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The dog needs a longish walk every day, even with her within five months of turning 11. For more than a decade, a good percentage of those walks occurred at night. The mornings and afternoons were busy with work and kids, and finding an uninterrupted 30-60 minutes proved a challenge. So, after Lori mostly retired for the night and the boys were off doing their things (and, earlier in the 2010s, after they went to bed), or after we completed whatever evening activities the boys had, I would get Popcorn out for her walk. Of course, winter expands the night so that even an earlier walk is likely in the dark. That's why early-evening walks in April and May are so nice -- we can get out at 7 p.m. and still have sunlight.  For years, I guess I never really minded the night-time walks. But as I've grown older, the late excursions have felt more and more unappealing. Although some of this surely is a craving for sunlight during winter -- and the loneliness winter nights tend to evoke w...

We've just passed about two weeks without snow in Salt Lake City. December was snowy after November was anything but wintry, but now, most of the snow has melted, an inversion has set in, and there's no precipitation forecast until Friday while highs hover in the low 40s. Not that I mind that much ... Yeah, I've come to despise winter, even the relatively mild Salt Lake City winters that don't quite compare to January in the Midwest. This is our 22nd winter here, and though we've dealt with inversions since we arrived, the winters seem tamer and tamer as the years have gone by. Winter storms are fewer, and the snow melts quicker when it does hit. That's not so bad for me, but not so good for reservoirs and ski resorts. That said, I think I strained my back after shoveling following the last winter storm, when we got about seven inches of snow. Earlier in December we got hit with about 14 inches. These are pretty significant snow events for here, given the droug...