ArizonaButterfly

Lucy broke my original hope back a few months ago. Thanks to John, I have one again. I was very surprised when he dropped it off, especially since I was with he and Sarah when he picked up the letters. I probably need to be more observant when we’re out shopping!

I have a new adventure planned for today. I must be more nervous about it than I realized, to be up at 4:30 am on a Saturday morning!

Both Cotton and Luke have managed to hurt themselves: Cotton has another “peeled” toenail and Luke has a cut on his right back leg. I have no idea how either one of them hurt themselves. They’re both doing fine, just walking a bit tenderly. I just wish they could tell me what was wrong at times so I wouldn’t have to play detective. Luke hopped on 3 legs for the better part of a day, and yet allowed me to touch the injured leg, rubbing it and the like before I finally saw the small cut and was able to put some canine antibiotic cream on it. Cotton’s toenail was a bit more obvious, although it isn’t nearly as bad as it was the last time he did it. If I knew how he was doing it I would do what I could to stop it. The best guess is he’s catching it on something, which could be a stump, a tree, a block, the fence, and so on.

Speaking of fences, I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll be able to get mine started very soon. The plan is to block the view into the neighbor’s yard since her “friend” obviously doesn’t like the dogs. I was outside (but hid from his view) yesterday and he came strolling towards my fence (and dogs) with a very thick branch/log. When I moved into his view he turned towards the back of her yard, but I have a nagging feeling that if I hadn’t been out there that it would have mysteriously appeared in my yard like the others have. I’m also thinking of planting some Honeysuckle at the front of the fence on that side of the yard. It’s supposed to be a screening shrub, which would be nice and more importantly, it smells good and attracts butterflies.

It’s been a quietly productive day so far. Luke, thankfully, woke up with no limp and seems none the worse for wear. I’ve been painting picture frames and organizing my office most of the day. I also received a call back on a teaching job I’m interested in. I need to get copies of my unofficial transcripts and mail them off to continue the process. It’s a part-time job, not one to replace my current job. I’m starting my doctorate program on January 8 which I’m also excited about. I want to continue my research on reading, specifically focusing on reading development in early childhood and reading development for students whose native language is not English. My school has a high percentage of the latter and teaching reading to older students struggling with a language barrier is a very different process. Anyway, I won’t bore you with any more details on all that, except to say I’m looking forward to getting started.

I’m planning on visiting San Diego at the end of June. Anyone interested in getting together while we’re there? Drop me an email please.