more than dogs

hi. kara and i saw the movie year of the dog last evening. i do recommend it. it was interesting how much of herself kara saw in the molly shannon character, in terms of molly's relationship with her dog, pencil. it was a sweet movie, very funny, but with a dark side. it certainly reminded us of our dog-related events of this summer, so there was some crying going on, but it also made us laugh. (i think 2 weeks ago would have been too soon to see it.) plus peter sarsgaard's in it, and kara's probably a little bit in love with him. i like him too, so it's totally okay.

dagmar and steve are 9 weeks old today. i got them a woolly apple at a fancy pet store in the plaza where eliot got shaved yesterday, and they love it. they're tearing it apart. we might have to get them some more fruit.

sorry this blog has been so much about dogs lately. i imagine it's getting a bit boring for my legion of regular readers (all 4 of you!). other things actually are going on in our lives. kara's doing extremely well in school and she's thinking of applying for a job with the city. the job seems to be basically the same as what she's doing now, but it pays something like $6 more an hour, so it would be great if she got that. her current job is still mostly okay, but the management in her department is often a source of stress.

her fingernail is growing back fast. it'll be all the way back way before christmas. it looks really good.

i'm enjoying my new role as part-time filler of blanks and corrector of flagged jobs in the transcription department. (it's less temporary now; even though the person i was filling in for is back, the other person has decided she doesn't want to do it any more.) i like the troubleshooting aspect of the job, and a small part of me actually likes being around people again. the woman who works where i got my coffee almost daily until a year ago (when i started working from home) remembered me immediately when i started going back a few weeks ago, and that was nice. and it's still only 2 or 3 days a week that i have to go to the office. the variety is welcome.

and of course i'm reading (but not enough), watching movies and tv (too much), not doing much exercising (though i've been walking to and from the office, so that's a small something), and not writing. so some things need to change soon. it's day 2 of a 4-day weekend for me (day 1 of a 3-dayer for kara), and there's some yard stuff i'm going to do today. we'll walk the dogs (whoops! i said the d word) probably today and monday and work with them on their potty training and other things. dagmar's a bit rough with steve sometimes with their play, and i'm not sure what the right thing to do about that is.

eliot clearly feels better, happier, shorn. he's more active and social. all that hair just weighed him down. he's a sweet boy.