The Countdown Has Begun

Only 49 hours until Kerriann arrives in Oakland, starting right..........now! I've taken the day off from work to celebrate this fantabulous occasion. I've cleaned the house, I'll wash the dog, I may even do some of HER laundry. The first thing she wants to do is shower, but THEN go out for Zachary's pizza and a big ol' salad. And then probably sleep. If I let her. I have so many questions about what the hell she's been up to.

We are not good at maximizing our information transfer during our extremely brief phone calls. During our last call we made the plans I've outlined above, and talked about whether or not she made a four hour phone call to Iowa in November. Plus the calls are hard to have on my end, because every time I say something, I then hear myself repeat it in the echo of the phone. If my comment isn't brief enough, I start to hear myself WHILE I'm talking, and I get confused about what I'm saying. It's like she's on the moon or something, and I have that six second delay in transmission. Houston, I think we have a problem.

I just hope she doesn't get stuck in London on the way home. What's up with the weather these days? Extreme conditions everywhere. California got clobbered with citrus-freezing cold (say goodbye to your oranges and lemons folks), it snowed in LA, and the entire middle of the country, including TX, got snow and ice as well. All this while the east coast enjoyed weather in the 70s. Which in turn caused huge hurricane level wind storms in Europe that shut down the airports and trains and knocked out the power to millions of homes.

Now Kerriann has to come back west through all the havoc. I hope she arrives on time. I have to work on Tuesday.

News from India

Kerriann can't really post to the blog, so I thought I'd put some things up here that I've learned from the very brief conversations I've had with her, either through crappy phone calls or instant message chats.

1. London is very expensive, and you can gamble in the Heathrow airport (if you're rich).
2. The airline she took from London to India had tons of great TV viewing options and fostered insomnia.
3. A thirteen and a half hour time difference takes a long time to unjetlag.
4. Rail transportation in India is unreliable, and friendly people are not always trustworthy.
5. The Taj Mahal is breathtaking.
6. It's really f**king hot in southern India.
7. The locals think she's Japanese.
8. After eating Indian food for three meals a day, every day, for six days, you hit your Indian food wall (most things are pretty spicy).
9. Building houses for six hours a day, with breaks every 1.5-2 hours, leaves you exhausted at the end of the day.
10. Good health has been the norm, with a few queasy episodes.
11. The puppy is missed (I think I am too).

There you have it, folks. That's about all I've learned in twelve days from the other side of the world. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone out there has had a great start to their new year. Everyone's safe and happy, and all travelers made it to where they needed to go. Keep Kerriann in your thoughts for the next three weeks. She's on her way to London as I post here, and will be working to build some houses in one of the tsunami affected areas of southern India with Habitat for Humanity, after a brief trip to see the Taj Mahal.




We all love you Kerriann, and are really proud of the work you're doing. Stay safe and come home soon.

The Saga Continues

Ripley's tail is broken. Not in the she's-fractured-a-bone-and-is-in-a-cast sort of way, but in a it's-busted-and-she-won't-lift-or-wag-it-and-looks-depressed sort of way. Some sort of sprain or other such soft tissue injury.

I spent about 2 hours waiting for my pup to been seen, in a roughly 100 sq. ft. waiting area with three other dogs and their owners (I spent about an hour of it on the floor). Well, if you can call the chihuahua puppy that weighed about 4 ounces a dog. Its owner brought it in to the ER because it fell off her bed onto the tile floor and "hurt itself." COME ON, people. Get a real pet. This....ratlet was almost put on the floor in the waiting room, until Ripley decided it looked like a chew toy and the owner scooped it back up into her little fleece handkerchief.

Huckleberry was a very sweet boy who had gotten into a fight and gotten his ear torn up. He was a real dog. We saw a dog come in who had just had a seizure, heard about a cat with a urinary tract blockage, and a golden retriever who'd had hives for two days, among many other ailments. Who knew the pet ER would be so crazy?

Finally it was Ripley's turn. The emergency room vet "nurse" needed to take her vitals. She tried to get Ripley to NOT sniff around in the very odoriforous room since she couldn't get a good respiratory baseline (well, duh - 12 thousand other DOGS had been in that room that day). Then she took her rectal temperature (a dog's normal body temperature is apparently around 100-102 degrees F and Ripley was 100.2). Ripley has gained about 8 lbs. since we got her in July and now weighs about 41 lbs, but still looks lean. Then the very nice doctor came in to muzzle her and poke and prod her tail. He essentially confirmed that she's an Australian Kelpie during my conversation with him! He decided she didn't need an X-ray and that it was highly unlikely anything was "broken" but that we should put her on some anti-inflammatory drugs and see if she

Jan. 5

....hmm, seems like the final part of this story somehow didn't get saved and I didn't notice until now. I need a copy editor.

So how does it end?

Ripley's been on a doggie NSAID for four days, and she's been getting a little better every day. It's been very cute how her tail's been perking up a tiny bit every day. She's pretty much back to normal, but she misses Kerriann. She's....clingy. It's the only way I can describe it. And I'm playing with her MORE than I EVER do normally, 'cause I got nothin' better to do. I've watched a lot of movies and TV in the past couple days, and I'm making a list of new ones that are playing now. If I see anything extraordinary, I'll let you all know.

Wow, is that an End in sight?