Dogs and Armies

Okay, I've got 23 minutes left on my computer time here at the library before the computers close down and the library lights go off. I really miss my computer at home!

We're doing okay. This week was hard for us, though, on the homeschooling front. We were all just kind of tired all week long. I'm going to have to get the kids to bed earlier and, therefore, me to bed earlier. I find myself staying up later than I would normally just because I'm waiting for Keith to get home. Even getting to bed by 11:00, I'm sound asleep for a couple of hours, by the time he's home.

Keith is looking really good, though, these days. I haven't heard him hit the scale lately, but I bet he's lost about 30 pounds and is feeling good. He gets pretty tired by the time Wednesday and Thursday comes around, though. He tries to take some time off from his Delta job on Friday so that he can rest up for the last stint at AAA Cooper.

The thing that has been the most difficult is not having him to talk to in the evening. We manage a little bit of catch up in the middle of the night, but it's very fleeting. I can call him during the day on his cell phone at Delta, but I usually need to wait for him to take a break before he can call me back. I don't like to interrupt his work time, so I have never called him much at work anyway. To give you an example of how conversations with us go during the week:

Wednesday night, Keith comes in at 1:00 AM and gives me a kiss. I wake up (probably with a snort).

Keith: I think we might be getting a dog.

Jackie: Oh, that's nice . . . A dog? What kind of dog?

Keith: A Labrador. Black. About six months old. A lady at work is moving and needs to get rid of it.

Jackie: Hmm. A dog. Male? Female?

Keith: Don't know . . . (stumbles off to take a much needed shower.)

Jackie ends up not getting back to sleep for another full hour while she imagines the joys of owning a Labrador Retriever at last!

Next morning, I holed up in my room to called Keith on his cell phone as he drove to work so that I could get more of the specifics. (We don't want the kids knowing about the possibility of a dog until it's a done deal.) He told me that we'd get the dog house, leash, dog dish, etc. along with the dog, but that the dog still needed to be neutered and wormed. We were both a little giddy at the thought of having a dog because we've wanted one for a long time and now here was this opportunity put right in our lap. We wanted a Lab, we didn't want to bother training a puppy, and we wanted it to be an outside dog -- This dog is all three! How about that! And free.

So last night, Keith comes in to give me a good-night kiss:

Keith: Looks like we're getting a dog!

Jackie: Really! (waking up pretty fast.)

(Jackie pushes for a cat, too -- No go. Keith's feelings about cats: The best cat is a dead cat.)



I took the kids to the library earlier today, and I unwisely let Kristofer check out a joke book.

He asked me, while driving home from the library," Mom, where do kings keep their armies?"

"Where," I asked wearily.

"Up their sleevies."

I know, I know.