Happiness is a Warm Furry Blanket

Yesterday morning the sun shone brightly and up here in North County, we didn't see a flake of snow overnight from the Big Southern Storm as it passed by. It mostly stayed "south of Forty" or as the feds call it, I-64. We picked up Ava before breakfast and she settled right in. About 10 Barb called while changing planes in Philadelphia, to see if Ava was OK. (Nothing like a guilty mom on the road again...:) I assured her all was well and when I hung up and went into the living room, there was Norm, Ava on his lap, thinking about a nap I'm sure. I managed to get the camera and take a few pictures before Ava jumped down to see what I was doing. Last night we went to Mike and Sandy's house for dinner, and Ava, who had been invited, went along. She is still working on being a good guest (as in not dashing into someone's house at 40 mph and heading straight for the kitchen) but settled down really fast and gave our friends some of the doggie lap time they had been wishing for. It is finally warming up here and except for some snow flurries tomorrow (why does it always snow when it warms up?) we are supposed to have a pretty normal January week. Oh wait, it will be February. Well, at least it will get into the 40s which almost felt balmy today.