Every morning I walk my dog down our street and back. I walk her like I'm supposed to - on a 6 foot leash and listening to my morning news podcasts. Obviously this is how mornings were always meamt to be.
Anyways, this morning my neighbor happened to be walking her dog as well. He is a Big Dog who probably could sire newborn puppies the size of my dog. Xena is terrified of him. (She's terrified of every dog on the planet.) He was not on a leash.
As the neighbor was petting Xena, trying to help her feel comfortable around her own dog, said Big Dog casually walked over to me, lifted his leg, and peed on my pants. I responded with, "What the...?" and moved my leg so that the rest of the pee landed on the street. My neighbor was shocked and said, "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. He's never done that to anyone before. Maybe another dog already peed there?"
I just stared at her blankly before looking back down at my pants and saying, "Aww, man." She apologized one more time and we let it be at that.
Two things about this.
1 - I wonder if her dog really has never done this before. She has two dogs - Big Dog and Fluffy - and they are mostly sweet, but they roam EVERYWHERE. They are, for instance, often in my yard, which I'm mostly okay with, but then their owners will look me in the face and say, "They've never wandered over there before," or, "They haven't been in your yard since [insert a time long ago]," or, "They can't possibly be over in your yard because I did x, y, and z to make sure they stay in my yard." To which I want to respond, but don't, "They're in our yard all the time." Instead I typically just mention the most recent time they were seen in our yard. Which is usually, on any given day, today.
So they are the dog owner equivalent of parents who say, "My child would never do anything like that!" Not impressed.
2 - Maybe another dog already peed there?! You mean, on my pants?! Another dog already peed on my pants and that's why Big Dog felt the need to also pee on my pants? Because I wear these same unwashed pants on my walks just to make sure that dogs can smell the pee and mark their territory on me? Who wouldn't want to do that?!
...
I've been thinking about this all day and giggling to myself:
"Maybe another dog already peed there?"
"... On my pants?"
At least it made my co-worker laugh so hard that she cried. Pee pants for the win!
P.S. I haven't washed them yet. Because, hello! Pee pants.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Silence
Silence as a blanket. Silence as a shield. Silence as a smoke screen. Silence as a healing mechanism. Silence as my best weapon. Silence as a way of life.
It's 2018 and I told myself that this year I'm going to stop being silent. I needed it for a while - I needed to stop putting my voice out there and hearing feedback that wasn't always helpful (and was often hurtful). This year I can start opening up again because I'm awesome and things are okay and I can move on.
So here I go: moving on.
Life has been a crazy roller coaster of emotions since I last wrote. We've been through a lot and it's required a LOT OF WORK - and professional counseling intervention - but things are headed in the upward direction, and that's perfection, if there is such a thing.
Current Projects
Haft
We bought this house - and we LOVE IT. It's cool, it's different. But it was pretty much neglected for 20 years, so there's a lot of tweaking to be done, especially outside. Right now we've done improvements that mostly look worse than they did before. It's gotta get worse before it gets better, I suppose. :) I'm at least sticking to that story to keep me going.
We're cutting down honeysuckle. Lots and lots of honeysuckle. We're reclaiming overgrown forest. We're paying for a landscape design for this house and we'll be working on that. We're setting up garden beds and grinding out old stumps and reseeding lawn and redirecting water and digging new ditches and updating drainage, and clearing out old fire pits, etc., etc., etc. It's never ending, seemingly, but fun!
Getting in Shape
I'm walking to Mordor. I love it. You should do it, too! Check it out.
Besides that, I'm working out harder and more often and I'm trying to get prepared so I don't die on a 2 week canoeing trip with Elijah's Boy Scout Troop in July. It's fun! I'm actually really liking it, even if I don't love every single step of the way.
My Kids
My kids are getting old, man!
Miciah is 16 and finishing up her sophomore year. She is awesome, awesome, awesome, and she keeps getting better with age. She's doing amazing things and I'm constantly in awe of what she accomplishes. She is in orchestra (though she's probably done with viola, at least for a while, if not for good), Scouts (Venturing), she volunteers at the library, does 2 book clubs, art club, and is best friends with the sweetest human being on the planet. Miciah is a good friend and a good person.
Elijah is 14 and is almost done with middle school. He's trying to nail down what he's really interested in keeping in his life and what he needs to drop so he can have time to do the things he really loves. It's a hard process. Right now he wants to continue doing soccer, Scouts, orchestra, show choir, piano (he's amazing at the piano), composing, and the engineering club. Guess how many of those one can reasonably manage. I'll give you a hint, it's not all of them.
Teancom is almost 12 and is finishing up his first year of middle school. He loves school, he has lots of friends, and he's just a content little guy. He is getting really into theater and acting and he's dropped things like sports so he can have the time to get more into drama. It's kinda nice to have him so narrowly focused (see previous paragraph), though he does spend a lot of time doing nothing. Kid likes his downtime. I don't have complaints about that. Also, I love my downtime, too, so I can't even be judgy about it. And don't worry, he still loves to be active outdoors, just not doing organized sports.
...
So there you go. I told myself I'd start writing more. Putting things down. And I won't use silence as a coping mechanism. I'll be more brave. Though I doubt I'll be more trusting - ha! - those days are gone. But I've found a happy place with where I am and where others are with me. I can again start extending positivity into the world instead of needing to keep it for myself so I don't drown.
Here's to a brighter, more open future.
Cheers.
It's 2018 and I told myself that this year I'm going to stop being silent. I needed it for a while - I needed to stop putting my voice out there and hearing feedback that wasn't always helpful (and was often hurtful). This year I can start opening up again because I'm awesome and things are okay and I can move on.
So here I go: moving on.
Life has been a crazy roller coaster of emotions since I last wrote. We've been through a lot and it's required a LOT OF WORK - and professional counseling intervention - but things are headed in the upward direction, and that's perfection, if there is such a thing.
Current Projects
Haft
We bought this house - and we LOVE IT. It's cool, it's different. But it was pretty much neglected for 20 years, so there's a lot of tweaking to be done, especially outside. Right now we've done improvements that mostly look worse than they did before. It's gotta get worse before it gets better, I suppose. :) I'm at least sticking to that story to keep me going.
We're cutting down honeysuckle. Lots and lots of honeysuckle. We're reclaiming overgrown forest. We're paying for a landscape design for this house and we'll be working on that. We're setting up garden beds and grinding out old stumps and reseeding lawn and redirecting water and digging new ditches and updating drainage, and clearing out old fire pits, etc., etc., etc. It's never ending, seemingly, but fun!
Getting in Shape
I'm walking to Mordor. I love it. You should do it, too! Check it out.
Besides that, I'm working out harder and more often and I'm trying to get prepared so I don't die on a 2 week canoeing trip with Elijah's Boy Scout Troop in July. It's fun! I'm actually really liking it, even if I don't love every single step of the way.
My Kids
My kids are getting old, man!
Miciah is 16 and finishing up her sophomore year. She is awesome, awesome, awesome, and she keeps getting better with age. She's doing amazing things and I'm constantly in awe of what she accomplishes. She is in orchestra (though she's probably done with viola, at least for a while, if not for good), Scouts (Venturing), she volunteers at the library, does 2 book clubs, art club, and is best friends with the sweetest human being on the planet. Miciah is a good friend and a good person.
Elijah is 14 and is almost done with middle school. He's trying to nail down what he's really interested in keeping in his life and what he needs to drop so he can have time to do the things he really loves. It's a hard process. Right now he wants to continue doing soccer, Scouts, orchestra, show choir, piano (he's amazing at the piano), composing, and the engineering club. Guess how many of those one can reasonably manage. I'll give you a hint, it's not all of them.
Teancom is almost 12 and is finishing up his first year of middle school. He loves school, he has lots of friends, and he's just a content little guy. He is getting really into theater and acting and he's dropped things like sports so he can have the time to get more into drama. It's kinda nice to have him so narrowly focused (see previous paragraph), though he does spend a lot of time doing nothing. Kid likes his downtime. I don't have complaints about that. Also, I love my downtime, too, so I can't even be judgy about it. And don't worry, he still loves to be active outdoors, just not doing organized sports.
...
So there you go. I told myself I'd start writing more. Putting things down. And I won't use silence as a coping mechanism. I'll be more brave. Though I doubt I'll be more trusting - ha! - those days are gone. But I've found a happy place with where I am and where others are with me. I can again start extending positivity into the world instead of needing to keep it for myself so I don't drown.
Here's to a brighter, more open future.
Cheers.
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