A Walking Dog

This is Gigi. She's our Boxer and family pet. She's a pain in the neck.


I only agreed to getting Gigi for one reason and one reason only. I wanted a dog that I could walk with, especially after dark. Gigi however is about fifty pounds heavier than the average twenty pound dog that I can handle. She's just downright big. And she's always so darn excited to see you looking at her that she will wiggle her tail so hard her entire back half shakes. And if by some chance you actually say her name, then watch out, she's likely to jump up and give you one big slobbery dog kiss.

So after I agreed to getting Gigi (for walking purposes only) I had to wait for her to get big enough for me to take on walks. Then once she was big enough to take on walks, I had to wait until she was well trained enough for me to control her while out walking. Meanwhile, it seems like years have passed with me still not having a dog to walk with. Finally, she is ready for me to start walking with and things are going great. That is until a year and a half ago when she got attacked by a mean dog that jumped a six foot fence and went after her. Hubs did a good job of keeping the other dog away from her, but it did change her personality a bit on walks. She became very skittish and very much a scared dog. Not her fault at all. But not really what I had planned on when I signed on for this dog. I wanted a dog who would scare away anyone who got to close to me when we were out walking at night. Now it was her dragging me through the neighborhood trying to flee from things that spooked her.

Then we had a small accident while I was out walking the dog around Christmas. She got spooked by one of those inflatable Santa Claus decorations popping out of the chimney. Next thing I knew I was face down in the middle of the street missing a front tooth and pretty banged up. It truly was the Christmas where all I wanted was my two front teeth. And after that my walking personality changed a bit. I didn't want to walk after dark anymore but didn't feel like I was able to keep up with the dog the way she needed. So then you had me and the dog, both moping around the house because we weren't walking (and because I was missing my front tooth).

Finally, I got back into my walking routine but without the dog. I still missed walking without her but now it was me afraid to take her. And I felt so guilty for that. Especially when she stopped getting excited when she saw me put on my walking shoes since she knew she wasn't going anywhere. So guilt finally won out and I finally got my "cajones" back and started to take her out. Just short walks at first until she got used to being out again. And she's been doing great. She's still skittish but now I've retrained myself to hold the leash different so that if she does bolt, I'm not going with her. Small progress I know..but it is progress.

So now I have to deal with the dog getting all excited anytime she sees me in sneakers again. Even if I'm not going walking. But when I do take her out, I'm rewarded. By the time we get back home the walk and the heat have wore her out. And all she can do is lie there like she's gonna die for at least an hour or two.

At least then, I can finally get some peace from my pain in the neck Boxer. By the way, in case your wondering, Santa did get me two front teeth for Christmas that year. I was very excited.

Wordless Wednesday

Make a Wish and Blow



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It's Hot

It's hot here in Dallas. What do you expect in July? Which makes me really miss our way to short trip to Ruidoso, NM and the mountains. Where it was much more cooler. So much cooler...sigh.



But maybe if I pray like the original Franciscan monks did at St. Joseph Mission, the weather will cool off a bit.



Or maybe I should take a lead from my kids and go wading around like they did in the small creek by our cabin. Then at least it would be cooler.



But if I can't do that, then maybe I will just stare at this picture of running water and imagine myself cooling down a bit. It's worth a shot isn't it? Or maybe staring at all this cool running water will have a different effect. Instead it may make me have to go to the bathroom...who knows. And that my friends is a small glimpse into my warped mind. I've turned a pretty picture of running water and somehow twisted it to bathroom talk. I'm sorry...really I am.

To Clip or Not

I've been going back and forth about clipping coupons. I'm sure we have all been there at some point or another. But this time it was brought on by my friend sending me to the grocery game. They tell you how to get all sorts of free stuff just by clipping coupons and being a savy shopper. And well I tend to be of the mind set of "if it's free, then it's for me". So I thought I would try it out. The only problem is that it is still a lot of stinkin' work just to save what looks like a few dollars here and there. I went to the grocery store today and well let's just say that I still have a headache. Was all that actually worth the five dollars in savings that I had. I honestly don't think any headache is worth this unless you start to enter into the thousands of dollars. But at least I can say that yes I did try it. And FYI, for the future if I'm using coupons, I think I'll just buy generic instead.