Procrastination

Here are the things I am putting off:

Dishes: Of all my regular chores I hate washing dishes most. I don't have a dishwasher, but the main problem is that I think the sink is a little lower than is comfortable. It makes me lean over slightly to wash dishes. Of course, if I didn't let them pile up so much I wouldn't have to stand there very long...

Laundry: I don't mind doing it. I kinda like folding it. But still, I haven't done it yet. If it wasn't for my sisters' visit this weekend I probably would put it off longer.

General straightening up: When I was a kid my mom called this 'blitzing'. As in: "Girls, blitz the living room before dinner." While it translates from German into something more akin to lighting, or flash and may conjure up the WWII Blitz of Britain, to me, it will always equate quick cleaning.

Citizen's Duties: Jeremy sent me an email regarding a bill and I have yet to call my senators and representative.

Vacuum: I bought a new vacuum last week! A Bissell Powerforce Bagless. I used it today in the front half of the house (I had Winchester gated in the back half) so I need to go over my bedroom and the spare room. It works much better than the old freebie vac it replaced.

New Shoes: So this is not something that I am really putting off, just something I haven't had a chance to do yet. I need to get some new running shoes. I don't plan to become a runner, it hurts my knees, but Winchester likes to walk fast sometimes and I think jogging with him is fun. We are mostly on the grass, so it is not a huge priority though, so if I were putting it off it would be no big deal.

Cook: I like to cook. Really. But I haven't been interested in doing much of it lately. It is not like frozen food tastes better, or is healthier, or cheaper. It is just...I've been lazy (pretty much the whole gist of this post). But I have a new cookbook and a CSA share, so I'll get around to it ;)

Gear up for school: Don't even get me started about the short notice "professional development" (in-service)...talk about short notice, I found out Monday of this week that Monday of next week we have mandantory PD. If I hadn't randomly gone up to school (to organize my classroom, something I don't get paid for) I wouldn't have found out until today when the letter came.

Finsh cleaning/organizing my classroom

Write my AAE proposal and come up with a title

Wax my car (washed it yesterday)

At least Wincester got a lot done today: eat, sleep, walk, play with toys, play with me, get petted, jump over the gate keeping him in the back room so he could greet me at the door...

Winchester

I mentioned in my last post that I have a greyhound, Winchester. He has been home for two weeks and one day!


Here is a list of things that are going really well:

-Housetraining: The greyhounds are on a schedule for "turn-outs" into fenced areas outside the kennel. I kept him on this schedule for the first few days and then we transitioned onto my schedule. One thing I did not teach him was that if he needs to go out, pacing back and forth between me and the door will get him there! Smart boy!

-On leash: I don't have a fenced yard, so that means walks, and lots of them! Greyhounds are accustomed to walking on a leash at the track, so this was nothing new. However, he is doing really well with not lunging at cats we see, and cats are new and interesting to him.

-Playing with toys: From the very first night here, Winchester has played with toys everyday. He has a duck that honks and two squealy hedgehog toys. Happily, he doesn't seem interested in tearing them up. He just tosses them in the air, chases them when I throw, and squeaks them.

-Meeting people: Winchester really likes people. More than I do. It may be good for me that my dog is more out-going than I am! While he doesn't instantly love everyone, he seems more than willing to meet them.

-Traveling in the car: On our first ride together, on the way home from the kennel, Winchester stood for some of the time, but laid down for most of it. On our longest trip, for a weekend at my parents' house, he laid down the whole way and slept most of the time! He also got along with my parents' lab ,Lucy, and she just adored him.

-Waking me up: While this may not sound like a positive, it will be. Winchester makes me want to get up more than any alarm will. And while getting up at 6am in the summer is not really my kind of morning, the long-nosed sweet face staring at me on the edge of the bed is.

-Not chewing on things: While chewing is primarily a puppy teething phase, dogs who haven't lived in a home sometime explore with their teeth. Winchester hasn't taken anything that wasn't his, with the exception of my dustpan the one time I used it last week, and he hasn't chewed anything up.

-Napping: Now all this getting up early leaves me drained in the middle of the day. Since it is sumemr, I can nap. Winchester is always more than willing to curl up in his dog bed in my room while I catch my 30 winks.

Now I am going to knock on wood and attempt to placate fate with a list of things we can work on:

-Seeing his reflection: Winchester had never in his life been away from other greyhound very long or far. So naturally, when I brought him home he began to look for the others. All he found was his reflection, or in his view, an odd greyhound with no scent. He's gotten better. He knows the greyhound reflected in the windows, the side of my car, and the microwave aren't worth paying attention to...but I still have to keep a sheet over my bedroom mirror.

-Stoping on walks: I know I said he walks well on a leash, and that is true...when he is walking. I try to use these little breaks as time to stop and enjoy, vs. tug on his leash...except for when we are stopped in the middle of the road. The smallest thing can distract him...a cat...a person...a leaf...trains...the poop-bag... So our walks are intersperced with ellipsises.

-Training: I've helped to reinforce the training of my parents' dogs, so I think I could handle the basics: sit, down, stay, etc. I've decided though, that a class would be good for both of us. There is one in Memphis that starts in September and I will probably sign up. It is a "clicker training" class, and I've heard that technique works well, especially for grown dogs.

-Being alone: Most greyhounds have never been alone until after their race career ends, if then. They grow up with their siblings, go to train together, and then live at a kennel. Winchester and I are working on "alone-training". I have been leaving for increasing increments of time, so he gets used to being alone and learns that I will come back. I give him a "Kong" filled with peanut butter and kibble when I go, so he usually doesn't care that I am leaving!

-Velcro dog: He has gotten better about not following me everywhere. The first week, if I got up to re-fill my water, he was with me. If I went to the bathroom, he whined at the door. Now I think he knows it is too much effort to get up over every little thing, but if I am out of the room for more that a couple of second he comes to see what I'm doing.

Overall, I couldn't be happier. Even if the transition hadn't been as smooth, I would still say that he is a great dog.

New Directions

Okay, so I don't blog. Now that I am not trying to, maybe I will put this "blog" to better use!

I like lists, so I'll start with that:

Things that have happened recently:
-Last Monday, July 14th, I brought home my retired-racing greyhound Winchester Drive from Mid-South Greyhound Adoption Option! He has been a dream dog (well, other than trying to swallow a bird this morning...). He also got along with my parent's lab, Lucy, when I brought him for a visit this weekend.

-I visited a friend in Champaign and we went to Chicago for the weekend! Art note: We went to the National Museum of Mexican Art

-The family (minus one sister who was in Italy) went to the lake for a week and I caught my first "fish in a boat with a lure", a 14 inch white bass. Yum.

- I am really excited about my new cookbook: "Starting with Ingredients"by Aliza Green



Things I need to work on:
-making artwork- I have materials and ideas, so the hardest part is out of the way

-making powerpoint presentations for school- I don't know if I will have a projector for next year, but I might as well make a case for myself with some kicking ppts for art history lessons

-training for Winchester- there is a class that starts in September and I'll probably sign up for it, but I need to do a little now too (not that he needs much)

-attending art events in Memphis- I would like to start doing this, after all what good is it to be a member at the Brooks Museum if I don't go to their stuff, and hopefully, I'll meet artsy people

-I need to fill out the form for a CSA (community supported agriculture) from Whitton Flower and Produce and take it to the farmer's market in town tomorrow, the tomatoes and peaches I bought last week were great

-I've started a knit bear (I looked for a similarly patterned pic, but no luck) and I need to finish it

-update my school website and add some kind of incentive for students to visit it

-now the long term stuff: GRE, porfolio and slides for MFA app