Dog's perspective

Been a hell of a week.

Spent last week up in Wisconsin and Illinois on a pair of audits.  Long week, but productive.  As usual, things just went bat shit crazy at the office so I was busy burning up the airwaves on my crackberry during the day and trying to put out fires at night at the hotel.  Not really a relaxing week but a lot got done.  Nice time of year to go to Chicago (unlike going in November).   With one buyer retired and another out on a cruise, it left us very short handed for the week.  This week has me playing catch up as well with a company wide presentation on Monday and our own ISO auditors paying us a visit for the past few days.  They finished up this afternoon without any major problems which means we can coast into the weekend.  I need the time just to catch up on my reports/projects/interviews.  Yea, I know, I complain a lot.  But I guess it beats being bored.     

I mentioned the dogs in the last post.  Change of pace for our furry children last week.  Normally, I take off on a road trip and momma takes care of the dogs while I am out.  Things tend to be a bit more sedate when I am gone - not as much hoopla or chaos (I seem to cause some of that).  However, since my wife is taking care of her sister full time, it meant the dogs were going to be home alone for most of the week.  My parents decided they needed some excitement in their lives (as if surgery was not enough), they volunteer to take care of my two kids.  So, on Sunday, I took them over to their grandparents house for a week's stay.  Dropped them off on Sunday with enough food and treats to feed an sled team.  Gave my parents strict instructions NOT to walk the dogs, just let them out in the yard and I would take care of de-mining the yard when I got back.  Of course, those instructions were quickly ignored.  They spent a week being the center of attention over there and getting spoiled only the way a grandmom can.  They got to play with next door dog, Walter, another Golden Retriever.  They even met several other Goldens in the neighborhood when my dad took them for a walk.  Sort of a doggy summer camp.  I tried to tell my dad not to walk them, but he is hard headed and still does his early morning walks which made him an instant hit with Grayson.  Claire wasn't as adventurous and preferred camping out on the terrazzo in the foyer (coolest spot in the house) or trying to catch the resident squirrel that has been stealing pecans off the patio table.  Despite their hardship, they got used to the new routine.  Mom normally fixes dad eggs for breakfast every morning (been doing that for 69 years) and somehow the dogs wound up with their own egg for breakfast as well.  And they say I spoil them.  They were happy to see me when I picked them up on Friday but they did miss all of the extra attention they got during the week.  It has taken most of the week for me to "deprogram" them and get them back to normal.  Grandparents always love to spoil the kids.   

My older brother from Seattle is flying in tomorrow.  He wants to be here when my dad goes in for surgery on Monday.  Normally I do not converse with him on a regular basis (like once every few years) but occasionally he gets "chatty".  That was the case last week.  He was asking about how we were doing and how SIL was doing and it wound up in a conversation about cancer and doctors and chemo and such.  Typical exchange of e-mails on how people react differently to situations.  We even discussed how dogs seem to deal with stressful situations differently.  At one point, I added my philosophical outlook on how some dogs handle life's problems:   

Dogs do have a great outlook on life's problems. If you cannot roll in it, eat it, or play with it, piss on it and move on. 

The weekend ahead is looking busy.  Toilet repair, clean the carpets, dog show, mini family gathering.  Should be interesting (or at least not boring).