Today, this moment, is the first quiet...all gone from the house, at least for 20 minutes, until my next appointment at noon. I have been working the house for a big charity event to be held here on Saturday. My husband has been doing sanding and painting all the doors and walls that my dogs have clawed. So, people don't look in shock or horror at the house my dogs seem to be constantly either clawing their way out or into.

Five dogs is a lot to own. You have to feed them, groom them, get them dog licenses, take them to the doctor yearly for shots, etc. Every morning and evening they need to be fed and five bowls are all laid out and the amounts are divided out, some get more because of their ability to burn it off and some, the older ones, get a little less. Quite often they are running amuck and barking at the UPS truck and jumping all over our leather couches and drooling all over our windows . I actually had a friend point this out to me when I lived in MN, she said, "These dogs are running amuck here!" Duh! Like I didn't know. I just choose to ignore it.

The entire family has developed a high tolerance for doggie disobedience. I was just looking at the doggie Orvis Catalog and it has a special collar you can buy that when a dog barks it automatically dispenses a spray of eucalyptus, which distracts him from what he was barking at and so he stops. And leaves a pleasant smell in it's wake, not a bad deal.

Well, my husband is going to drive our son all the way to Worcester, MA to row for his college crew team because he has to stay for a final presentation in his Collective Bargaining class, thereby missing the bus to the boat.

I hope you all enjoy a sunny weekend, as you can see, I have progressed to laughter in the writing of this post. It may be madness disguised in this last laugh, however. I will keep you posted.

n.