Sunday, December 16, 2007

can't think of a suitable title

Well, I'm baking cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I have to go shovel. I don't know how many inches there are but if I don't shovel I'll be sorry later. I'm already sorry I didn't shovel the first snow we had--the driveway is a mess. It's supposed to get up to 40 in the middle of the week, and hopefully if I shovel down to the ice, the ice will melt off.

But it sure looks pretty. :)

I was bad this year. In the 24 years I've been at my job, the department traditionally takes up a collection around Christmas as a bonus for the secretaries. Some years we've made out really well. Other years--well, last year our dept. chair didn't get around to cnavassing until like the week after finals, when no one was around, and we got about $50. I was insulted, to put it mildly. So, being unregenerately ungrateful, this year I sent an e-mail to the new Grad Director, who is a total sweetheart, and said, "Hey, could you mention something to the chair about collecting for the secretaries? He always forgets, and I really need new tires for the van!" So, bless his heart, that very afternoon he came in and gave me this great big grin and a thumbs up and said, "you know that e-mail? All taken care of."

Well, I hope people came through, because while it's true that I need new tires for the van, last night my DVD/VCR died. I can get by without cable or satellite, but I can't manage without a DVD/VCR. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to go to Walmart because they have a unit that plays DVDs and videotapes, and also burns videotapes to DVD, so I can copy some of my very old videotapes before they disappear forever, and it's under $200.

Tires? Well, yes, I acknowledge that new tires are very important. I'm cat-sitting between 12/18 and 1/9 (I think), so that should cover at least 2 new ones for the front. But I want to get the DVD player while it's on sale for Christmas.

Speaking of toys, I got one of those keyrings you can put digital pictures on for $10, so I put some pictures on last night. I'll have to go back and redo them, I think, so I can rearrange them--they play in the order you load them, and there's no way to rearrange them once they're there. But anyway, I put Nixie and Nixie baby picture, Stella and Stella baby pictures, Taenzer and Taenzer baby pictures, and Timber and Timber baby pictures. I'd forgotten how tiny he was when I got him. There's one picture where he's lying down, and there's the head of another dog in the picture. That dog's head is almost as big as Timber. And it's not an adult dog, it's one of his litter-brothers. He was that small.



I still can't believe I was lucky enough to be the one who brought him home.

And I'm missing that silly Annie. We all went shopping yesterday, and when we got home I let the Ts play while I carried in groceries. As I unlocked the backdoor I suddenly realized there would be no one there to greet me. How many years have I come home and called "Hi, Annie, I'm ba-ack!" And as aggravating as she could be, I miss having her to cuddle with, with her thick soft fur and sweet cat smell.

I thought I might casually show a couple of people my new toy and see what reaction they have--those little keychains might make a nice little Christmas present.

2 comments:

Monika said...

That picture is adorable, or rather the pups in it! :o)

T-Mom said...

Oh, Monika, he was so little. At 6 months Taenzer weighed around 50 pounds. Timber, at abotu the same age when he was first brought into rescue, weighed less than 30. !!! He's still not huge, less than 70 pounds, but he weighs a few pounds more than Taenzer now. My beautiful baby boy. You know, he laid out flat on his side last night and let me brush him until my arm got tired.

I'm going to post pictures I have of his littermates, I think. They were all beautiful dogs. His two big brothers had standard coats and were very very handsome. I'd love to know what happened to them, and if they grew up as sweet and smart and beautiful as my boy.