Almost Two Thirds

This is when January gets really long.  Seems like an eternity before those 11 remaining days finally pass.  With this portion of the month turning into full-fledged slop weather, could an eternity get any longer?

Sorry.  

This is when I envy my friends who take off around Christmas time and don't come back until after the West Coast Conference basketball tournament in Las Vegas.  That's the first week in March. 

The good news is we're making progress because we're two thirds of the way through January.  The bad news was expressed above. 

Indeed, putting a sunshine face on the day-to-day grind toward February is difficult at best, but I do my best.  

After all, weathering this long stretch makes us tough.  If we can endure this time of the year, especially with wet, drizzly, sloppy weather, we can probably put up with anything, 'cept maybe this year's endless season of politics.  

How many more months of this?  Didn't all the bashing start two years ago?

Ireland is looking better all the time.  That's all I'm gonna say.

Not the best picture but an indication that old friends had fun introducing new friends last night.   Linda and Bob Aavedal with Annie and Bill with Liam.

A case of "man's best friends" rekindling a longtime friendship.  

  

The bright spot in life around here continues to come in the form of four-legged, black-and-white creatures.  

Our little Liam has definitely become Big Boy Liam.  He weighed in at 22 pounds yesterday.  When I took him to the vets in December, he weighed 14. 

Liam likes his vet clinic.  He walked onto the scales without a leash and stood, maybe wiggling and wagging a little, while the doctor recorded his weight.

Once in the exam room and up on the table, he again stood like a trooper, with no restraints except the caressing of the tech as the vet checked his teeth, ears and body in general.   

When vaccinations came, he proved that he's much more resilient with needles than his mistress. 

Both the doctor and the tech enthusiastically praised Liam's behavior and his attitude. That makes a mama proud.

When we went to doggie obedience class last night, we were in for a surprise.  

The class size had doubled, and one of the new students, an adorable Aussie named Annie, has parents whom we know very well. 

Shy Annie Aevadal and charming Liam Love got acquainted during the session while both sets of parents, who hadn't seen each other in a while, thoroughly enjoyed each other and each other's pups. 

With class size doubling, one would expect a pretty noisy experience.  Turns out all the loud mouths from the first session had calmed down considerably.  

Some barking did occur, but about 10 percent of the decibel count from last week. 

Our session involved a segment to prepare dogs for vet visits and grooming.  The key to lessening the stress level of such visits involves lots of touching all over the dog, not just petting the forehead.  

We also learned how to practice putting our pups in different positions that might occur on an examination table.  

I've noticed as Liam's claws sometimes dig into my legs when he's nervous that it's probably time to start the process of clipping his nails. 

All in all, it was a good, productive and relatively quiet class hour. 

Glenna told me about a puppy socialization session on Thursdays at noon where we bring in our pups, pay five dollars and go about our way while the staff watches the puppies get acquainted and learn to play with new friends. 

So, I'll put that on the schedule. 

In the meantime, I'll continue to mentally mark off the days while doing my best to keep a positive outlook during the rest of the annual January marathon.  

Good time to watch some movies and read some books. 

Happy Wednesday.