Nora, you’re a star! Well, a mini star at least. Like a little furry Thandie Newton. Nora had her four minutes of fame yesterday on the 12:00 channel 13 news as a prop for our vet while she talked about cold weather and pets. As far as I’m concerned Nora stole the show with some quiet whimpering and overall cuteness.

It’s cold. 7º F according to my Firefox weather plugin. The kind of cold where your snot freezes inside your nose after a couple of inhalations. And where your normally unflappable dogs seem a little worried at times while playing in the snow. I know because that’s just what happened to me when I took the dogs out for a run about half an hour ago. We didn’t stay out too long.

Surf Report # 9

Location: Ferrysburg, MI – North Shore Beach
Time: 11:00 am – 1:45 pm
Air Temp: 47° F
Water Temp: 50° F
Wind: From S 10 mph
Waves: 2-4 feet
Gear: 5/3 wetsuit, 5 mm boots, 3 mm gloves, .5 mm hood

Went out solo and mostly just played around and tried to practice getting up quicker and angling down the waves. Really choppy crazy waves bouncing off each other. A little after noon I thought I was in for a treat when the wind shifted a little and everything cleaned up. Caught a bunch of fun short rides in the shallows. A half an hour later though the waves shifted back and I couldn’t catch a thing. This is the first time I wore a hood for the duration. Must say it kept my skull mighty toasty except for the few occassions when I took a wave straight to the face and felt the hood balloon up with icy H2O.

Are we crazy? Yes. Yes we are. We have a new addition to the family. A new addition tentatively named Nora. See? See that that upper right picture? Now, of course the next question is, so did you walk into the house one day, see that bottle of Nora Ale and name your dog after it? Of course. And then did you prop your new dog up on the kitchen counter and snap countless pictures just to get a clever shot? Nope. Only three pictures. So there.

Mary and I drove out to Greenville yesterday afternoon to check out some boxer puppies listed in the Press. Which is pretty much a sure-fire guarentee to a new dog purchase. Scooped this little bugger up and drove home in a blizzard. She’s by far the sweetest puppy we’ve ever owed. Trammell so far has been getting along with her quite swimmingly, rolling on his back to play and being super gentle. Taylor hasn’t quite figured out what exactly Nora is yet though. Just bats at her and barks when she doesn’t get the desired response. I can’t get over how little she is.

Surf Report # 8

Location: Ferrysburg, MI – North Shore Beach
Time: 9:45 am – 11:00 am
Air Temp: 39 F
Water Temp: 52 F
Wind: From WSW 26-29 mph
Waves: 7-8 feet
Gear: 5/3 wetsuit, 5 mm boots, 3 mm gloves

Short day because Dan had to get back home by noon. Lots of fun during that hour though. Big waves breaking near shore. The wind was super strong and blowing directly into your face as you paddled out. Had some gusts lifting my longboard right off of the water a few times. Nearly got smacked in the face once. Wish I had had more time today, but glad to have even that hour anyway.