Be Vewy Thankfuwl

Now that I'm working through all the leftovers in the refrigerator, have caught up on paychecks at work, and seem to have worked through some writers blokc caused by the compounding of problems, I can sit back, breathe a sigh of relief, and count my blessings.

Thanksgiving morning, while I was running around shoppng for last minute supplies for the dinner (namely, ingredients for the dinner itself), I came upon a black collie dam tied to a wrought iron fence at McGuane Park. Also tied to the fence was a plastic bag, containing a scoop for the dog. Sure enough, she was being abandoned on Thanksgiving. Real sweet. The kicker was that this dog looked familiar; I had rescued her during the summer from being abandoned at a park bench in the same park. Her temperament and attitude were so playful and fun, I thought about keeping her this time around.

After some convincing by Sue that a second dog would not be a good idea, since we don't know if she might be sick, we dropped her off at Animal Control, where paperwork was filled out, I watched her get a distemper shot, and she started the process of going into holding. If she makes it through the seven-day hold period and checks out on behavioral, attitude, and medical tests, her personality and look should almost guarantee her immediate adoption once she makes it to the city pound. I certainly hope so. This dog's been lucky so far.


My brother had back surgery on Tuesday, so he spent Thanksgiving in the hospital. He's only 34, way too young to have back surgery. But the combination of a life of manual labor and being overweight certainly conspired against him. Which made my decision to stay at home for the holiday the right one. I'll go up for Christmas, bringing both the gifts I didn't bring last year and this year's gifts for everyone. Hopefully I won't wreck the rental car this time around.

For her part, the only thing Mom really wants for Christmas is to have Chris, Tammy, and myself in the same house for Christmas. I'm damn sure gonna make sure that that happens.