The return drive was lovely, cloudless skies and light traffic and books on CD, and I made incredible time until I hit downtown Jacksonville, where the traffic came to a complete stop for this. You know you're back in FL when you have to wait in traffic while the cops move the shooting victim off the highway.
This little frolic and detour added two hours to my travel time. Thank GOD for the sock in the basket in the backseat, I worked on the sock and listened to NPR until the mess was tidied up and we were on our way again. The rest of the drive was uneventful.
Dudley did indeed grow in the four days I was gone. When I left he was wobbling around on little unsteady puppy legs, now when you call his name he runs to you like a DOG. His ears are starting to come up, his body is filling out, and he's mastering Come and Sit. Housebreaking is progressing nicely, though we do have our little accidents he now comes to tell you about them. This morning he came to report a turd behind the chair in the living room. He's not quite sure how it got there and he's not necessarily taking responsibility, but he thought I might like to know....
Girl was bleary-eyed and took to her bed early last night - she hasn't had a decent night's sleep since before coming home. She spent the last few days in Tally on an air mattress, and we know how easy it is to sleep on one of those, and then came home with Dudley the Perpetual Motion Puppy and hasn't gotten a night's sleep since. So last night I took Puppy Duty - we went to bed very early, a bit after 9, and got up at 2:30 and went outside for a quick bladder relief trip, then back to bed. He made it until 5:45, which is my normal waking time, so that was fine. After some morning playtime he's back in his crate resting. Thank God for the crate - he's a ball of fire, in constant motion and investigating everything and chasing cats and underfoot in the kitchen, because that is where food comes from and he really loves food, so nobody can walk into the kitchen without Dudley.
He and Murphy are playing together nicely now, though last night Dudley figured out how to grab some of Murphy's long hair and PULL HARD to get Murphy to surrender a toy, a new trick Murphy did not appreciate at all. But the sincere "I'm gonna kill that little shit!" snarls has been replaced by mock growling, wagging tail and the occasional and needed warning growl. They are learning to play together, and Murphy seems much happier and more like himself, and far less disgruntled about his new little brother. He's decided the little shit has potential. The cats are still having their mail forwarded to the garage.
I have to set up the camera dock and upload the pics I took later - I photographed many critters and virtually no people, this was intentional because I have a policy of not showing faces on the blog without express permission of the subject. Later I will also spread out the yarn I purchased for some Glamour Shots photography in the sunshine on the patio. That silk from Spirit Trail really NEEDS to be photographed in the sun, it's lovely indoors but glows in the sunlight.
I'm so glad I'm off today, I have a lot to do to to get ready for the return to the dreaded job. The highway thinking time really did clear my head as I knew it would. Today I'll update the resume and send it out to the few jobs I saw that seemed worth it, and also add the DC area to my Monster search engine, just for giggles, just to see how salaries for someone like me are running up there. Even after 2+ decades in FL, I miss MD. I drove around a bit on Sunday afternoon, seeing brand-new office complexes full of corporate offices everywhere I turned, and realized the job pool up there would be so much richer than it is here in Mousetown. I still have cousins up there. It would be difficult to move, I have the elderly parent issues and all that other stuff to consider, but it's worth looking into just to see if it's possible.
Photos later. Laundry now.
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