Scrrrreeeeeeeech! *slam*

"You know, one of these days your brakes are going to fail and you're going to smush your nose up so badly you'll look like a pug. Mark my words, it's going to happen."

Well, it hasn't happened yet, so I don't know why Boss Lady is so worried.

When Boss Lady arrives home from work it is an exciting event. It means I'll get scritches and scratches and she'll take me out. When I'm done sniffing stuff and peeing on other stuff, we'll walk across the street to get the mail. I will sniff more stuff and pee on more stuff. Then we'll come back across the street and down the driveway. I'm usually so excited I can't control myself. See, when Boss Lady gets home from work one Extremely Important Thing happens: she feeds me supper. So, while we're doing the whole sniffing, peeing, checking the mail thing all I can think about is getting back inside so she can feed me. Which is why Boss Lady usually drops my leash and sends me flying towards the house when we're only about half way down the driveway. She's careful to make sure none of the neighborhood cats are visible. And she checks that there isn't anybody walking down the street. Then she lets me go. Without fail I race down the driveway as fast as I possibly can, leap over the two steps up onto the porch, and finally put on the brakes about 2 feet from the front door. I always manage to stop just barely in time. But, Boss Lady is convinced that one of these days I'm going to misjudge (probably the day we get the first slick coating of ice) and smash my nose right into the door. She's also pretty sure she'll laugh hysterically at my misfortune.

Speaking of slipping and sliding and smashing into things, the Rec Center Ice Skating Rink is in the works. Boss Lady took me on a mini-adventure to hike the Rec Center Town Farm Trail this afternoon. While we were there, Boss Lady noticed that the skating rink is being set up. It's nothing fancy, just a medium-sized, leveled off spot next to the t-ball field and behind the rec building. They set up a bunch of boards in a vaguely rectangular shape, flood it, and let it freeze. If we're lucky, somebody will volunteer to keep flooding it and smoothing it off. If we're not lucky, somebody won't volunteer and what little ice there'll be will be rather lumpy and bumpy. Either way, you're reminded to bring your own shovel if there's been recent snow. You'll be smart to bring a thermos of hot cocoa as well, because chances are the rec building will not be open.

Boss Lady hasn't been ice skating in years. She's not even sure where her ice skates are, or if the blades are sharp enough to use. Seeing the beginnings of the town skating rink, she thinks she'll make a strong effort to go out skating this year. She just needs to find a partner or partners. As interesting as she thinks it would be to take me out on the ice, she's pretty sure it's a bad idea.