Happy Thanksgiving!

Dinner's over...time for a nap!

Some cheese with that whine?

I just took down an ultra-whiny post I put up earlier, droning on about the state of my masseter muscle and how it has taken a doctor, a chiropractor, a dentist, and some killer muscle relaxants to undo the painful damage I've been doing to my jaw this week by clenching in my sleep. The stress is not coming from work or home--it's coming from church.

I have to find a way to slough it off when people are mad at me because I scheduled a meeting at a time when it conflicted with their pet project, or when I am having to shoulder a responsibility that started out as someone else's (long story). I can and do say "no", in fact I just said no to a teaching request yesterday. But, you know, not only can I not please all of the people all of the time, I also have to learn to be OK with that and not take it out on my own body in my sleep.

As I told my chiropractor on Monday, God is a solace. God's people often are not.

Welcome to Riley

Real life has interfered with blogging recently, but I have been remiss in not posting about our newest family member! Sweet Amie had been gone about a month when I realized I really wanted another dog. We wanted another older heeler, and thanks to Petfinder.com we headed off to Cajun country (Lafayette, LA) a week and a half ago, and came back with this fine gentleman!

Riley (who looks a bit timid in this photo because he is afraid of cameras) is about eight years old, and limps because of an old injury to his left back leg. But when he wants to run, he picks up that foot and takes off like a rocket on the other three feet! He loves people, other dogs, dinner, walks, and lots of attention. He is not fond of cats and was very proud of himself when he chased one out of our backyard the day after his arrival. He has been very well-behaved in the house, and seems happy to be with us.

The rescue group had called him Felix, but we decided that he needed a Cajun name in honor of his origins. We discussed and rejected Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, Gumbo, Boudin, Gator, Zydeco...I started thinking of Cajun and zydeco musicians. When I got to the great Steve Riley, frontman of the Mamou Playboys, we decided Riley was an excellent name for a boy dog!

My mother-in-law's dogs, Otto and Cody, are staying with us while she recovers from a recent surgery. Riley lived with six other dogs in his foster home (can you imagine?) and seems glad to have them around. But I agree with the Scientist: "This is a little too much dog!" More pictures soon, I hope.