Hope everyone had a Happy New Years! After reading Aussie Clare's blog, I wonder what the heck I'm still doing here in the States. Beautiful weather and beautiful beaches seem to be what their holidays are all about, while here in AR we're all about rain...no snow, just crappy rain. It's not even COLD like it's supposed to be...just somewhere in limbo between fall and spring. That's hard to take after being in beautiful snowy Colorado. Ah well, I guess complaining about it does nothing. I'll just keep wearing short-sleeved shirts, though it just feels so WRONG.

Mr. Hooter and I spent the weekend at his folks up in the boonies, and had a very nice time. Marden introduced Sally (our beagle) and me to the joys of rabbit hunting along with his big hound Major, who did nothing but tree squirrels the whole time, and his grandparent's beagle Copper, who did only a little hunting and a lot of begging for the treats in my pocket. Really to me it should be called "Walking Around In The Woods Watching Dogs Sniff Things" rather than "Rabbit Hunting." Besides, we didn't have a gun, so it was more "Rabbit Watching" anyway. Sally didn't really get it. She mostly chased Copper trying to get him to play and only did a little actual sniffing for rabbits. At least I think she was sniffing for rabbits...she could have just been sniffing in general. Marden seemed to know...he kept whispering "she's on the scent!" when it just looked to me like she was smelling Copper's butt. But not being an experienced rabbit hunter, what do I know?

Very shortly this new year for me will start with a bang - literally! I have to show up on the police academy doorstep along with my other state park cohorts on Sunday afternoon, like it or not. It'll be a fun-filled three months, full of high adventure and all the excitement I can possibly handle. Shhh...I'm fooling myself, so don't tell me. At least it'll be something different...usually this time of year is the most tedious - end of year reports, budget coming up, and football season ends. Time for the never-ending basketball season, which I find absolutely worthless. I do have some fly rods that I'd like to get to building, but I think this academy stuff will cut into that greatly. I'll only get partial weekends at home now, since it's 5 hours away and we only get Friday evening through Sunday evening off. Marden is taking it pretty well, with a minimal amount of whining and providing me with a lot of support. It's going to be tough, but we'll make it just fine, and I'll come out of the academy a True Gunslinger.

But don't worry...the blog will continue, but only on weekends for a while. I'll be sure to let everyone know the 411 on what goes on inside the secretive walls of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Academy...