Our weather continues on its stuck-in pattern of unrelenting cold, but added to it now is the end of our long dry spell, with snow tumbling out of the sky on an almost daily basis, now. Necessitating, of course, shovelling and snow-blowing without cease. Despite the cold and the snow; perhaps even because of it, every morning at the break of dawn redpolls, juncos and mourning doves appear at the various feeders at the front of the house. As do squirrels.

We've stood there, at the door, watching the activity, thinking it would be of interest to Jack and Jill but they rarely focus on the action more than a few seconds when the squirrels in particular leap about, scrabbling for choice spots at the morning smorgasbord.
 
The battle of wills that arises whenever we place Jack and Jill in the back seat of the car as they struggle to gain the front seat where I am located, has come to an abrupt, though not entirely peaceful halt. Although we've placed a constraint between the two front seas, closing up the gap that allowed them to jump from back to front, to take up comfortable (for them) residence on my lap, Jack still insists on trying to clamber the barrier to reach me.

Of course if we used individual restraints, like the safety belts that are produced for dogs travelling in vehicles we might also have solved the problem that way. Knowing that they would gnaw their way through the safety leashes sooner or later. My husband had fixed up the back seat to ensure it was safe and comfortable for them, placing two beds side by side, should they ever prefer to separate themselves from the tight bundle of black hair they usually resemble, cuddled together in one bed.

So yesterday afternoon as we travelled the Eastern Parkway to access downtown and the Western Parkway, they finally, after a few complaints and attempts to surmount the barrier, settled down to a nice snooze together. When we parked in front of the stained glass shop they became alert, but remained obligingly passive, curious but not overly, about what was going on around them. And so the trip turned out less of a mini-nightmare than previous ones.