Butch the Wonder Dog

I took Butch with me to stay at Elizabeth's while I was hanging out with her and the baby. Every morning Yuki and I would take a walk and go to this little playground about 2 blocks away. There is a little pond there with a walking path around it. And on the pond are many ducks and a few geese. So, Butch was running around checking out the lay of the land, and sees a duck getting into the pond from the shore. To fully understand how completely amazing the following is, first consider that

1. Butch will be 10 years old on September 18th.
2. Butch HATES water. In all the years I've had Butch, he would avoid water like the plague. The most I've EVER seen him do, is just walk in water along the shore of any body of water, but only until the water was about 1/2 way up his legs.

So, there we are watching all these ducks waddle down to the water's edge and start to swim. And to my amazement, Butch jumped in and started to swim after those ducks! I start to panic because I think "Butch Can't Swim." I figure he'll just have to drown because I can't go in after him and leave Yuki on the shore alone. I keep calling to Butch, and when he was about 1/2 way across the pond, he finally listens and comes back to shore. Whew! Close call!

The next day, I think to myself, "I'll go the OTHER way so that Butch won't be tempted by the evil ducks. Lo and Behold we come upon an area with THREE small retaining ponds. The largest one is probably one and a half times the size of the duck pond. But, I see no ducks, and feel confident that I can let Butch off the lead and that he will avoid the water. Yuki and I are examining the pond when about 20 ducks came out of one pond, over a little hill and into the pond we were looking at. All the ducks were mallards except one large white one. In the water they go, and in the water Butch follows! Butch is hot on the tail of the white duck. The duck is not at all concerned, and stays just out of Butch's reach, and, in fact, swims in wide circles in the pond. Butch swims in wide circles behind the white duck. Occasionally the duck would switch directions unexpectedly, and amazingly enough, Butch stayed in the game. Finally I decided that Butch needed to come out of the water before he became too exhausted to continue on and make it back to shore. I called him. He continued swimming in circles behind the white duck. I called again and again. Even Yuki got into it. He calls Butch "B" because he can't say Butch. Suddenly he points at Butch and yells, "B!! blah blah blah!!." I'm not really sure what the translation is there, but Butch sure was getting chewed out! When Butch finally did decide to come to shore, he had a bit of a rough time making it to the bitter end. He was really sucking wind when he finally got his feet under him.

Today, I woke up and decided Eliz just HAD to see Butch do this swimming miracle. But Butch refused to leave the house. Why? Because it was raining, and he hates to get wet...

Yuki Speaks Out

Elizabeth, Matt, Yuki, Sofi and I all go to Eliz's home. The baby will NOT nurse. Elizabeth will NOT be consoled. The baby cries, Elizabeth cries. Day one at home, we are up all night with a crying baby. She just refuses to "latch on". What kind of term is "latch on"? Sounds like something to do with a cabinet if you ask me. Day 2 at home. Same song, different verse. Hysterical baby, hysterical momma. By this time, Yuki has HAD it. He walks up to Elizabeth, who is trying to pump milk so we can give it to Sofi with a syringe. He pats her right on the breast, and then points at Sofi who is crying and says, "Baby? blah blah blah." Then he did it again. I start cracking up. I tell Elizabeth that what he was really saying was "Baby? She is crying. Can you please hurry that up and give her something so she'll shut up?"

Later that night, Yuki is playing out in his little wading pool and I can see him through the window. He has several pool toys, including what looks like an oil funnel, which looks like the end of Elizabeth's pump. I look up just in time to see him stand up with that funnel and place it on his chest. Can't you just hear him saying, "Man. If mom can't get her to shut up, maybe I can. How does this thing work???"

New Baby - and Drama

Here we have a picture of Grandma and new baby Sofi. She's healthy and pretty quiet so far! That could be because she's scared out of her mind. Because Grandma needs to pay more attention to detail.

Matt and Yuki were out playing in the park, and taking a nap at my house. It was just Elizabeth, Sofi and me at the hospital. The problem was, it was HOT in the room. And I don't do well with hot. Hot really stinks. So, I say to Elizabeth, "Man. It's hot in here." She agreed and said that Matt got cold in the night and turned the heat up. (As an aside here, skinny people are always cold. Matt likes the temp to be around 75 degrees. That's just insane.)

So, I say to Elizabeth, "Do you want me to turn the temp down?" "Sure." So I head over to the pretty panel on the wall. I look it over with all the buttons, and can't read the words because it's dark in that part of the room. I try every single light switch and couldn't find one that would come on and illuminate the panel. So I lean in real close, and squint to read the words. I see a square button with a blue outline that says "Cool blue", which I thought was really odd, but, well, blue means cool, right? So I push the button, and wait to see if a temperature readout comes on. Nothing, so I figure it will just cool down on it's own to a pre-set temperature. I walk back to the chair in the room, pick up the paper and start to read. All of a sudden, 5 or 6 nurses burst into the room and say, "Are you ok in here?" I say (confused by the concern in their voices) "Yeah, its just a little hot." One of the nurses turns around and yells into the hallway "It's ok, it was a mistake." I'm still confused. What the heck? Then, it dawns on me. OMG! The button was "CODE BLUE", not "Cool blue". And it doesn't just go off on our floor, it makes the announcement all over the hospital. At this point, I want to sink through the floor. All the nurses leave, and and Elizabeth and I laugh hysterically until we cry. And we sob. One by one, the nurses came in and told us it was o.k., and that it was funny seeing the doctors running down the hall, and really, it was good practice for them. They forgot the crash cart, so it was a good learning experience. Don't worry, don't cry, it's o.k.

I'm pretty sure Elizabeth will never allow me with her again in a doctors office or hospital. But you know, there have been plenty of times when Elizabeth has horrified ME. Karma. It's all about Karma. And in this case, I'd say that was one heck of a payback.

Day Two Without Sarah

Day 2 with no Sarah.

I took Sarah to college (Ball State University) Wednesday. Not much drama. Wasn't too bad. No weeping and gnashing of teeth. Until...Thursday. When I received a heart wrenching e-mail from Sarah...she hates it there, she can't sleep, she doesn't like her room, she wants to come home, she loves me, she misses me... Oh yeah. And, "I want my car!!!"

Today was better. She sounded o.k. when I talked to her. She's made a couple of friends. She'll be fine. Really. Fine. =)

Meanwhile, Butch is wondering where she is. I can hear him thinking now..."The tall human is gone. I didn't like her much and she never did pet me, but...man. I think mom really liked her. Am I next???" Poor guy. He'll be fine. Really. Fine. =)

I haven't had to cook even once since Sarah left. But tomorrow I will have to, because all the left-overs are gone. Unless I want to eat shredded wheat for many many meals. I'll be fine. Really. Fine. =)

And life goes on...