home-y home home...and that PHONE CALL....

 Traveling to the west coast is nice, here in the U.S.A., because you can sleep in until 6:30 and still seem virtuous, yet it's like 9:30!  Granted, you've stayed up until after ten, which means you didn't go night- night until like one in the morning, but still.  Oh, how quickly you can acclimate....which means when you come home, good luck trying to get up at the REAL 6:30...it's like the middle of the night!

Yesterday morning I didn't have to get up to get Miss Charlotte Claire on the bus, because she's on the other side of the world.  I did, however, have to get up to get to that water aerobics class.  I AM a creature of habit, and three mornings a week is a good habit, at least until we have our pool open for the teeny tiny short northeastern summer.

After swimming, I came home and picked up Miss Sonja K.  The house was pretty depleted of the basics, we needed bread and milk and fresh fruits and veggies.  So, we went to Target!  I was glad to see they had $15 off of $75 of groceries, not too hard to spend that much...some seltzer, some heavy cream, three packages of chicken breast, and some cans of diced tomatoes...we didn't buy much "fun" stuff...just one shirt for Jonathan's birthday, coming up at the end of the month, and a nice new towel for Paul, a white top sheet for me, and a craft to do with Anya and Elise, who are coming over shortly, when their mama goes to an appointment.  Their baby brother is due NEXT WEEK!

Anyways, after Target yesterday, we went to Wegmans, because they have the very best brown sugar cured spiral sliced hams, for only $1.49 a pound...well, you have to spend $25 to get one, and only one at a time...so this is what I bought:

It's candy!  There were carts and carts of candy bars:  3/$1!  Even some of those cups of gum that are normally 3+$ each.  

I wasn't TOO embarrassed, it was actually fun.  Then, to Aldi for Brussel sprouts, asparagus, strawberries, grapes, bread, and shh, some steak since it is only Sonja, Paul, and I here for the next few days until Char and Cam get home from Norway.  

Well, about THAT PHONE CALL:  We were at the check out, and I didn't feel my phone buzzing in my pocket, then Sonja's phone rang.  I was paying, and she was saying, "OH MY GOODNESS, ARE YOU OKAY?  OH NO! ...I must have looked stricken, she assured me it wasn't "that bad"...are you kidding me? WHAT isn't THAT BAD?  WHAT'S GOING ON?

Everything is fine now, but oh dear...Paul was going for a run down our road, and three dogs came out, barking at him.  One was a Pittbull, and if you love Pitties, that's fine, I'm sure some of them are sweet.  But this one was not.  It grabbed Paul's hand.  With it's teeth.  Paul started screaming and yelling and kicking the dog with all his might, it let go of his hand, the other dogs started at him, he turned away from the Pitt, it lunged and sank it's teeth right into Paul's hind quarters...the owner was now out there, yelling that Paul had provoked them.  ?   The farmer from across the way showed up, had heard the commotion, and offered Paul a ride home on his Gator...(I obviously wasn't there....)

Yes, he called the police.  They stopped to see him before heading down to talk to the neighbors.  The dogs have had their rabies vaccinations, which is good...anyway, Paul called me, then Sonja, and said he was headed to Urgent Care...we were half hour away, he didn't want to wait for us...I was concerned about him driving, so shaken up, but he said he was fine.  fine, ha.

So, he went in and got stitched up, and drove himself home again.  

Now, far be it from me to wish death on another living creature, but that dog needs to be put down.  It's not safe, not for us, not for anyone, to have a dog like that.  The owner had to wrestle that dog to get it to stand down.  Paul was very lucky, extremely fortunate, that his hand was dropped, the dog does get points for not ripping it right off...but he IS missing some skin from that finger.  Paul was pretty upset, of course, it's a traumatizing thing...but he couldn't get past this, he said:  If that were you, that dog would have KILLED you.  If the little boys were walking with you, it would have killed them easily....  Paul is very strong and fit, and he kicked to save his life...he said his heart was hammering, he was terrified.  But he said if it were me, that dog would have killed me.

So hopefully the health department and Animal Control do the right thing, and recommend that dog gets put down.  I know it's sad, and it's heartless of me, but at the end of the day, people have the right to walk or run down the road without being viciously attacked.  I am sorry for the people to have to go through it.  I had to put a dog down, years ago, because it bit our own children...once Jonathan, because he was playing with a broom and the dog must have felt threatened...we justified it....then once Sonja, when she tried to stop the pup from taking some food from the console of the van...snap, bit her hand.  We justified it.  The last straw was when little two year old Camille was sitting on my lap, I was petting the dog, Cam reached her sweet chubby little hand down to pat the dog, it growled and bit her.  Um, no, this is not okay. It was heartbreaking, because I LOVED that sheepdog, Rosie the sheepdog.  She was adorable, but she was intense.  She meant business, and I was her person.  She thought she was protecting me.  I called every place I could think of, but got the same response:  we cannot rehome a dog who has bitten a child.  One place even requested to meet her, fell in love with her, then danced back to that most major issue, and ultimately said they couldn't take her.  So I called the vet, and yes, they would euthanize her for that reason....oh my heart.  But...people do trump animals, and children need to be safe, not traumatized or worse...so I know how those people feel.  It's awful, it's a lose-lose situation, yet the right thing is clear, to me.

Anyway.  I had two little boys here all afternoon and evening, as their daddy is in college and had classes...

Wulf and Tennyson, keep me hopping!  They left at 11, I was exhausted....now, in a little while, Anya and Elise will arrive, then in the afternoon, Wulf and Tennyson will be back.  

The kids made it to Norway, safe and sound...

Friend Amanda, then six of our kids, Camille, Evelyn, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, Margaret, and Kathryn (all the way from Oregon to Norway, gets to see her siblings!)

Margaret, Char, and Kathryn....

Jonny...

They're having a fantastic time there, it's too quiet here without them.

Oh, I have more to say but not more time...off I go for now...