I enjoy eating on trains in the dining car. My sister told me she was flying to New York City and after visiting there would take the train to upstate New York. This of course would be along the Hudson River Valley. I expressed envy in hearing this because this is something I would like to have done. I also would like to have taken the train across Canada and continued on to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

My friend Becky recently went to Norway and Iceland. She said both are very beautiful and Iceland is very wild. I would like to go to Iceland and pick out a horse for someone. My price would be a twofer – they’d pay for a second horse for me. Of course I would have recently acquired a place with more land, some of it pasturage for the horses. And a more comfortable house.

Ryder herding sheep

We come into this world wanting something, first our mother’s milk and to regularly have our diaper changed and to be kept warm. And our wants continue to grow as we grow.

I once asked a friend (this was when I lived in Portland, Oregon) why we don’t wish to live forever. She said that because we don’t want to continue to suffer. And yes, life is full of suffering. I mean, even our temperature range is indicative of the fact that life is hard. We are most comfortable in the 60°F to 70°F range, and this is if the wind isn’t blowing too hard. We also get hypothermia really easily. Compare us to dogs and horses who can live comfortably in a wider temperature range.

Yeah, but our one saving grace is that we have something they and other mammals lack, and this is thumbs. I wonder at what stage of our evolutionary development we acquired them. It seems like this should be common knowledge but it’s not. This may be because it’s hard for us to imagine a time frame that extends beyond our own time of birth. And for some, this is also difficult.

Well, today was Saturday and it was overcast. It did drizzle some during the day, but not much. Morning and evening poop pick up were such that the manure that was frozen in the snow had thawed and was easier to deal with.

I did not get a ride in today. It’s now dark at 6:30 p.m. And this is going to continue now, for close to two months. Then the light will again return. This makes the winter solstice a rather joyous time.

Today we introduced Shadow to Finnegan, a friend’s dog. This was in the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel. Finnegan looks and acts like a miniature greyhound. He made all the right moves and was ready to play, but Shadow wasn’t interested. She’s much like our old dog Jenna who too liked people more than other dogs.

Tonight we gave Ryder canned dog food – beef Blue Buffalo. No pun intended, she wolfed it right now. And so, we can say that her lymphoma is in remission. No more pre-dying grief on my part.

Next: 282. 10/25/26: How to Deal?