Doggy Time

It has been and is going to continue to be, a very dog-focused couple of weeks around here. The 15th was Diocese's Birthday (yes, he born on the ides of March!), and Endymion's Gotcha Day is the 21st. I'm going to make them a dog cake sometime next week and just celebrate both together. Diocese is 5, and I think Indy will be 2.

My grandmother adopted a 4-6 year old Cocker Spaniel a couple weeks ago, and I'm getting his neuter handled for her. So, yesterday I took him in for his pre-neuter exam, and dropped him off this morning to be cut. His name is Barkley, and he is about as adorable as a Spaniel can be (he's buff, with cute little white feet and a white chest). He is super laid back, especially for an older intact dog, and we mostly enjoyed having him spend a couple days here.

We did make a couple of not-so-hot discoveries though. Barkley is horrible with cats, and will chase one as soon as he sees it. I suppose this is normal for many dogs, but generally we don't allow dogs that haven't been tested with cats in our home. Don't want to make life too difficult for our 2 senior cats (at least kitten doesn't care). The other, bigger problem is that Barkley has some aggression issues. When he gets really, really riled (like from chasing a cat, or trying to attack the rat cage, or being crowded too much by Indy the bully), he turns into another dog completely and just shakes and growls.

The first time it happened I thought he was growling at the other dogs, but the second time it happened I was pretty sure, and the third time confirmed it. He was growling at ME, staring me right in the eyes, unmoving except for his shaking, telling me very plainly if I didn't back off he would bite me. As much as I am used to aggression, having dealt with D's reactivity, D has never so much as raised a lip at me. I get the feeling Barkley's self-control is horrible, and that he walked all over his last owners. I can't imagine allowing a dog to treat you that way.

All said, I don't think these revelations will affect him staying with my grandmother. She hates cats, and doesn't have another dog. She is already in love with Barkley, and I honestly don't believe she would ever put him in a situation where this will come up. He'll spend his days laying around her house getting his belly rubbed or following her around while she gardens. Still, I think I will recommend that she not have anyone pet-sit him unless they have no other pets.

On top of everything, we are transporting another rescue dog from Tifton to Ocala tomorrow. At least my midterms are almost over!

Ugh!

I was experimenting with one of those everything-in-your-pantry/leftover soups for dinner today. Yuck. Next time I will only put in foods that we already like, instead of foods we already like, plus one we had never tried before (pearled barley). We discovered that neither of us like barley, we burned some barley on the bottom of the pot (so the house stinks), and it ruined the huge pot of soup (at least a week's worth of leftovers). :(

I know it is a very small frustration comparatively, but who likes basically throwing away food? Bah, I hate it when experiments go awry.

Panic

I've been having a really hard time lately. Like I said before, I've been sick since a few days before school started, and never have figured out why. The walk-in clinic doc had me get some bloodwork done, but still no answers. I AM feeling better, in that I am actually eating real food again, and I only get dizzy every now and then. Also, I've had a horrible lump in my throat off and on (like nasty excessive mucus, and I know that was TMI :P).

What has been hard is the panic attacks. I've NEVER had a panic attack before in my life until I got sick. I've had 5 or 6 since a few days after I got sick (so, about a month ago, I think). What's more, they aren't short attacks. They last for several hours. I can feel them coming on as I get more and more panicked. They happen mostly at night, to the point where I don't want to go to bed or wind things down at night, because I'm afraid I'll have one. Thankfully, I have an appointment with a therapist from the anxiety clinic at my school, so hopefully that will help. I just don't know what to do about them, having no history to fall back on. :(

Foxy!

(Picture courtesy of National Geographic)

On Tuesday and Thursday my husband has a couple classes immediately after my morning class ends, so there is not time to drop me off at home before he goes to the other college campus. I don't mind, because I end up just hanging out in the turned off car reading a book for a couple hours during his classes.

If we didn't do it this way, I'd end up driving around for two hours before my morning class to find a parking spot (no exaggeration, it once took me 3 1/2 hours to find a spot and I ended up parking illegally) so I figure it saves gas and effort.

I was sitting in the car last Thursday with the windows partly down, in a parking lot that borders the woods, when a fox came out of the trees. I don't think he realized I was in the car, because he walked right by the car to sniff something. This gorgeous fox was so close that if I had gotten out of the car, I was close enough to touch him. I didn't get out of the car, of course. Didn't manage to get a decent picture of him either, probably because I was so excited that I forgot about trying until he was walking away. My Droid Incredible is a great phone/camera, but the digital zoom is awful.

I used to volunteer at the local zoo, and one of my jobs was feeding the foxes. They stayed pretty far away, but I caught glimpses of them every now and then. They looked like babies next to this wild fox. He really was much bigger than any fox I've ever seen before. And he looked fluffy. If I didn't know better, I'd have tried to cuddle him.

Some other woman who was also just hanging out in her car did get out of the car to take a picture and scared him off. He ran back to the treeline and when she tried to follow again, he disappeared. *Scowl*

This may not be an amazing experience for you country folk, but unfortunately for me, we live in the city (a small city, but a city nonetheless). I've never seen a fox in the wild so close up before.

Also, I'm still sick. Drinking Ensures like they are going out of style because I still am not really eating. Blech. :(

Finally Following

I finally got around to following a bunch of the blogs I've been reading for a while through my Google Reader. Love that things, even if it usually says I have 1,000+ posts unread. =P

Now, I'm procrastinating. The spring semester started last week, and naturally, I've been really sick all week. Some kind of stomach bug that has been going around. It usually lasts 48 hours, but for me it has lasted for over a week. Because of this bug I haven't been able to make it to classes (except the first day to avoid getting dropped, and even then I had to tell the instructor I was sick so I didn't have to stay the whole time), so I really need to catch up.

Still a bit dizzy when I walk, but I'm feeling much better today!

This is actually my last semester of college, I'll be graduating with my Bachelor's in the fall. Over the summer I'm hoping to intern somewhere that isn't too far away, even if the internship is less sexy than others might be (e.g. FBI internships are all in DC). It will be awfully nice to finally be done with school. Though I may not be completely done with school, I've been considering getting a Masters in Law, but that would be from an online school, not a brick-and-mortar one.

Then I get out into the real world, and play the waiting game for Kevin to get his degree also (he's about 2-3 years behind me). Then we'll see what happens. We have talked about moving once we both graduate.

Whatever is to come, I need to go study if I'm to pass this last semester! ;)

God Has Been Showing Himself

A series of events have taken place in the last couple months that have really reminded me that God is always here, even when it doesn't feel like it.

First, nobody was injured in the very bad car accident I posted about in November. Our car was absolutely destroyed, but no one involved was hurt badly. I was the most injured (being a small gal, the airbag nearly broke my ribs), but nothing was permanently damaged. Our insurance took care of everything (I had no idea how expensive emergency room visits were!), and our new-to-us car should be here before Christmas. We could have easily died, but everything turned out fine. Thank you, God.

Second, a fellow blogger experienced a Thanksgiving miracle involving her horse, Denali. Long story short, Denali's appointment to be put to sleep was already made, when it had to be canceled because of heavy snow. Denali improved, literally overnight. Those who aren't "animal people" might not understand what a huge deal this was for Denali's mom, but I know many of us do. I know I couldn't stop grinning when I read her update that Denali was sound! (Her blog is http://wildponybeast.blogspot.com/). That is pretty freaking cool, God.

Lastly, a story that has been all over the national news over the last few days hit very close to home. Many of you may have heard about the shooting that took place in a school board meeting. Well, we live two hours from Panama City, where this happened, and both grew up in PC. I can't remember the number of times I stood where Duke stood and played the national anthem for the school board.

Basically, this man Clay Duke was upset that his wife was fired from her teaching job and decided to kill the school board members and himself. There are several heroes in this story. Duke told the women to leave the room, but Ginger Littleton snuck back in and attacked him with her purse. What a brave lady. Bill Husfelt, the superintendent, was incredibly calm, even with a gun stuck in his face, and tried to get Duke to let everyone else go saying that he was the one responsible for firings. And finally, Mike Jones went into the room (which is very open) and shot and injured Clay Duke (Duke ended up shooting himself).

Bill Husfelt is a close family friend, and has been for a number of years. He was my Sunday School teacher, and the principal of my brother and sister's high school before he decided to run for superintendent. He has always been someone that I look up to and respect very highly. Mike Jones is a friend of my parents', and went to high school with my mom. I regret that I've only met him a few times, but you will never find someone to speak a bad word about him. He runs Salvage Santa, a local charity for kids that he runs often out of his own pocket.

Like I said, this one hit very close to home. It would have been so easy for it to have all ended so differently. The news very easily could have been that all the men on the school board and Mike were shot and killed. Duke most certainly tried his hardest to make that happen.

I watched the video of the shooting a couple days ago and could not stop bawling. Heck, I'm tearing up just remembering. The gun was pointed right at him when Duke shot. Husfelt should not be alive today. There is not a doubt in my mind that God stood between him and the shooter. Wow, God. Just wow. I am SO in awe of You.

Oy Vey

What a weekend.

My hubby and I drove up to Kentucky for the Breeder's Cup this past weekend. I'll post about it later, once I get all the photos off the camera.

We drove my parents' Avalon, because it is more reliable for long trips than either of our vehicles.

Had a flat tire we couldn't change (lug nuts were inhumanely tight) on Saturday night.

Then on Sunday night, just outside of Dothan, we rear-ended someone at a stoplight. I don't know what happened exactly, neither does Hubby, because it happened so fast. Apparently there is some question of fault because the other car may have been stopped at a green light right around a blind corner. I don't know. We didn't get a ticket, so I suppose the cops didn't know either.

The car we were driving was totaled, the other car just had a dented bumper (Ford Explorers are tanks!). Thankfully, other than some serious aching, everyone was fine.

In fact, I was the only one who even got admitted to the hospital, and that was just because I was having trouble breathing from being smacked in the chest by the air bags and seatbelt. I'm a really small gal, and air bags don't get along well with small people.

Still. It could have been much worse. The pictures don't really do justice to just how destroyed the car was.