Day 350

Missed yesterday – just too busy to take time to write some for here.

Now have Bandy, the Great Pyrenees, and he is doing wonderfully. He and the cockapoo – Sadie – are doing great. Thought there might be some issues – only dog and all, plus she is a tad hyper, but no. Nada. Nothing. Not even food issues, which is great, as the little dog is a moocher. She was also a rescue – both are – and I don’t know if her I-gotta-eat-some-of-that is because of her personality or due to the time on the street. She is pretty small, so I imagine she had to scrap for whatever she could find to eat.

The big one – he’s a male, the little one is a female, and both are neutralized – was found on the street, literally starving, so I expected him to have food issues. When you don’t have enough to eat, it’s hard to not be protective about what food there is for you. It’s kind of like Haiti at the moment, after the major earthquake there. It’s one thing to take things that aren’t yours when all is normal – I think it’s quite another when you have children or family that might not have had much on the way of food or water for over a week. Looting – under the right conditions – to me, is survival, and both dogs here have been in very bad situations.

The little one weighs just 20 pounds and when we got her, we thought she was crippled – might have been struck by a car - because she limped so badly. She was so matted up that her right rear leg was literally stuck in an odd position and she could not use it. It took an hour of trimming to get it freed and her cleaned up.

The big one was 60 pounds when found on the street; he is just a pound or two over 80 pounds now and will be 100-120 pounds when he is fully grown. Both are about 2 to 2-1/2 years old.

Okay. Me. Had a great breakfast this morning – our first with the big dog here. He woke me with his muzzle to let me know he needed to go out. KL took both out while I got ready for classes – she works here, so she doesn’t have to commute, which is pretty cool. She did go into town, but was home not too long after noon. Breakfast was more cereal, but I switch it up and that helps. Had a slice of cinnamon bread too, though the dogs got most of it.

Lunch was a fruit bar thingy we got at the regular store – actually pretty good. Tasted a lot like pie crust and the filling from apple pie. Apple/cinnamon and okay, really. I have discovered Bare Naked brand granola – the vanilla one – and it is great for snacking. Some of it with the apple thingy was enough for lunch and I didn’t feel hungry. Much lighter than a burger or chicken sandwich.

Dinner was some ready-to-cook Asian we found (actually, I found) by accident when we were grocery shopping. Very fast to prepare and good, though it didn’t have quite enough chicken in it for two people. KL added veggies to hers so I could have most of the chicken (thank you, babe). Could have used a tad more sauce, but it was really good. Will do some more of that in the future. Chicken, rice, good portion size, easy to fix. Hard to beat that.

KL decided to make some healthy cookies tonight, so she did some that are heavy oats and pretty good. Had a few. Again, this is about lifestyle change and not total deprivation. Will likely take a few with me tomorrow for the gap between classes to go with possibly a sandwich and whatever – maybe one of the clementines. I really like them and I’m not that wild about oranges.

I am still working on the radio station here (amateur radio), around so many other things. Trying to do a final re-write on the first in the trilogy, work on the middle reader series, and then there is the play. And then there’s the gutters we need, the decks to build (I’ve designed them but no money right now to do the build), all the cedar I want/need to cut off the top two acres, and the tower base – yeah, the tower base. Need it so I can get the tower up and then the antenna and then get back on the air. I really miss ham radio and the friends I have/had all over the world.

Well, since there is no one reading this, I guess I can just quit anytime I want, and I want to quit right now. Still have papers to grade, tomorrow’s classes to get ready for (my students have no idea how much time I spend outside of class grading or prepping), and some bonding to do with the big guy (the new dog).

-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA