She Called Me Out for Spending Time with Other Dogs the Past Few Weeks and Now I'm Getting the Cold Shoulder Treatment.

I can't help myself. If a friend gets a puppy, I say I'll be there in 3...2...(and then I'm there). My colleague Sonya Huber picked up a black and white speckled dog named Izzy and I dropped of puppy treats to welcome her to the neighborhood and ended up staying over an hour. The puppy loved playing and nibbling my ears and climbing my shoulders. I knew Karal would be made. I was right.

Yesterday, I finished grading at 10 a.m., walked Karal (I'm good to her), mowed the lawn, then started my Spring cleaning yard work. The poison ivy is everywhere in CT this year and I'm not the only one covered in it. When I got the lawnmower out of the shed, I saw that vines were creeping inside the walls. Nope. Sprayed them down, but you never know if it touches you. 

Today, we have ESTP Teacher Celebration, to be followed after meeting, after meeting, after meeting. IN fact, my entire week before graduation is one gigantic meeting, in which I'll be planning what I want to do as soon as this craziness is over: clean garage, paint bathrooms, get new front and back porch furniture, read, write, and lose 220 pounds so I can be the weight I was when I was like 2. A guy can wish, right?

I'm thankful to my Brazilian neighbor for bringing me an out-of-the-blue dinner, which resulted in me not having to cook. I'm not sure how he prepared the meat, but it was delicious. Asparagus, too.

I'm writing this morning, shaking my head. it's been a year, followed by a year. It's so easy to get in the rat-race, 14-hour days craze, so when I see that there is a letting up of hours, I'm almost beside myself. Talking to an ol' friend last night I simply said, "It's so nice to have a second to reach out. That's not the way academia rolls, and I rarely have a second to stop and reflect. That is what I'm hoping for the next couple of weeks. Rest and reflection before the summer programs begin.