adrenalin

I thought it was a quiet, rainy Saturday. I was doing a bit of code, and glanced out the window to let a thought percolate. What I saw should not have been there.

A white clumber spaniel, strolling around the front yard. Not in the fenced back yard.

The house seems strangely quiet. If Wendy is loose, who else is? It's very quiet...

All five dogs have escaped the yard. I don't remember putting them outside. OK, breathe, one at a time. Get Wendy in the house. I put on a hat and go to the door. It's wide open, well at least now I know how they got out. Call Wendy. Go back to the door (chased dogs tend to run) and wait trying to breathe. Wendy appears at the door, with Batman. Not sure where he was, but that's two down, three to go.

Downstairs, the boys have become aware. Georgia walked by the other door, and they let her in that way.

That just leaves Woody and Zoe, brother and sister, partners in crime. Call, no pitter patter of soppy, wet feet.

OK, outside again, two leashes in hand, and a hat to try to keep some of the downpour off me. Walk up the driveway calling - notice two cars in the road stopped facing each other. My heart stops. too. At the end of the driveway appeared two smiling spaniels, very proud of themselves, apparently having just run through the space between the two cars.

Safe home. Breathing again.

Another graduation

This time my eighth grader, who for a reason I can't fathom, decided he wanted to wear a tux to his graduation. I've been to six middle school or eighth grade graduations now, and had a strong sense of the fact that this would be the last (til the next generation, anyway). It's strange that the baby will be in high school in September.

Part of the deal with letting him wear a tux was letting us take pictures.

... See my Tabblo>

Questions and Answers

I've noticed a trend in discussion databases. Someone posts a question. The first few responses are often of the form: you should have asked the question in this other place, you should have searched this database because the answer is here already, or you really should be asking this other question instead.

Most of these responses are from those who know the answer, but instead of just answering, they don't include the answer, in seeming punishment for asking the question. Those who answer with the you should have searched this database response must have actually done the search to be able to say that - yet all too often the link to the answer is not included.

This is creating a culture where it isn't safe to ask questions.... Whatever happened to the "there are no dumb questions" attitude?

Bittersweet

I'm proud of him, and yet I can't shake the image of a little blonde four year old in a blue "Save the Humans" sweatshirt. I don't know how he ended up being a high school senior so fast, and now he's graduated.

I took a bunch of pictures... Before I start crying again, here's the tabblo!

See my Tabblo>