“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings This winter I moved from my adorable, extremely comfortable cottage in downtown Larkspur to live on a 100-acre ranch in Petaluma. A friend inviting me to join her on a Big Adventure initiated this move. As it turns out, it was an act of training derring-do with regard to canine off-leash recalls. Ranch dogs do not use [...]

Watching the sheeting rain from the comfort of the front porch. I live in Northern California where currently we are being deluged by what is known as an atmospheric river. That is a poetic way to say it’s raining cats and dogs, which is an old school way to say there is a brick ton of water, hail and snow falling out of the sky. Those of you with dogs will know where this is going. Those with cats (and adorable small companions of other varieties) will think of your litter boxes and smugly [...]