been out so many times I’m happy he has a dog door. I watched him leap and run when he first got to the yard at the bottom of the steps. He licks the snow.

It has stopped snowing. Where Henry walked is no longer covered by snow. My fronts steps are getting icy. I’ll have to throw down the deicer on both sets of stairs, front and back, to make them safe for me and for Henry.

Today is President’s Day. When I was a kid, Washington and Lincoln had their own days. Now they are just lumped in with all the other presidents. I loved Washington’s birthday since it was always during February vacation. The first president I remember was Eisenhower because of Big Brother Bob Emery who had a kids’ TV program on in the early 50’s. I watched every day. He used to play a ukulele and sing The Grass Is Always Greener, a song whose words I still remember. On his wall was a picture of President Eisenhower to whom we lifted our glasses of milk in tribute. I didn’t really understand the why of it all, what President Eisenhower represented. He was just a picture on the wall.

It was President Kennedy who awakened my interest in politics simply because he was from Massachusetts. I began to understand the political process, the two party system and why I lifted my glass of milk.

Looking out my window I see a sunny day with a dark blue sky and air so perfectly clear I bet I could see for miles. The only drawback to the day is the cold. It is only 31˚. I hurried out and back when I got the papers.

When I was a kid, in the winter, I mostly walked everywhere. My bike was in the cellar for the duration. It was too difficult to get it out of the cellar and then back again every time I wanted to use it . Right outside the cellar door to the left were the stairs. I had to lift the front of my bike out the door, roll it on its back wheel, turn to the stairs then pull it up the stairs. It was a tricky maneuver up and even worse going back. In the summer I could leave the bike outside but never in the winter so I walked in the cold and in the rain.

March 28th is baseball’s opening day, the earliest one in history. I am getting ready by watching Fever Pitch. It is such a great movie about my Red Sox finally winning the World Series in 2004. The Fenway Park scenes make me long for the warmth of summer.

Last night was a weird one. Henry jumped off the couch and went to look in the bathroom. He jumped and took off to the kitchen. The rest of the night he stayed away from me. At bedtime he ran upstairs and was on the bed when I got to my room. He saw me and took off down the stairs. He came back up and stood in the hall and growled. He then ran downstairs. I turned off the light and went to sleep without Henry on the bed, but he was beside when I woke up. I got his usual morning greeting and all was well.

Tonight is game night. My contribution is appetizers, and I have a couple of possibilities, but I’m still languid and haven’t any ambition. I’m toying with ordering Chinese appetizers or ones from my pizza place. I think I’ll flip a coin.