Came home from school yesterday on a normal, crazy Thursday. Walked the dog. Picked up Chris from school. Left early for a PTA board meeting so I could get some dinner and type up the minutes from the last meeting. Nothing like putting things off until the last minute.


While pulling out of the drive-through, my phone rang. It was John. He was practically hysterical. "MOM! You gotta come home! MOM! It's...Larry...window...blood..." It didn't get much better, but the gist was that Larry (the dog) had busted through the front window and chased down someone on the street and he had blood on him.


It wasn't as bad as all that. Luckily, I wasn't too far from home and got home pretty quickly. Yes, Larry had busted through the front window--but it was open so he didn't actually break the window. He knocked the screen out. (Interestingly enough, the screen wasn't damaged at all. Odd.)


From what I can gather, a woman was walking her two dogs across the street. Larry jumped through the window to go "meet" them. A dog-fight ensued. From my point of view of having this dog for a month and taking him for walks almost daily--he LOVES other dogs. He wants to play and play and play with them. He wants to meet every other dog we see while walking. He's adamant about it. But he's never, ever been aggressive to another dog. On the other hand, if you're walking your dogs and you see a 50 pound bulldog racing toward you, it would be scary. I understand that. And...one of the dogs has only three legs. So if I were that dog, I'd be defensive immediately. I really don't know what happened, I just know my dog thus far in our ownership of him.


The lady freaked out. Apparently she tried to break up the fight and got bit on the hand and scratched on the ankle. When I got home, the boys had Larry back in the house--thank the Lord that Chris was home!--and had calmed down a bit. I checked on them, got Larry crated so there wouldn't be a repeat episode. The woman's dogs were gone and she was hysterical. Her husband was there by now. I apologized to him. He asked about Larry's shots. He was very calm. She was not, but she was off the phone. I told her that my boys said she got bit. She showed me her hand. I offered a rag and she said, "Yes, please." I ran back to the house to get the rag.


As I stepped out the front door--rag in hand--an ambulance and fire truck pulled up. Seriously?!? Okay. The EMTs were checking out her hand, so I went to talk to the lady across the street. She said the dog owner had been screaming, "Call 911! Call 911!" So she did. Understandable. Then came the police car and animal control. I went to check on the boys. The dog owner went to the hospital in the ambulance. Yes. In the ambulance.


Now I had seen her hand. When I saw it, it didn't look like it was bleeding anymore. It is a hand injury and I certainly want her to have it checked out. But the ambulance ride? Really?


The animal control lady was very nice. Larry has to be quarantined at animal control for 10 days for a $100 fee. I can live with that. He burst out of the house unrestrained and apparently bit someone. That's the law. But I'm worried. Not about Larry, but about what happens next. What kind of potential civil legal trouble could we be in? Will she go after us for all the medical bills? Pain and suffering? Did she find her dogs? (She must have because the animal control woman knew the three-legged dog had a couple of puncture wounds.)


One more ironic aspect to this story. I know the woman. She's a member of our ward. She was one of my visiting teachers when we first moved here. She's a teacher here in town. Now what?

A Full Year

It's hard to believe I've been blogging for a whole year. If I have time this weekend, I hope to go back and re-read some of what I've written over the year. Hopefully, it's not just the same ole-same ole. It's been a good year. We're in the middle of some minor crises these days--John's mental health, James's schoolwork and his inability to focus on said work, Richard's evaluation and just overall depression. But...on the bright side...the ideas I got at TMEA seem to be working nicely for the first week. And Chris is a great teenager. He's taking care of his business in an honorable way--as far as I know--and he's living up to his potential at age 15. I hope he can stay on that path. I know there will be hiccups along the way--just like with the rest of us--but I think he can tell the difference when he's doing the right things and when he's not. It's a good thing.

Starting Fresh

I never know what I'm going to bring home from TMEA. One or two new ideas. New songs. Something for the choir. But today, I'm excited. I just may have something that I can follow through on. For the last four years, I've known what I want to teach. And I've known basically how to teach it. But I haven't done a good job at getting it across to the students.

I went to a session yesterday. The clinician uses the same basic method that I've always thought I wanted to use, but for some reason it hasn't been working like I knew it should. He had some new ideas and some ways of using the method that really spoke to me. It sounds like something my students can benefit from. Unfortunately, it will be a lot more work on my part. I will actually have to plan lessons instead of copying them from a book. But it's who I really am. Well, I'm lazy too...but this method of teaching is where my heart is. So, I'm hoping this is going to boost my teaching the rest of the year. And in years to come.

A friend that I ran into said it best, "You're almost at the 5 year mark where you figure out that you really don't know what you're doing." Yup. But for now...I'm going to try this new idea. But that's next week. Right now...I'm going to dinner. Where should I go? Hmmmm....

I'm Here

I'm here in San Antonio. My roommate doesn't get here until tomorrow--so I have a whole evening ALL to myself. What to do? What to do? So far, I've checked in at the convention. I took myself to lunch at Schilo's. I'd put it as a link, but they don't have a website. Just part of the charm.

Schilo's is well-known in these parts for their home-brewed root beer. Unfortunately, I don't really care for root beer. But...they also have Dr Pepper. Real Dr Pepper. Not the stuff you get at the store--but the real stuff. Made with real Imperial pure cane sugar. Sweeter and thicker than the store stuff. Man I love Texas!

So...I had lunch and came back to the room. I've been lounging ever since. On and off the computer, going through the schedule for tomorrow, watching some TV and enjoying the semi-quiet. Semi-quiet because there are all-state students in the hotel--sounds like band. Mostly trombone or French horn, but I also heard a saxophone. The nice part is that they're All-Staters--so they're good. Nice soundtrack. I also talked with Susan and we may get together for dessert or something tonight. Right now I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner. May do Chili's and bring it back or...I don't know. My options are wide open! Because I'm by myself and I don't have to worry about what anyone else wants to eat. Yay! Then back here for a probably-not-very-restful night. I never sleep well the first night in a hotel. Think I'll go check out the riverwalk from the hotel.

New Doctor

Richard and I met with the recommended psychologist for John today. He spent just over an hour with us asking all sorts of questions and listening carefully to the answers. He wants to meet John and visit with him at least once and maybe twice before recommending a course of treatment or action. I like this guy. He's LDS, so he understands the peculiarities of our "Mormon lifestyle," as someone put it at church Sunday (although not in connection with the subject of John's mental health.) And he's proceeding slowly but thoughtfully, I think. The only drawback is that (well, two drawbacks): 1. he's down in Dallas--not too bad a drive as long as we're not trying to get there at 9:00 or home after 5:00, and 2. he's expensive. $150 just today. $150/session from here on out. I haven't had time to check with insurance yet. Who knows? But he prefers that we pay him and then have insurance reimburse us. Ugh. Isn't this 2009? When did we go back to that?

But, if it will help John--obviously we'll do whatever we have to. If it means turning over our tax refund to the psychologist, that's what we'll do. We want John to be happier and healthier. We'll sacrifice whatever we need to. He's a precious, precious little boy. He's funny and smart. And he can do wonderful things in the future.

Heading Off

I head off to San Antonio tomorrow--off to TMEA! It's an annual trek. I always get something good out of it--new ideas, new music, new instruments. But it's also a great getaway for me. I'm rooming with another teacher from TC this year, but she's not coming in until Thursday. So...that gives me a whole day tomorrow to just "be." Be me. Be alone. Be quiet. Be indulgent. The convention doesn't really start until Thursday morning, so I have all tomorrow afternoon and evening to relax, read, do puzzles...maybe even find Kevin and Susan. I should call her tomorrow and see where they are and what they're doing for dinner. Of course, the best part is that I will have my laptop with me. And my cell phone. No more being cut off from my home world while at TMEA. Hmmm...maybe that's not such a good thing. Nah...it is--mostly.

Lesson Learned

Learned by a 9-year-old on Saturday afternoon: Never let your dog hold onto a soccer ball that has an elastic rope attached to it while you hold the other end of the rope. Said dog will get distracted by someone coming outside, let go of the ball, and it will snap back onto you without warning.

OUCH!!!