Hazy Shade of Autumn

Hazy Shade of Autumn

It’s been wet, dark, and dreary all day, much the norm in this area for Autumn.  Cold mornings make it difficult to pull that first toe out from under the toasty electric blanket and onto the floor.  Starting your day at 3:45 AM in this kind of weather isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially when it’s your Monday.  But I had to make the donuts.

I did sort of enjoy walking into the building from the parking lot this morning though, because I could smell the wet juniper bushes and their beds of damp cedar mulch.  I’ve always enjoyed that smell for some reason, and it made being awake that that hour much more bearable.  Overall it was a pretty good day, although there were plenty of system changes that kept me busy.  Once I got caught up I felt the familiar routine again and was able to run everything on autopilot, which is good because I think I’m fighting off a bug.  A few people were sick here last week and by the afternoon I had a sore throat and felt the familiar aches and pains springing up in places that only seem to be afflicted when I’m sick or fighting something.

By the time I was home, all I wanted to do was eat a little bit and lie down.  Teale got me comfy on the couch and the dogs slept on my feet, helping me stay warm.  I felt much better when I woke up and have even finished a little bit of school work and studying.

Napoleon has been sleeping all over Talulla today and it’s been pretty amusing to witness.  He is such a floppy thing, and it seems he’s not comfortable unless some part of him is dangling off a ledge or contorted from laying on uneven spaces.  One of our main frustrations when training him has been that Talulla wants to respond to the commands we are giving him.  Yesterday we decided to try and teach him commands in German so Talulla would be less inclined to do whatever we were telling him and thereby making our training sessions a little less frustrating.  There’s something funny about having a dog named Napoleon and talking to him in German.  :)  He seems to be coming along pretty well, but still has the ability to become highly fixated on whatever he’s focused on, more so than any other dog I’ve had or seen.  Hopefully we can direct that focus into obeying commands.  He’s a great boy though, and we love having him in our family.

Teale is at work right now and I miss her.  I’m not sure how late she’s going to be there, but I hope I’m still awake when she gets home.  I haven’t seen her very much today, with me working, taking that nap, and her being so busy with Spanish. 

Tomorrow is another early morning.  The benefit however, is that I’m finished and leaving from work at 1:30 PM.

Napoleon lounging on Talulla