Abandoned Blog!!

No, not really. Just finding my footing in my new life, on many levels.

New job is challenging, in a good way. Relaxed atmosphere, though very structured. I know that sounds contradictory, but it isn't. I've already figured out that one structures one's work week to slide out the door between three and four on Friday. A lot of people get in very early and slide out before rush hour every day. I love the flexibility. The work is interesting to a research geek, and I am definitely that. You either love it or hate it, and I like it already. Once I master the internal processes and get some skills in my pocket, I think I'll love it. But I do stare into a computer screen for 8 solid hours a day, and my writing time hasn't worked into the new schedule yet.

Murphy is so, so missed. Sophie is missing him far more than I expected. I realize now how much he functioned as her security blanket, even after he became too sick and old to be a real Boss Dog. She is not an alpha dog. She spent the first year of her life in a pack of show dogs. She wasn't a show dog and wasn't getting enough lap time, so she became mine. But she was used to having a pack leader in the crew, following other dogs to eat, etc. She's been off her food for weeks now. Oh, she will eat when she's hungry, and I deliberately got a frozen pizza for dinner tonight, and she ate many chunks of pizza crust. She's just feeling lost. He was her anchor and pack leader, and even when he got old and sick, he still summoned the energy to demand dinner...until the last few months, but Sophie and I still pretended he did. Now, she's like, "Oh, there's food in my dish? How am I supposed to ask for this?" She is struggling with adjusting to not having a leader, if only a ceremonial one.

I am slowly, very slowly, creating a Murphy legacy page for this blog. It's only appropriate, no? I would like to add all the pages featuring him, his attitude, his pictures, he was the Bossy Little Dog. It will take a while. It's a long legacy.

We're adjusting. No, there is no thought of bringing in a new animal as company for Sophie. I won't have time off for a long time, and I would want to have a block of time to be able to do an introduction and make sure it's a good fit, if I ever decide to take that on. I think Sophie will adjust. Right now she's sleeping comfortably beside me, happy that it's the weekend.

I'm very happy that it's the weekend! Tomorrow - Epcot Food and Wine! After a cooler than average week the sun will of course return, but it's the only weekend I see to get it in before it ends.

I've written about five more substantive blog posts in my head in the last couple of weeks, but haven't managed to recreate them in front of a keyboard. It'll happen. Still adjusting.