Sweetheart saying her final "Goodbye" to Hannity, the horniest dog in Ocean Shores, Washington--and beyond!

Needless to say, Sweetie is the pooch on the right. Her "boy friend" on the left--from the street behind ours--is named "Hannity" after some TV personality.

Eat your heart out, Gem!

But since you asked (Gem), it's getting close for her to be on your side of the country--somewhere near Silver Spring, MD. Thanks to Pet-Air and a lightening streak around town today (me!), we have her weighed and measured (23 lbs, 12" high and 24" long) for optimum selection of the proper sized kennel--indeed, the PetMate kennel-carrier ($105) is awaiting only for me to pick it up at the feed store in Aberdeen tomorrow morning before the math class. She (Sweetie) will be getting her shots (again!) on Friday before I attend another of those &%$#@ mandatory unemployment classes (this one is called "Dressing for your Interview" and only lasts two hours), and a thorough vet-check-up for her interstate health certificate (the vet said the "Shebang"--her word, not mine--would be only $125).

Tonight, I'll be making the Pet-Air (what airlines, God only knows) reservations and providing the HTML form for her carrier labels and dog tags. I'm kinda hoping I'll be able to make the seven or eight hour round trip on the Friday following her check-up.

Only hitch is that the health papers come with a ten-day fuse. If she doesn't fly out by Friday-plus-ten-days, it will be another $125. I may try to get the vet to give her a flex-time appointment sometime next week.

But then, what's money?

She is sleeping well, but knows something is up and misses Richard dreadfully. She sleeps under my covers (ugh!) but does bark to be walked and such. Midnight walks out here in the middle of nowhere are something you have to see (pitch black) and feel (brrr ...) to appreciate. At least during the early morning or after-classes hours, I can tell when she goes #1 or #2 or both. A typical walk takes half an hour and we scare dozens of deer and raccoons in the process. I wish I had a night vision camera.

My students are beginning to make noises when I rush into one class or the other three minutes late, but I thought it best not to let them knowing I'm having problems at home. My handwriting on their papers (grading comments) have some of them suspicious and one guy thought he saw me going into the unemployment office last week. Of course, I still have to make those three "WorkSource Contacts" each week for the unemployment to resume at the end of the quarter in December--if I'm not contracted for the Winter Quarter.

As for Richard, he only called once but sounded GREAT! It was a short call last Thursday--short because he has to get into line--although we did talk for almost ten minutes because he was last in line for a while anyway. Just as Sweetie misses him, he also misses her VERY MUCH!

You see, Gem, being human ain't all it's cracked up to be. Hopefully, Pet-Air will get her a weekend flight so I won't have to cancel classes for one day.

Whoops! To insure that weather or other such calamity doesn't shoot that seven day fuse with a water pistol, I will be taking Sweetheart in for her final check-up at 8:45 am next Wednesday (Oct 7) and Sweetheart will "technically" be my animule until she is on the airplane. The picture on my drivers licence doesn't look nearly so handsome and young as Richard--the real owner and lover of the sweetest dog in Ocean Shores--although with bad taste in boy friends (Hannity).

Hopefully, I'll have the labels and reservations in the mail (or however) from Pet-Air in time. Prayers will help.

But as they say in AA: "One Day at a Time!"