You may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong? And you may ask yourself, My God, what have I done? -- David Byrne, Talking Heads

Same as it ever was....back to the daily drama that goes along with life with kids: fights over Playstation games and Barbies, lost hamsters, found hamsters, picking noses, driving to and from some form of extracurricular school involvement or daycare, spilled macaroni and cheese, ponytails and painted fingernails, groundings and loss of priveledges, gold stars, report cards and science projects about Mars.

Add to that the daily drama that goes along with living with a small pack of dogs: broth the dogs, feed the dogs, broth the dogs, scoop poop, supply fresh bedding, clip nails, wipe muddy paw prints off the freshly-mopped floor.

And daily life of Ohio in January: erratic weather patterns, traffic, gray days imbibing on coffee drinks. And daily life with another human being: complaints about money, about sex, about the T.V. remote.

Back to life. I'm back to feeling like I have a foot in two worlds. My heart longs to be in the tundra, hearing the dogs howling, but I am bound here. And I am homesick for there. My dogs began howling last night in unison around 9 p.m. and I went outside in the snow. I wanted to howl.

Saturday morning, a wet snow was falling, and I spontaneously walked out back by the fire pit and sat with the dogs, still in my pjs. They swarmed around me, nuzzling in for a pat like kids vying for my attention. Nothing makes me happier.

I return to the U.P. in two weeks for the U.P. 200. I can't wait!