The mutton heads were supposed to get a hair cut today. Every six weeks I take them to The Barking Lot. For sixty-six bucks, I get two well groomed, pleasant smelling pooches. When I spoke with Steve (who grooms them) yesterday, I told him that I would probably want to get them both back into him early next time so the dogs would be nice and clean when the baby arrives in…yes, just 51 days!
Whenever I'm going to drive the dogs anywhere, I start talking it up the night before. They both are excited, but I think in some way I'm preparing Neon for the trip. Neon has a history of motion sickness. He means well enough, but for the first two year s of his life I couldn't even feed him before we got in the car. These days he's much better. I don't think he's lost his cookies once in the past two years. Still, it's not easy for him. Even on our longer trips to Pennsylvania he never falls asleep or even puts his head down. He just sits in the middle of the back seat and faces forward, looking at me whenever I turn to check on him.
So last night I started talking up our short trip. "Ride in the car?" is the key phrase. This morning, both of the dogs stayed close to me, waiting for me to reach for the leash. I went out, put the seat cover on the back seat of my car (Neon's better, but that doesn't mean I trust him), then loaded the car with dogs and all my stuff for work (including two cups of coffee). As I pulled out of the driveway, I felt something was wrong. I pulled back in, and sure enough, the front left tire was flat.
I got out, ran in to tell Jean she'd need to drop me off, called The Barking Lot to tell them I wasn't coming today, and brought the dogs back in the house. They were all too happy to comply, but it wasn't until they were back in their cage and Jean and I were getting ready to leave that it started to sink in that they weren't going for a ride in the car after all. Both of them whined up a storm.
They're both fine tonight, though they seem to have gotten extra stinky. Perhaps that's payback for their disappointment. I guess I'll try to get them in next week - if Steve is taking dogs during the holidays.
I wonder what days like today will be like when my daughter is here and needs to go do daycare or school. The adventure is only beginning.
In case you've been admiring the images on these pages, most of them come from [DIVIDE BY ZERO]. Tom Murphy 7 is too cool. If you are at all interested in fonts or images like those you've seen here, be sure to surf his site. Many good things.
Also, be sure to check out my Photorama pages for some pictures of me, Jean and the mutton heads.
Crystal clear sky. While I was walking to meet my friends for lunch today on the empty campus, I saw the outline of Ryland Hall against the sky and for some reason thought that this was exactly how it looked forty years ago on some other December day. Even with new buildings popping up on campus, there are moments when the place seems timeless.
reading: Banner Accounts Receivable System 3.2 Release Guide; 1 Maccabees; The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
listening: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (Gavin Bryars); Home for Christmas (Amy Grant); A Christmas Album (Various); Christmas (Michael W. Smith)
visiting: [DIVIDE BY ZERO]
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer