Pilot Of Ice Pond
January 2026

Repawter: Pilot of Ice Pond

Greetings everyone! With January upon us, I thought I would share a story with you, to greet the new year!

Every Christmas eve, when Hoomum is wrapping gifts and steaming fruit cake in the kitchen, I’m curled up in my favority place next to the fireplace. The only thing is, I don’t get to sleep too long into the winter night because at the stroke of mid night, I am woken up! No – it’s not Hoomum asking if I must go outside! It’s something else…

I am rousted out of my spaniel slumber and cozy dreams of the prime rib roast that will be served tomorrow by two odd fellows! It’s the same characters every year, and they call themselves Chipper and Junior, the ghost spaniels of Mum’s Christmas past!

They arrive abruptly jarring me out of my sleep! The Blonde guy, calls himself Junior and he is a half inch from my nose announcing, “We’re here!” To which I silently respond to myself, I see that…



Junior is not Springer Spaniel. He is an American Cocker Spaniel with paws the size of a bagel! If I don’t stand at attention immediately, that bagel paw starts to tap my shoulder. The other fellow looks like me! He is black and white and clearly Springer. He is the quieter of the two, He scolds Junior – “Don’t be so loud Junior, you’ll wake the dead!” to which Junior responds, “We are the dead! He hehe” clearly amused by his own annual joke! Chipper sits urbanely next to me and extends his ghost dog greeting – “Merry Christmas Pilot, it’s us. We are here to visit upon you a memory of Christmas past and sage advice for the year to come. Right Junior?”Sure, Chipper we do dat, Junior replies. I respectfully acknowledge their arrival and invite them to cozy up to the fire. Now mind you, this is my 13th visit from these guys – the first few times were nothing less than shocking!

Before I move on, I will share the back story. As you may have guessed Junior and Chipper, aka the Ghost Dogs of Christmas Eve, were Hoomum’s doggies a long time ago. I never knew them. Hoomum loved and loved them and then they got very old. Junior was 18 and Chipper was 14 years old when they made their journeys over the rainbow bridge. Now they visit me on Christmas Eve, but they say they cannot see Hoomum - for they live only in her heart, and someday I will understand that too.



So on with the story. With the three of us all comfy by the fire, Chipper starts with a memory of Christmas past. Once a long time ago, he says, Hoomum made gingerbread men to hang on a staircase garland for decoration. She was pleased with how beautiful the garland came out! The next morning, she went down the staircase to make a sobering discovery… She shrieked to Hoobro, The Gingerbread men are gone! Every single one – gone! Sheepishly Junior sat at the bottom of the steps looking up at Hoomum. Juni, Hoomum said – Do you know what happened to the gingerbread men? He was silent.

Hoomum joined him at the bottom of the steps and at close proximity, she smelled ginger on his breath! Junior had eaten them all and then he burped, confirming he committed the crime!

Being our Hoomum, she sighed and went into the kitchen to fire up the oven. I will bake some more, and hang them on chandelier, that way, you won’t be able to get to them, and it will look great mum said! In a short time, there was a new batch of gingerbread men cooling on the dining room table. Hoomum sat on the sofa taking a rest from baking and sipping a hot tea as the cookies cooled. Then, as she was enjoying this quiet moment, she noticed the tablecloth under the cooling cookies was moving. She took a double take, and mumbled, what on earth? She went to the dining room table only to find Junior on the other side of the table. He had the tablecloth in his mouth and was attempting to pull the cookies off so he could eat them! “JUNIOR, Hoomum shouted, are you trying to drive me mad?”Junior spit out the tablecloth, leaving it spitty, but all of the cookies remained intact. “Good gravy man, I have never heard of a gingerbread eating dog! Next year I am making fruitcake!” Despite his previous cookie consumption, Hoomun sat on the floor with Junior and they split a cookie. I rejected the cookie - ginger is not for me, said Chipper.

So old pal Pilot, Chipper went on to say – the lesson is, even if you eat two dozen Hoo cookies that were meant as Christmas décor, Hoomun will love you none the less and maybe even more! Junior chimed in and said – Yes, dis is very true Pilot. “By the way, did she happen to bake any of dem cookies dis year?”

I sincerely thanked them for their story of Christmas past and confirmed that in my knowing Hoomum, she has never baked a gingerbread man – that must have ended with Junior. I asked them for my 2026 word of wisdom and Junior spoke up–“well let me tell you this old pal. You’re no spring chicken anymore, but you aren’t an ancient one like I was. I stayed a very long for Hoomum, because she needed me very much, and so did Hoobro. Eat yours medicines ebbery day Pilot, and go to all of your vetty appointments, drink yous Chicken broth and get yous rest! You are a miracle dog! Dat Vetty said you wouldn’t make another Christmas and dis was two years ago! And here you are for us to visit again! A new year brings dem new adventures, so do debestest you can, and love the Hoos and all yous pals! We will be back to see you next year!”“Well done, Junior!” Chipper said with a nod. I thanked them both and told them that I would look forward to seeing them again next year. And then we must have drifted off to sleep because when I woke up, it was Hoomum saying, Merry Christmas my dear Pilot, you slept downstairs last night!

So here we are in January of 2026 and I intend to take Junior, the ghost dog’s advice, and you should too! Enjoy each day in the new year with your Hoos, your pals, and new adventures!
Cheers for a wonderful new year!
Your old pal,
Pilot.