Of Ben Franklin, Sanitary Landfills and Puppy Training...

I finished with my "homework" for the month, now I can do something fun, like update my blog.

I had to wait for a day when the boy and the girl were out of the house so I could concentrate for an hour.  Even then, it just about killed me to simply sit down and do it.

In this case, my homework was an online CPR course.  I still have to do the practical exam with an instructor, but the written work is out of the way (yes, I passed the written exam).

I couldn't imagine going back to school at this point in my life.  My attention span is absolutely zero for things I have to do.  I mean, I've put off this quick-one-hour-online-in-the-comfort-of-my-own-home-review-and-test-just-because-I-had-to-do-it course for a month.

I couldn't imagine taking several classes over a semester.  Certainly not at this point along the linear progression of my life.

So, what is new?

Spring cleaning this past weekend.  We had 10 years worth of shit used debris collected around our yard which we've been meaning to remove for quite a while.  Our planned trip to the city dump never happened last year.  So this weekend, we made not one, not two, but three trips to the sanitary landfill (I found nothing sanitary about it, by the way).

Our yard hasn't looked this clean in a long, long time.

By the way, the landfill is actually a pretty interesting place... you know, in an odd, single-use, expendable, heaping mounds of it-used-to-be-brand-new kind of way.

At least, I think it is.

More projects this summer:

1. new front steps and front patio.  
2. a new, black-topped driveway.

Yes, we will be shelling out Benjamins, but it will be worth it in the end.

Speaking of Benjamins, the wife and I went to the eye doctor on Monday.  Now there's a kick in the wallet for ya.

However, I am looking forward to my new glasses.  

The wife?  Not so much.  She turned 40 on May 1st and was prescribed bifocals on May 13th.  

[and for those of you who didn't get the multiple word play: Ben Franklin is on the $100 bill and also invented the bifocal lens.  See what I did there?]

Life with Lulu has entered its second week.  She is one headstrong pup.  And very smart.  Heelers are a dominant breed and she requires a lot of discipline (consistency + repetition = discipline).  

We are working on the housebreaking (at nine weeks, she might not be quite ready, but it's never too early to start).  I keep having to remind myself that she is very young.

She's got typical puppy behavior, which means chew, chew, chew anything and everything.  We've all got "battle scars" from playing with her, but we are doing a pretty good job of making sure she has plenty of appropriate things to gnaw on.

I think she has accepted me as her alpha, but my kids are another story.  Again, heelers are by nature headstrong and it's going to take a lot of time and work.  But she will be a wonderful dog once we get her trained to know what is acceptable and what is not.

Lulu giving me the stink eye after interrupting her morning nap.

News on the boxer front:  we have, indeed, been approved to adopt by Minnesota Boxer Rescue!  Now to find a perfect match for us...  nothing is imminent, but we've leaped the final hurdle.

Time to get ready for work.  Does it have to be so beautiful out there?