As scheduled, Baron was neutered and came through it all very well. In fact, you really wouldn't have thought anything happened to him by his actions. He had to stay overnight and, when the Beast brought him home, he went through every room in the house like he was afraid he would never see it again and had to reassure himself that everything was the same.

I was a little disappointed that it doesn't seem to have slowed him down a bit and he is still challenging us at various times. It gets a little tiresome and he's spending more time in the kennel on those days that he seems full of *piss and vinegar*, as the saying goes. There are definite disadvantages to selecting a puppy that is *exuberant* and *outgoing*. Call it what you will, it means that the puppy is a dominant-type and there WILL be problems. I just hope that taking him to obedience classes will help. He does do well with the training collar on him, although it looks like a torture device. People who see him with it on always get the wrong idea and think that he's one of those dogs that bites and lunges at you and you NEED the collar to control them. You NEED the collar to train them not to pull ahead of you while walking and to correct other, non-acceptable behavior (like jumping up on people to lick them because you think everyone is a playmate).

My niece, Tara, has a hyperactive persona and is a little like a tornado coming in the door. She's always *up* and exuberant, funny and loveable. But her *aura* relays itself to Baron and he becomes hyperactive and difficult to control when she's around. I think that is why her sons are so calm. The contrast is amazing. She probably wears them out just by being around her for 24/7.

Anyway, poor Tara no longer just knocks and walks in the house. She waits until we kennel or otherwise control Baron because he gets so excited to see her and starts jumping up to lick her. I believe that he might actually be *taller* than she is when he is on his hind legs so he's not easy for HER to handle. And heaven help her if he's across the room when she comes in because he RUNS and JUMPS UP and knocks her into furniture with the impact. I have started to kennel him whenever ANYONE comes in the door and we wait until whomever it is either sits down or is in the house for a few minutes before we let him out....and we do it cautiously because we want him to realize that he cannot get excited and start barking like crazy whenever someone comes to the door or in the house. A warning bark or two is okay but when we say *enough!*, we mean it. Only time will tell. We ARE using techniques recommended in the dog training manual we purchased but a couple of them cannot be meant for a dog that is as strong as Baron. If it is, I'm sunk because he weighs almost as much as I do and is three or four times stronger when excited.

Now don't get me wrong. He can be very calm and very loveable. He's also funny at times. Like, he still thinks he is a lap dog. When he is feeling especially loving, he tries to get his long-assed body curled up in the Beast's or my lap and more than half of him is flopping over both sides. It has to be uncomfortable but he will put his head on your shoulder and give a deep sigh of contentment that makes you hug him and pet his head.

He loves to have his ears scratched and can be quite insistent about getting you to do it. He will keep nudging your arm and elbow until you get his message and start scratching and rubbing. He will lay his head on your lap or leg and sit down and you can see him melting in satisfaction. He will come and lay his head on your leg if you are sitting down when he thinks you are mad at him. Then, just like a kid, he thinks everything is *all better* if you pet him or rub his ears.

I spend an hour or so every morning crocheting whatever project I am working on. He drove me nuts with wanting to walk between me and the coffee table (I watch the news while I am crocheting) because he would get tangled in the yarn and I would have to grab him, untangle him and then rewind the yarn to a more workable length. He's now learned to walk UNDER the yarn and I have to laugh every time he does it. If you are trying to envision this, you have to realize that I have two wicker baskets under my coffee table. I keep my yarn and project in one of them so the yarn goes from the basket to me, sitting on the couch. The baskets came with the coffee table AND each end table. There is a shelf they fit on and a wicker shelf covering it. They are really cool because I use one of the baskets on the end tables to keep magazines and catalogs in. It helps keep the room much neater now and I know where to find the magazine I want to read or browse now.

We had a cold snap here that went on-and-on for a couple days. The weatherman on our local tv station said a couple times that it was *unusual* weather for this area. I woke up to 19 degrees with a wind chill of 12 degrees.
We had our heat on plus had the small heaters going in the four rooms they were in to help get and keep the house warmed up. I dressed in layered, warm clothing like I was going outside and still felt cold. I'm not sure how much of it was psychological and how much physical but this is what I had on: a bra, my insulated long underwear tank top, a knit turtleneck pullover, a v-neck sweater, regular panties, the bottom of my insulated underwear, warm-up pants, a pair of knee socks and my soft and very warm slippers that come up to my ankles. The Beast had the temperature set for 75 degrees at first and then boosted it up to 78, I think it was. He was also still cold but I think part of it was listening to the wind (which was 16-18 mph with gusts of 25-30). THEN we got the good news that we could expect snow flurries later that night, lasting until early morning and some possible snow showers as the day warmed up to about 32 or so.

Now, you have to understand that here, in the Tennessee Valley area as it's called, this kind of weather is not usual for winter. I'm not sure why but winters are generally mild but daytime temperatures average around 50 degrees with lows in the upper 30's mostly. Snow is rare, even snow flurries. And, heaven forbid that the roads ice up. Even the threat of it had several counties announcing that there would be no school that day because they wouldn't take the chance of school buses hitting icy road patches and endangering everyone aboard. I kid you not...there were four or five COUNTIES in the TV area that declared it a *no school* day. They also did not want the kids to be standing out in such brutally cold weather, waiting for a school bus.

Albertville lucked out for the most part. We got the cold but didn't get any snow in our immediate area although Guntersville, the next town north of us, did. It didn't stay on the ground or accummulate due to the fact that the arctic air moved through here faster than anticipated. But we got it by another quickie a day later. Not as brutal (for our area) but almost as cold and much windier. We bade it a happy farewell when it departed two days later. Today our weather was 36 when I woke up and is going to go up to the mid-50's this afternoon and tomorrow we will actually be in the 60's (almost a heat wave !) I have continued to *layer* and avoided going out at all as much as I can. I even made the Beast open up the door for Baron to go out and come in after doing his duty and Baron did what he had to in record time, let me tell you! That dog hates the cold as much as I do.

Right now, since it's in the upper 40's (it's 11:30 am), the Beast got brave and is taking Baron for a run around our circle. The Beast is on his scooter and Baron is trying to beat it and having a ball. I am making a pot of hot tea for the Beast because he will be VERY chilled when he comes in (which will be in just another two or three minutes since it's still not his kind of weather and IS cold). He's going to help Tara's boyfriend trace out an electrical problem he has since he put in a new wiring harness in the old truck he restored. One or more of the harness wires is not right because he can't get the headlights to work and something else (I really didn't pay attention since that stuff bores me to tears).

Well, the Beast and Baron have returned so I am going to leave you for now. I have to figure out what I want to make us for lunch (it'll be something HOT, trust me) and get our dinner started. I think spaggetti and some homemade french bread will do nicely.

On a footnote: I finally used my new breadmaker yesterday. The first loaf of regular white bread turned out wonderful and we pigged out while it was still warm and smothered it with butter (I know, you can almost hear your arteries harden but it was wonderful). The second loaf was cheddar cheese bread and something went wrong be-cause it actually overflowed the pan and sank in the middle. It made it durn near impossible to get the pan out of the breadmaker (I finally had to break off part of the crust that wrapped the top of the pan so I could give it a twist and take it out of the breadmaker). Once I cut off the top section, the rest was edible and tasty but I didn't add enough cheddar cheese to it apparantly. I couldn't figure out what went wrong until the Beast admitted he tried to change the crust color setting to light (I had changed it to dark since the medium setting was too light for our tastes) and it had changed the SIZE of the loaf setting (and it was a size larger than it should have been which meant more time for the bread to rise (thus leading to the overflow and collapse of the upper section but not the whole thing, thank goodness). Today I am just using the machine to mix the dough and I will complete the rest of the bread cycle myself and bake it in my oven. I will let you know how it turns out. The Beast has always loved my homemade french bread.

Have a wonderful day and a great week. May you all have unseasonably warm weather and no colds, flu or other winter illnesses. I love you all.

I hope you understand that my title is facetious. The one thing Centralia is NOT is EXCITING. It's a town that seems like it can't make up it's mind if it is fading or growing. The old-time residents talk about the loss of jobs yet you can see new businesses along the Interstate and in the *town* itself. Some incredibly expensive housing is being built in areas that abut older, less expensive housing and even trailer lots. Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of planning going on unless contractors have something in mind for the long run. Who knows?

The Beast's brother's house is unremarkable from the outside. The two car garage is detached and has a workshop attached to the rear of it with a long workbench and some cabinets and shelving that will prove useful if his brother ever becomes handy. He HAS acquired some tools, I noticed, and even a chain saw for the dead trees on his property so he will have firewood for his fireplace there.

Inside the house is another story. It is a 3 bedroom (one bedroom is an enclosed loft area). The master bedroom is large with a HUGE walk-in closet that could be another room. The master bath includes an area for the washer and dryer which my sister-in-law finds very convenient. The living and dining areas are large and well-lit because of the windows at the rear and a glass door to the deck outside. The kitchen and guest bath are sufficient for their use and the kitchen counter separating it from the dining area is also an eating counter that accommodates four stools easily.

The guest bedroom downstairs was large enough for the dresser already in it and the queen sized blowup mattress we brought with us, as well as the dog kennel for Baron. There was a room next to the front door and to the left that housed the hot water heater, the furnace and lots of shelves for use as a pantry that would accommodate a big family. There was also plenty of room for those difficult to store items like a rug shampooer, the vacuum cleaner, the bin used for fireplace ashes and several cute bins for potatoes and onions. The furthest wall from the door had the freezer against it. All-in-all, very nice and useful.

I've mentioned the fireplace a couple times now and I will describe it now. It is located under the stairs to the loft and faces the living/dining area. It's a heatalator-type with two vents above the mantle on either side. It's brick with a nice mantle and some built-in shelves above it, which my sister-in-law put to good use with some of her many figurines. Directly under the stairs and to the left of the fireplace is a rather large area for keeping firewood and kindling.

On the back wall extending from the dining area all across the rear of the living room is a plant shelf complete with windows behind it. That area was used to display many of the baskets that the Beast's mother had purchased from all over the country (and some in Spain). My sister-in-law bought silk flowers and vines and used larger figurines in between the baskets. I found the house very warm, comfortable and *homey* feeling. The best part was that, even though the home is an older one, it had been updated recently so both bathrooms were fairly new and the kitchen was definitely up-to-date except for the lack of a dishwasher. They plan on buying one of those portable ones to use when company comes and they have a convenient deep closet to store it in near the kitchen. I know they will enjoy their retirement in that house.

The house has a view of the lake at the rear when you are on the deck. How much of a view there will be in the summer when all the trees are in leaf is another story and I will have to wait and see. His lot is large but odd shaped and he is going to have it surveyed and leave the stakes up so he has no problems with one neighbor of his that is already proving a pain-in-the-ass. Hereafter, when I use the term *PITA*, you will know what that means.

The Beast's brother is one of those type of personalities that *knows it all* on almost any given subject. Right now he *knows all about* training dogs even though it was his wife that went through training with their dog and spent her time actually training the dog. We don't *KIA* but, when you watch his idea of *training*, you know he is clueless.

Baron has grown bigger than Heidi now but is still only 7 months old and very much a puppy in his play. He and Heidi greeted each other happily and started their running, jumping, body thumping, play fighting complete with those awful sounds and lots of teeth but no real biting. It's very typical but no one gets excited if the dogs are small because it seems so *cute*. But, put two dogs that are over 28" at the shoulder and weighing more than 75 lbs and it can look serious and threatening.

On day 5 of our visit, my BIL had both dogs outside by himself for the first time (the Beast was doing something inside the house) and the dogs started their play fighting. Who knows for sure what happened but there was some serious snarling added and my BIL freaked out. He came dragging Baron into the house by his collar, screaming that Baron was trying to kill Heidi. For almost an hour, no one could talk to him. He was screaming like a maniac, telling my husband that Baron was aggressive and uncontrollable. His wife tried to tell him, so did the Beast, that there was no blood, no bites and, if Baron was really set on *killing* Heidi he would have hurt HIM when he was dragging him into the house. If he had thought about it or paid attention, both dogs were in the house and laying down peacefully while all this ranting was going on. The Beast (I give him credit) remained quiet and, during a break in his brother's rant, said, *Fine....we will take him home then.* And that is why we returned home on Friday rather than on Sunday or Monday as planned initially.

The other days were very pleasant (for me). I spent most of my time crocheting and talking with my SIL. She and I get along just great and I am halfway done with the afghan that had only 12 rows done when I got there. I could probably have finished it completely if I hadn't helped either cook or clean up for all our meals. I also tried to help out with other chores like cleaning out the ashes in the fireplace (I DID get to do that once totally by myself while my SIL napped). We kept a fire going every day, all day long. It was really great and I realized how much I missed my fireplace I had in California. I wish this house were just a bit bigger and I would get one installed, I swear.

Baron goes in to be neutered on Tuesday and I am soooo glad. He has JUST started *marking* his territory but is still just a BIT confused as to which leg he is supposed to lift. It's hysterical to see him lift his front paw and then squat. But he gets it right more than half the time now. One thing I DID find out is that neutering him will get rid of some of that drive for dominance he seems to have right now. (THAT bit of information came from one of the vets that neuters dogs for Dog Town in Colorado....a new show on National Geographic). ANY help in that area is appreciated.

I am determined that either the Beast or I will go with Baron for Obedience Training as soon as the weather is a bit warmer. I am going to start doing a little research on some of the trainers available in the area. If the best one is a bit further away than I hoped, well, c'est la vie! I want a really GOOD trainer to help get this OTHER beast under control (insert hysterical laughter here)

Well, time for me to close this journal I seem to have started today and get back to painting some of my ceramics we bought from a shop in Centralia. We found some really cute figurines and plaques there and a fantastic fairy one that we will go back one day and get for out in our yard. It was just gorgeous and will be a great attraction in the yard.

Love you all. Keep warm and be sure to tell those you love that you do while you can. You just never know..... I am concerned for the Beast's relationship with his brother at the moment and am praying THAT breach heals.

Two blogs ago, I mentioned that Baron had an infection on his neck and the big *C* (castration, neutering, de-boying, de-manning, demeaning...at least that is how men seem to see it. I then promptly got involved discussing things OTHER than those and for that, I apologize. Sincerely. Blame it on the blonde-to-the-bone thing that happens to me at times. Blame it on old age (no snickering girls) but I really never elaborated on it and for that, I am truly sorry.

The neck....we really aren't sure how that got started. It may have been a tick that Baron scratched off. It might have been when his collar got too tight and we hadn't noticed it but we suddenly found this small raw spot on his neck. It was a bit smaller than a dime and elliptical in shape. I did notice that Baron could scratch the area with his back paw. All we knew was it was raw and sorry looking. The Beast's brother had given us some cream from HIS vet to use on an earlier injury that Baron had done to himself and had warned us not to use any human creams or ointments since his vet told him that most dogs are allergic to the base materials used in them. I have no idea how true that it but the cream cost us nothing to use and we did so.

The area actually got worse and larger in size. It didn't help that it must have itched Baron because we couldn't keep him from scratching it. I had spoken to the vets aide about having the vet look at it when we brought him in for the BIG C (neutering) on the 22nd but I looked at it closely two days ago and it was awful. I called the vets office and they had already received Baron's records from the vet that took care of his ears, tail, dewclaw removal and all his shots. I explained that the sore looked really bad and asked if we could bring him in. Three hours later he was in her office. She said she was glad we had brought him in before the surgery date because it was infected and she would not have operated on him with that open sore on him. She gave him a shot and gave the Beast a different cream to be applied twice a day. The cream must be very soothing because he hasn't scratched at the area since we applied it the first time. It is already looking much, much better.

The BIG C.....as I said above, it will take place on the 22nd. We have to have him in her office by 8:30am and she will keep him overnight. He does, however, have to be *vaccinated* against kennel cough which is highly infectious and airborne. It is actually a nasal spray that is used and the protection is almost immediate. Isn't medicine wonderful these days? He can't eat after 8pm the night before although he can have all the water he wants. I wonder if she also means the water out of the toilet bowl that he sneaks in here and there? I'm constantly disinfecting that toilet because I get so grossed out over the idea of germs that might be lurking in there. I mean......well, you know what I mean.

Of course, we are hoping that being neutered will calm him down a bit...well, QUITE a bit but I don't believe in those kind of miracles. We DO know that it will mean he will not *mark* his territory (which includes the INSIDE of the house, too) and that is a definite plus as far as I am concerned. I hope it also means he won't be humping anyone's leg at the most embarrassing times.

I went to the doctors office, bright and early this morning and....no doctor. I couldn't believe it. I almost cried. The nurse, however, took my blood to run some tests he had ordered when he had to have sinus surgery on Monday. He is supposedly going to be in tomorrow morning (and so am I) but he DID order me a small supply of pain pills that I picked up after dinner tonight. I am so grateful because I didn't get any sleep last night and not even a nap today. You just can't do that while in pain. But, I have taken two pills and the pain is slowly but surely fading. I will take two more at bedtime and I should be able to sleep through the night based on previous experience with this medication.

I am considering going to a gastroenterologist to find out for sure if I have any problems in my intestinal tract or if the pain in this one area (where I have an incision scar) is, indeed, a problem of it metastasizing onto either my small intestines or the abdominal muscle. I just need to know.

Okay, we are having incredible weather for January, even for the Tennessee Valley area. It was actually over 70 degrees today and is still 64 degrees at almost 10 pm. However, we are under a tornado alert until 1 am. Can you believe it? A tornado? In JANUARY? I had to go pick up my prescription so I was out in the warm, very windy evening and I could see, in the distance, definite storm clouds and lightning heading our way. I barely made it home before the rain started.

Right now, all seems calm but it is still very windy outside. We shall see what we shall see. I'm really becoming a firmer and firmer believer in global warming being upon us faster than the *experts* have predicted. How else do you explain all these extreme weather conditions? Oh well. We humans are adaptable.

Love you all. Take care of your health with all these temperature ups-and-downs and that includes eating healthy. I love my niece but wish I lived even closer to my sisters than I do. It would be fun to cook together, crochet together and (for me) to perhaps learn how to knit from my sister Bee. *sigh* Hugs and kisses and sleep well all.

My sister was berating me for not making my blog more *personal*. She says I should be telling more about how I feel about different things. It's almost 4 am and I am up because, once more, I am suffering from pain and I am so damn sick of it.

I started suffering like this well over a year ago. I was actually in emergency rooms in two states four times in a little over a month because of severe abdominal pains. No one seemed to come up with any reason for it until, by chance, the ER in Alabama advised me (since we were returning to Florida the next day after the last ER visit) to see my doctor as soon as I got back because it *looked* like I might be having a gall bladder problem. They gave me enough pain pills to get me home and then some. When I called my doctor, his nurse fit me in the day after I called and he greeted me this way.......*Bad news, Sandy.....your gall bladder needs to come out* You can't even imagine my surprise but it seems the radiologist at our local hospital had read some x-rays of mine from a few days previous to our leaving for Alabama and had spotted the gall stones that were giving me my problem. A quick trip upstairs to see the surgeon in the building and I was scheduled for surgery the following week. I was in tears, literally, because I was in so much pain. When I got home, resigned to having to wait, I got a call from the surgeon's office. He had re-scheduled some of his surgeries because he felt I was in too much pain to wait any longer than necessary. I was so grateful.

Two days later, I was in and out of surgery before I knew it. Done lapriscopically, I had three tiny little incisions but was told no lifting, pushing, pulling....no activity at all dern near.....for a month. And, as I found out, it was really for longer than that. But I was grateful because I thought *no more pain once I heal*, right? Natural assumption. I didn't foresee some of the upcoming events, like getting a damn clodhopper, enthrusiastic, playful assassin dog.

I really WAS feeling good when we first packed up the household to move to our home in Alabama. Then I injured my back BIG TIME. I won't go into the sordid details but it was once of those *shame on me* moments because I did something I KNEW I shouldn't have. Blame it on being tired of packing and not thinking. I had to keep going because we weren't nearly done at the time. I knew I would suffer for it but proceeded to continue packing. I should have gone to emergency right then and there. By the time we actually drove from our home in Florida to the Alabama home, I was in agony. I had to drive our automobile while the Beast drove our truck and the packed to the hilt trailer. Thank goodness for one of our neighbors we had met here earlier because I could NOT help unpack that trailer. The Beast's brother and sister-in-law actually drove down to help unload and made the return trip with the Beast to finish up moving our stuff. It also helped that we were giving his brother some badly needed furniture for him to take back home with him.

I hobbled around in Alabama while they were gone (we had no dog then) and managed pretty well on the remaining pain pills I had brought with me from Florida. I made an appointment with a local doctor and prayed the Beast would make it back in time to drive me there because I really wasn't able to drive much. I also didn't know my way around much. I made out a list of questions to discuss with the doctor and had managed via fax to sign the request for my medical records to be sent to him before I actually saw him. I lucked out because he actually had read my history and had some questions for ME. I was stunned. But he made sure I had pain pills as well as something for inflammation (which he was sure I needed) and I felt WONDERFUL.....for about six weeks. Then it happened. Baron. My nemesis. My demon dog. He of the broken wrist making. He of the need for surgery. He of the knockdown and ANOTHER back injury. He of the mild concussion when traveling home from the closing on our house in Florida while I had the flu (it made the problem even worse than it was and had me reduced to tears and semi-suicidal trying to get home).

If Cesar Millan showed up at my house, I could NOT be calm and assertive because I have been hurt by that dog so often and so seriously that I remain a bit afraid of him. I walk around here with a rolled up (and rubber-banded) newspaper in my hand wherever I go because he is afraid of it. I think the breeder use the noise of that to get the puppies attention when they were all sheltered in her home. Even then, Baron was a trouble-maker since he was the dominant, assertive one. He taught the others how to escape from their *room* and get around those baby gates. I should have known. Alas and alack, we loved the personality of Baron, but never thought beyond that.

Now, here I am....still in major pain from the back problems and, I think, some metastisized scar tissue from the gall bladder surgery. I could work on that part if it were my only problem but it's not. I'm also having some serious low blood sugar episodes the past two weeks. I finally stopped half of the medication I was on and it's one of the things I have to talk to my doctor about in a few hours. Even being on half the medication hasn't stopped the low blood sugar episodes. They all seem to occur within three to four hours of eating. I'm hoping that will give the doctor a clue. I am also taking prilosec because my stomach has started hurting me and it helps a LOT. I'm not sure if it's pre-ulcer or just the damn stress from all this pain. I just know that I am sooooo tired of it. I am beginning to get seriously depressed over it all.

Well, now I've vented. It doesn't seem to have made me feel any better but things are a little more clarified in my mind. It should help me when I talk to the doctor a little later. I hope so anyway. I think I am going to go lay down on the couch and see if I can't snatch a couple hours of sleep. The Beast knows I have an early appointment so he won't let me sleep through it if I should be that lucky.

Meantime, love you all. Wish I had a couple pain pills I could take right now but these doctors here are ultra-worried about abuse of painkillers. Makes me want to scream at times. I feel like....*Hey...if it's an office fee you want, charge me. I will gladly pay it but make this pain STOP!*

I'll let you know what happens.

The Beast took advantage of our mild weather (after lows around 19 and wind chill factors of Zero) when the weather hit the 60's to take Baron to his favorite park for a run. Baron, as I've mentioned before, is a real wimp and hates cold weather. He will wait until he absolutely cannot hold it any more before he will run outside, take care of business and then run back to the door to be let in. He was seriously in need of some decent exercise. There is nothing worse (or louder) than a 70 lb. dog running through a small house with wood subflooring hell-bent for leather and trying to get him to calm down. The Beast not only took him to the park but also took him for a run around the circle with himself on the scooter and Baron trying to beat it home.

Baron has started to cheat in order to beat the scooter back to the garage. At a certain point, just before the last turn of the circle, he cuts across instead of staying in the circle and runs, lickety-split, back to the garage and then sits there, panting, with a smug look on his doggy face like "Well....what took YOU so long?".

At the doggy park, Baron loves to just run around all the trees and along the shoreline of the lake. He will hesitate during his run to look at whomever is accompanying him to make sure we are still walking towards him and then take off like the wind again. We have gotten to know when he is ready to start just *trotting* along (and believe me, that's what it looks like when a doberman slows down to a "walk"). I had stayed at home so I was a bit surprised to get a phone call from the Beast's cell phone. His reason for calling? He said to me....and I quote...."Honey, today our boy has become a man! He lifted his leg for the first time to pee!

Well, that put me in motion and I called the local vet we had decided to start using instead of running down to Anniston (it's an hour-and-a-half away). She came highly recommended to us for her familiarity with bigger dogs like dobermans. I made arrangements for Baron to be neutered on the 22nd of this month. I knew that, once he started lifting his leg on a regular basis, he would start *marking* his territory both inside and outside the house. God forbid! I sure don't want to HAVE to replace carpeting or start repainting walls because he got territorial on us when it could have been prevented. He has such beautiful lines on him and a wonderful ancestry but....back when we had dobermans that we started showing, we learned a lot about stud dobies and the hazards of THAT. Since we are NOT a kennel and have NO intentions of showing or breeding dogs, it is time!

The Beast is torn between thinking the same thing and having sympathy pains for him. I just ignore it because it's ridiculous. I am also hoping, just hoping, it will calm him down just a bit....please Lord....just a bit!

On another topic, we are going to Southern Illinois for a couple days on the 13th if all goes well. By all going well, I mean weather permitting. The Beast's brother is going to call us to let us know how THEIR weather outlook will be for the weekend on Thursday or Friday so we can adjust our arrangements as required. The Beast wants them to get there first so they can turn up the heat and get the place warmed up for us. It's actually the reason we are waiting until the 22nd to have Baron neutered because otherwise we would have to travel with him freshly *done* and I am not sure that would be very smart.

Me? I could do without the trip entirely but have no valid reason to stay behind this time. I have been having some medical pains that will be looked into during the next couple days (including a lot of pain) but a new pain prescription would allow me to travel.

My new furniture was delivered on Friday. Took the guys all of about 15 minutes to move it in and set it up since they had first unpacked it at the local store (so there was no fuss nor muss). It looks wonderful and is so much more comfortable. I really do NOT like most leather furniture and prefer the cloth. I love the burgundy love seat and two recliners. The new coffee table and matching end tables are even richer than I remembered. We had the cloth treated (for an extra charge, of course) but it's guaranteed for a long time and even through 15 professional cleanings if they should be required. I'm more concerned with Baron jumping up on them than anything. So far, it's only happened after they were first delivered and he was so excited about the new smells.

My niece, Tara, now has the complete rattan living set.....end tables, coffee table, couch, chairs and ottoman and rearranged her house accordingly. She just loves it. I always did, too, and was happy to see her have the set. I hope she gets a lot of joy out of it. If I ever decide to get rid of my kitchen set, she will end up with all the rattan furniture from our Florida home. *sigh*

My brand new printer was delivered today. I was totally shocked when it came since the Beast had told me NOT to buy one since he had one in mind for me. Well, it's a Canon Pixma Pro9000. It's WAY more printer than I would have selected for myself but does give me the chance to actually print up my own pictures. I do, however, STILL need a *reader* for my digital camera disk. I am NOT going to wait for the Beast to get that for me. I am going out to buy one for myself this week.

Well, time to try to get some sleep again. The pain has eased up a bit and I am going to give it another try. Love you all. Have a great week.

We finally got hit by real winter weather for this area. In fact, they said that it was the coldest weather they had here in almost 40 years. We woke up to 19 degree weather with very low humidity and a chilling 20 mph wind. I forget what the wind gusts were but the wind chill factor was zero. Now THAT is cold to someone that has only VISITED cold weather areas most of her life. I left Chicago for Florida in 1966 (yes, I know that gives you an idea of how very old I really am). Except for 2.5 years when my father-in-law was ill with cancer and we moved back to Chicago (my kids loved the snow....at first), we have ONLY lived in areas where it occasionally got chilly. Most of that time was in Florida but we did have 5.5 years in San Diego thrown in there for variety.

BTW....for almost perfect weather, you can't beat San Diego. When we lived there (in the mid-70's until 1980), you could still purchase a home for decent money. It was cheaper than Broward County Florida (that is where Ft. Lauderdale is located) and WAAAAY cheaper than the LA area. But that has changed now so, unless you have a high paying job, its a nice place to visit now.

I ordered some ladies long underwear for myself today. I bought some for the Beast during my Xmas shopping but they didn't have any for ladies so I was forced to find some online. They should arrive at the end of the week or on Monday. I need them because we are going to meet up with the Beast's brother and sister-in-law at their new home in southern Illinois. It will be much colder there than our weather normally is. In fact, they expect us to be back up into the 50's by friday. *sigh* I expect we will find ourselves with winter colds and other maladies before too long.

The most unexpected thing that has happened is that Baron seems invigorated by the cold. This is the same wimpy dog that we had to force outside to do his business when it was much less cold than it is now. But he bounded around, happy as a lark, and didn't want to go in when the Beast was freezing his butt off.

It's also made him more demanding about us playing with him so he's spent some *timeout* in his kennel when he got too demanding. He also did a real no-no by chewing up a pillow (another feather pillow bites the dust). When it was discovered, he KNEW he did bad because he headed right for his kennel and laid down in it and wouldn't look at us. I locked him in and he stayed that way for over an hour. Damn dog. He started whimpering when he felt his *punishment* should be over so I DID finally let him out. I made him sit and stay while I opened the kennel until I invited him out. He IS learning but the lessons are getting tough on ME and our THINGS. We shall see how things progress. As it is, he's proved he can't be allowed out of his kennel at night to roam the house. We still can't trust him not to chew up things. When we go to the Beast's brothers house, the kennel will be coming with us. I am so glad it folds up or we would have to take the uncomfortable and gas-guzzling truck. Plus, Baron is too darn big for sharing the front seat with us in it. I wish he had bought an extended cab one like the original truck we owned.

Well, it's late and the temp outside is already down to 21. It will probably NOT make it to single digits by morning but it will be VERY cold. I pray we don't have to go out for anything in the early morning. Meantime, keep warm and snuggle up. Wear your warm jammies to bed and don't forget the down comforters if you have them. Love you all.