For those who may have been wondering, I made it back with George alive and well. The roads were completely clear and non-snow covered the entire way and the most excitement I had was trying to get the new wipers to wipe the windshield properly.

I left Abbotsford around 8ish (PST) and got into Edmonton at around 8ish (MST), so all in all it was good time. Unfortunately, I didn't have any time to find/burn the CDs suggested in that other entry. I'm planning on looking for them in the coming weeks and using them as "getting my ass in gear" music.

The big weird thing about coming home was not having the dogs here. Our good friend Aida is babysitting our dogs in Calgary and we won't have them back here until Thursday. All told, we haven't seen our puppies since last Thursday morning, when we punted them outside before heading to the airport. Aida says that they've been very well behaved while they're down there and have had a great time playing with her two sons. But I miss the hell out of them. It was okay when we were down in BC, because we had Daisy May to satisfy any and all dog-related needs.

However, coming home to a dog-empty house is just weird. We picked up a new jacket for Ruby while we were down in Abbotsford (it was on sale) and she wasn't here to try it on. I woke up instinctually this morning wondering why Ruby hadn't cried to be let out at 4am, and thinking that I needed to come home early so I could take her and Cayce to the park (I head into work early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, because I usually drop K off at school)... and then realized that I don't in fact have to take them to the park today. Not being jumped on and kissed by the puppies after an 11 hour drive was weird too. There's just an energy missing from the house without the dogs here, and I'm not sure I care much for that.