It was pretty where I was, while it lasted on Friday, March 28.

From the work window I can see a small park-like spot that is actually inside a circular street ramp. So that you could see the snow, I zoomed in on it and took a few photos as it snowed. By the time I could have gone outside at break to take photos, it had turned to mere rain. That's life.

8:48 a.m.

8:49 a.m.

8:52 a.m.

8:56 a.m.

I know the time and date of these photos thanks to my splendid digital camera, the Nikon D50, which I am proud to have in my hands, strap around my neck, at any given time.

I didn't post these Friday night for Saturday because I needed a nap and ended up sleeping until time to take Duncan out for his last walk of the day. I have to tell you something about that little guy and sleep and hunger, or hunger and sleep. Which to list first is a sort of chicken-or-the-egg thing.

Last Sunday I had to quickly take Duncan to the vet because his diarrhea returned. Thank goodness they were open on Easter Sunday because once he got back on the antibiotic and the steroid, it only lasted about 5 outdoor walks (through Monday), with no accidents in the apartment. The vet says that it appears his irritable bowel disease is worse than we'd want it to be since this diarrhea return happened just a few days after he had taken his last steroid from the previous prescription.

As the week went on and he continued to wake up any where from 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m., I thought more than once, "How am I going to last however many years of this we've got coming?" Since I take him out for that last walk of the day between 10-11:15 p.m., that just doesn't give me much sleep in a row.

Wednesday evening as I sat at my ibook Honk, working on the blog, commenting at other blogs, I rested my head on the wall, mulling over what to do about the little dog and my lack of sleep. A thought--he's waking up hungry, not because he has to go outside. This entered the mull-mix after that morning's episode--before I could get his leash attached, he had disappeared from the kitchen. I found him on the doggie steps that lead to his warm spot beside Mama, under the covers.

Steroids increase the appetite. Duncan's always enjoyed eating, an understatement of great proportion. We don't want him to gain too much weight because it's not good for his spine, so we had taken it upon ourselves to cut his lunch third of a can in half. Why not give him that other half before the last walk of the day, I wondered? Then it would not be around 12 hours between meals. Maybe he'd sleep until after my alarm clock went off?

He did, bless his little heart! Thursday and Friday mornings he didn't wake up until about 15 minutes after the alarm, and this morning he made it until 5:30 a.m. which is OK even if I didn't have the alarm set.

I'd like to think that this idea is my most brilliant one for the first quarter of 2008, but I can't take credit for it. I was talking about it with a sweet lady at work when she grinned at me and said that on Wednesday she had thought, "He is like a baby. He needs to be fed something so that he will sleep through the night." But she didn't get a chance to tell me. I grinned back at her and replied, "Oh, you told me, just not verbally. Thanks!"

Now Duncan has eaten, gone outside and is back under the covers with Mama. I'm about to eat something and crawl back in myself, for a warm and cozy read, maybe a nap, until they wake up later on.