How It's Going -- Now With Photos

Hello, Internet!

It's been a long time. I do hope to get back to this, though I don't know. Honestly, I see an end. October was very, very busy. We welcomed a new dog into our home, the class I taught came to an end, and there were three shows. We also had some trials and I, personally, am dreading the holiday season due to a total lack of preparation.

I did this to our bedroom:



Let's talk about Speedy. Speedy is a three-to-four-year-old, ten pound-ish mutt who spent at least two months at a gas station being wild. She was hit by cars at least twice. My intention has been to get her in good repair and find her a home. So, she's up-to-date on her shots and has been spayed. While he was in there taking out her girl-parts, the vet removed bullets. Poor girl. With all of that back-story, you'd expect her to be a hard-to-handle dog. She's really very affectionate. She's taken to crate training like a duck to water and spends the entire night sleeping in her crate. She's good with the other dogs.



We did meet a potential forever family last week, but they haven't called back since. I think they figure she's "safe" because we're fostering her. If they adopt from a shelter, they'll be saving a dog that would otherwise be destroyed.

Which is really sad. Speedy is great and deserves a forever home.

There are some drawbacks. She's a submission pee-er, though as she spends time with us, this is happening less and less. And it only happens with C. We think it's the beard. And C will tell she she has paw-to-nut radar and is surprisingly strong for her size. He says things like, "My man-berries are now hombre wine." Then, he looks upset when I giggle.

Read it out loud. Are you giggling? See?



But, she's awesome and she needs a home and I'll be traveling North in December, so if you know ANYBODY...

Rose, bless her, becomes more and more frail with each day. (So, why won't Speedy replace Rose? I want rats again. I'm tired and she's full of energy. I'm not ready to let another dog into my heart...) I'm considering getting Rose a dog snuggie because she's cold all the time. Then, of course, Pippin would need one and Speed can't be left out. Yes, I know about dog snuggies. In fact, half-a-dozen folks have told me about them. You'd think I was one of those crazy folks who dressed my dogs or something.

This is Rose and her new favourite drink -- beer:



Pippin is fine.



My first teaching experience here has drawn to a close. I taught a one-hour credit course, but we met twice a week, so we were done at midterms. I ended up with no A's, four B's, three C's, four D's and four F's. Yes, four people failed my class. And took it personally. Not nearly a bell curve. The worst part was that I had students on the path to A's who figured their grades and DID LESS so that they'd only get a B or C. That was disappointing.

So, yeah. Without getting into too much detail, we're having an insurance crisis. C's insurance si going to quit paying for his anti-seizure medication. Two years of getting on the stuff, working carefully up to a therapeutic dose and then getting very used to not having to worry about seizures, and now we don't know what we'll do. I'm not begging for money or sympathy -- seems like a bunch of folks are these days. I'm not even sure I want advice. I just want to get this off my chest.

I was planning on not writing about it at all. I'm so sick of people writing about their personal trials like what they're going through is the worst thing that's ever happened. I hate it when people write a public blog and then get pissed when the public comments. I mean, you're putting it out there. And I know I'm fragile on this topic. But I brought it up today with a woman I like at work. We came around to it from another topic. Her response? It's the Democrats. That's it. When I said that the pills cost ten times more in the US than they do in other countries, her response was, "Obama." It's not the drug companies or the health insurance companies. Nope. It's the Democrats. Because we all know the cost of prescription medication was not an issue a little over a year ago. If someone really needs medication, they should cut corners -- maybe take a second job. When I asked her if she had $1800 a month "wiggle" room in her budget, she said we obviously weren't working hard enough. And we should pray about it. That's what she would do.

And we deserve this situation because we are entitled liberals.

Such a Christian attitude. I've got to get out of this place.