Funny Update

Sorry I've been gone so long, I've been sick. But that's not the funny update. The update is about Rocket, the dog from across the street.

This happened last Wednesday, the same day I posted the story about Rocket. That afternoon the doorbell rings and it's the woman who owns Rocket. She has some potted bulbs (hyacinths, my favorite!) and a thank-you card. She was so grateful that I took care of Rocket and just went on and on. They really are very nice people. Because the door had been opened, Daisy was just sure she had to go out. So I made Donovan take her out. All of a sudden the door slams open, Donovan literally falls through it and he is just sobbing. He's yelling, "Rocket's here, there's a dog fight!" I can't hear anything over him so it obviously can't be that bad, right? I can see he's still hanging on to the leash so I tell him to just bring Daisy in and then it will be over. He pulls as hard as he can and nothing happens, so I have to go out to help him. I haul Daisy in and Rocket follows her up the steps. This all happens right after school gets out so I don't want to just leave Rocket out there, the high schoolers drive like maniacs. I need to just clip a leash on Rocket and take her back home, easy enough right? Except that I'm wearing my green flannel pants with the reindeer on them and they have a hole in the knee. No way am I going out in those. So what to do with Rocket? Since it's me, and I'm slightly crazy, I let her in the house. Yup, two dogs that don't know each other that well and four kids (Leah was here that day) running around like idiots because something new and exciting is happening. I ran upstairs, changed into jeans and took Rocket home. I think they've learned because Rocket isn't being left out in the backyard alone anymore! I thought it was absolutely hilarious Rocket was back over not five minutes after her owner was over about the last incident.

Not so funny is that when Donovan took Daisy out he decided to wear my tennis shoes because he is too lazy to put his boots on. When Rocket came running over, he started running across the yard and lost both my shoes in the process. I didn't know this until he said something about having cold, wet feet. I went out to look for my shoes and found one, half buried in the snow. I've looked and looked and still have not found my other damn shoe!

P.S. I just realized I am wearing the green reindeer pants again, let's hope nobody comes to the door!

Neighborhood Gentle Giant

Our neighbors across the street have a St. Bernard named Rocket. To be honest, this dog used to freak me out! She barked a lot and, while she stayed in her yard, seemed very interested in Daisy. I never really understood how a three-foot picket fence kept this giant dog in. Every so often I would see Rocket walking with her owner and Daisy and Rocket did not seem to like each other very much. I figured Daisy knew this was that annoying dog who always barked at her when she was trying to poop. I wouldn't like her either! One day the kids told me Rocket had jumped the fence when some people were walking their dogs past her yard. After that I was really on guard when Daisy had to go out. Not too long ago, my fears were realized (okay, I almost had to change my pants) when I took Daisy out and all of a sudden I see Rocket running across the street straight at us. When Rocket got to us there was a little growling and a lot of butt sniffing but then they both calmed down. Now I had to figure out how to get this huge dog home. I figured my best bet was to just walk over to the neighbors and hope the dog would follow Daisy. This worked better than I had even hoped. Rocket followed me right up onto her porch and waited while I waited for someone to answer the door. Once she realized her owners wanted her to come in and stop playing she took off. They chased her all over and had a heck of a time catching her.
Yesterday, the kids and I were coming home and we see Rocket in the street. She was apparently trying to help two women walk their dogs. I knew Rocket's owners weren't home because I had just seen them at the eye doctor 10 minutes ago(what a coincidence!), but couldn't figure out why she was wandering around. They never leave her in the yard when they leave. When I let the kids in the house I grabbed our extra leash and went out to see what I could do. Rocket was so interested in the other dogs that she wasn't hard to catch at all. I ended up taking her home and tying her up in the backyard. And started watching for her owners to come home. I stayed with her for awhile and she is just a giant furry baby. What a nice dog. I think she was confused and a little scared. It felt like forever but after two hours Donovan saw the neighbors pull in their driveway. I ran out, grabbed Rocket and headed across the street. You should have seen the kids' faces when they saw me coming across the street with their dog! It turns out they had the appointment at the eye doctor and then the son started hockey and the Dad was trying to get everybody and everything out of the house and totally forgot to let the dog back in. I bet this wouldn't have happened if Mom had been there! There was a lot of traffic last night because there was a home basketball game and things could have really ended badly. I'm glad I helped their dog and I got to know a big lovable ball of fur a little bit better. But I still wish she would stay in her own yard!

It's Been Awhile

Man, I haven't gotten to this in awhile. I've had a few different posts written in my head but I never got here to post them. After a few days they didn't really seem relevant so they never made it here.

I guess I can sum up the last couple weeks.

Christmas was great. Everybody got a ton of stuff and everyone was happy with what they got. It's always very irritating when you see them sitting there surrounded by all these presents and they are upset because they didn't get that one thing. This year when all the commercials started and the kids started their "I want....." I usually would just tell them, "No, you can't have it." Usually followed by a "Fine, I'll just ask Santa." I started telling them we could contact Santa and tell him they couldn't have certain things. I don't know if they believed me but Paige was not upset when she did not get Biscuit the giant, expensive dog. I don't even know why she wanted it. Hello, real dog sitting right in front of you!

New Year's was low-key but fun. Shelley seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit! The Strawberry Daiquiris were yummy. She even got into her "Touche" mood which always makes me laugh!

Tessa got her stitches out Monday(1/5). She was kind of scared to go and I don't blame her. The last time she went it hurt! But she did great and is happy that her "strings" are out and she can take baths again.

Donovan and Paige were not excited to go back to school but seem to be adjusting back to the schedule pretty well. It's too bad we don't even have any three-day-weekends coming up to look forward to. Tessa was thrilled to be back at school. She loves every minute she is there!

Paige did already get a day off though. She woke up Wednesday with a weird rash. Since I didn't know what it was I kept her home and called the doctor. Of course they wanted to see her so off I went to Lansing. (I really need to switch to a doctor up here.) The doctor thought it looked like Scarlet Fever but they haven't called and said the strep test was positive so it might have just been viral. Oh well, I'm just going to keep her on the anti-biotic anyway. She had a cough she couldn't shake and maybe that will go away.

That's a (not so) quick recap of the last couple weeks. Hopefully I'll be better about updating this.