Despite our continued efforts, Super remains at large. He continues to lounge around the neighborhood, and apparently slept on our lawn last night, though he was gone when I went out this morning around 6:00. He is taunting us. The combination of the kids being back to school, this dog being on the loose, Otto being back to work, and the various responsibilities on my plate of late has had a less-than-healthy effect on me. I'm exhausted. I'm lucky to keep my eyes open until 10:00 each night, and the rest of the time I seem to be late for everything. Late starting dinner so that we can eat at...
The call came at about 6:45 this morning; Super was in the live trap we'd left in our neighbors' yard. We went down to get him out, and hooked him up to our leash. Which he bit halfway through, immediately. The neighbor brought out a steel-corded run line for us to put him on, and I was able to walk him back down the street to our house. I got him into the garage. Up to the door. Halfway inside. And then he slipped out of his collar and was gone. I officially admit defeat. We've reset the trap and put in calls to both Animal Control and the rescue. Assuming we are able to capture him again,...
About an hour after I posted about Super, yesterday, I let him off the leash on our fenced/gated deck. I'd just given him a bath, plucked about a dozen ticks off of him, brushed him out, and figured he'd like the opportunity to lay in the sun for a bit, unfettered. I was sitting right next to him. Otto did something---I don't even know what, moved his arm or breathed, who knows---and Super jumped up and BOLTED. And he was through the slats in our gate and gone by the time I'd scrambled to my feet. I chased him across the yard, through the forest, and down by the pond. I was barefoot. When I...
It's almost time to head back to school, because here in the south we believe in bacon, grits, and sending our children out to get some learnin' when it's still 100 degrees outside. This summer---while vastly superior to last summer in terms of sheer volume of travel---has had a lot of travel but precious little time for just the four of us to have a family getaway. So we decided to do one last camping trip this weekend. So that's what we're doing. And it's been pouring ever since. It's rained so hard and so much, that even Otto (motto: "It's just a little bit of rain! Let's fire up the...
I've been thinking a lot about the conversation with my daughter that I wrote about yesterday. I've been fixated on this notion of making your own happiness, because---let's face it---for a lot of years I wasn't a particularly happy person. It took me a long time to figure it out, and it's not a linear exercise by any means. I still have setbacks. I still have times when I feel like happiness is something beyond my grasp, and not for lack of trying. Still, I believe in this. I believe in being agents of our own destiny. I believe I started finding happiness when I stopped looking for A Big...
Having been married now for just over two years, I've finally worn Otto down with my winning ways, my wit, my charm, my irresistible smile, and---most importantly---my whining. We're getting a dog. There are those who've known me a long time, and who know that in My Former Life™ I had a Very Bad Dog and, in fact, sent him away in a move that was deemed by my ex-husband to be the final nail in my I'm Such A Monster coffin. I was accused of hating animals and being uncaring. The reality is that I love animals, but our former dog was a neurotic mess, and as I was already somewhat...
Otto and Monkey greeted me at the airport with flowers. Of course. I scooped Monkey up into a hug and nuzzled his neck as he squeezed me and chanted, "Mama! Mama! Mama!" I set him back down and hugged and kissed Otto, and then Monkey yelled, "GROUP HUG!" and we picked him up between us and embraced again. When we pulled apart and put him down, several folks standing around us were smiling and chuckling. (If you are ever down, the place to be is right at the top of the escalators at the Atlanta airport. You can't be sad while watching loved ones reunite.) We went out into the evening (94...
Well, I've been in Chicago for less than a day, and so far I have: * Walked around in circles at the airport, and been mocked by the shuttle drivers. * Attempted to step over a velvet rope and instead snagged it with my foot and caused the support poles to fall over with a spectacular clang. * Tripped on some stairs at the restaurant we went to last night (and when I then said, "I am SO CLUMSY!" to Chris, she responded, "Yeah, I'm really hungry, too," so thank goodness for dinner companions with apparent hearing and vision problems). * Spilled water all over the hotel desk while attempting...
It's exceedingly rare for anyone to accuse me of being an optimist. In fact, I'd wager a guess that most folks who know me would peg me for a pessimist, but they're all wrong, because what I ACTUALLY am is a REALIST. Because, mostly, things suck. Except when they don't. Anyway, deep down in the darkest recesses of my cynical soul, it turns out that I occasionally wish things into existence. (No, I've never read The Secret. Nor do I care to. Clearly the person (people?) who wrote that wished for a lot of gullible people to buy their book.) But really, who amongst us hasn't just...
