a dog's feet smells like nachos. how i know this is because hailey decided to once again step on my head when she sensed i was about to wake up. i got dressed and let her out into the backyard, where she immediately raced down the stairs chasing after imaginary squirrels. another cold day, another day working off site. i actually got in a bit of birdwatching by following where hailey looking at up in the trees: a downy woodpecker and a nuthatch (never seen nuthatches in belmont before, a first - if i had my camera i would've taken some photos). heated up some frozen meat buns for lunch while fixing hailey some food as well (her EVO dry dog food featuring raw ingredients like ground chicken and turkey meat). i let her spend an hour outside chewing twigs and digging holes before i called her back inside where she quietly went to her dog bed to take a nap. when my sister came back home in the late afternoon, that was my cue to return to cambridge. it was a ride i wasn't looking forward to with the temperature so cold. i slipped on some fleece gloves this time but they just afforded me an additional minute of warmth before my fingers starting hurting again. when i got back home, i immediately went online to research some winter riding gloves. i may also need something to cover up my face otherwise my lips will freeze off. days like this makes me want a full-face helmet.

my roommate wasn't home yet so i had the place all to myself for a few hours. i holed up in my bedroom where i cranked up the space heater. later i took a shower. for dinner, i heated up a chicken pot pie.