Through the eyes of the animals

Buster the naughty beagle sometimes comes to stay at my house when his people go out of town. This is because Buster, although as adorable as a newborn chick, can be quite naughty. He doesn't intend to be naughty, he is only acting instinctively in the way of all Beagles, and that is with intense curiosity. So curious as to forget any semblance of obedience. That being said, his propensity to take unscheduled walkabouts and to eat food not intended for dog consumption has forever condemned him to being confined to the Shaw home for lovable but sometimes naughty dogs, cats, and various other varieties of beasts. However, sometimes it can be quite difficult for poor Buster. Since his last visit here we have acquired a new permanent resident. She is an adorable, fluffy little overgrown lint ball that bears a striking resemblance to an Ewok. Her name is Daisy. She and Buster had not yet had the pleasure of enjoying one another's company. Daisy tends to be a bit suspicious of any animal that appears that she has never seen before. Her response is generally to bark, incessantly, until she has decided the poor beast has learned its lesson. Whatever that might be. So, the day that Buster arrived was quite a shock, for both of them. As soon as he came in the door she started barking and ran into the bedroom and hid under the bed. Buster wasn't sure what was going on. For the rest of the day every time Buster moved she would go off on a barking tirade. Then Lewis, Katie's miniature Dachshund came to visit, because Katie has it in her head that Lewis is a child under the age of 13 and cannot be left home alone for even a short period of time. Little does she know that when she's gone all he does is sleep and roll around on the carpet. He doesn't play with matches or try to cook on an open flame and he's not likely to open the door to strangers or make prank phone calls. But, just the same, he also must come to the Shaw dog hotel rather than stay home alone. So, Lewis, who has met Buster before, just ran in the door and right up to Buster and proceeded with the sniffing and licking of two old dog friends. Daisy sat in the corner and watched this little display of wagging tails and decided that if Lewis was okay with Buster, than she must be missing something. She decided to stop barking at him for a few minutes and now instead she would follow him every where he went sniffing him. I'm not sure which irritated Buster more, the constant barking or the endless sniffing. As if dealing with Daisy was not bad enough, there were these strange, two legged, feather bearing, clucking things standing in front of the dog door blocking him from going out. He waited and stared at me and then looked at the dog door until I finally realized I was going to have to let him out and chase away the vicious chickens if he was going to have any hope of doing his business. I rode shotgun for him and shooed the feathered monstrosities off the porch so that Buster could bolt for the grass. I went about my daily chores and after quite some time realized I hadn't seen Buster for awhile. I walked to the door and glanced out the window and there was poor Buster staring longingly at the window as the chickens sat happily perched on the door mat in front of the dog door. About that time Daisy came running up the stairs, across the porch and bolted right through the dog door knocking chickens out of the way like bowling pins. I think she scored a strike. Buster saw his opening and burst through the dog door before the chickens had time to re-set themselves. I don't know if Daisy sensed Buster's sudden adoration of her for her incredible bravery, or if she just got bored with barking at him every time he moved, but from then on they seemed to accept each other and settled down on the big living room rug for the first of their daily naps.

Driving with Justin

Justin is my voice, turn by turn, GPS unit, formerly known as Edward. When I realized that Edward sounded exactly like Justin, my tax accountant, it just stuck and now he will forever be , Justin. (the gps, not the tax accountant. Well, actually he was the tax account first, but.....oh never mind.)

Today I realized I had sunk to a new depth of loneliness when I decided to power Justin up to ride around Idaho Falls with me. I had just left my manicurist's and decided to have lunch. I put in the name of my favorite sushi place and headed down the road. All was going well as Justin announced politely in his smooth British accent, "go 2 miles and turn left on Pancheri Drive."

"Why, thank you Justin." I chirped, "you are in a good mood today."

As I turned left on Pancheri, Justin politely announced that I should continue on 17th street. That's when things turned ugly. I drove under the overpass and turned right on Rollandet. Not the route Justin had planned out for me. Justin quickly announced in that cheeky British tone, "Recalculating. Turn left on 18th St." I felt the right corner of my mouth turn up in half an evil grin as I whizzed right by 18th st. I waited and pictured Justin as he carefully set his cup of tea down, pinky extended, and with polite English arrogance he announced, "Recalculating. Turn left on 19th St." Now the left side of my mouth crept up into a full on Evil grin as I blew by 19th st. and waited for Justin to make his move. Sure enough, he announced, "Recalculating. Turn left on 20th St." I could see the beads of perspiration begin to break out on his little computerized brow as he struggled to maintain his proper British demeanor. Now I burst into a full open, tooth filled, maniacal smile as I blew past 20th street and tried to contain my glee while I waited for Justin. I am sure I heard him sigh as he said, "Recalculating. Continue on Rollandet and turn left on Sunnyside." It was at this point that I shouted out with exuberance, "Yes, yes! That's right you cheeky little Brit! I'm not going to turn just because you tell me to with your deep, manly, sexy British voice. Ha, that's right! I am in the driver's seat! You might have access to all those satellites, but I have hands and they are on the wheel and I am driving baby! If you think I'm driving down 17th St. traffic just because you told me to, well you better get your circuits lubed!" Suddenly, I new I had sunk to a new, kind of weird and scary level of loneliness coping.

I arrived at my sushi place. Brian, the manager, brought me something wonderful. Because that's the relationship we have. I tell him to bring me something good, and he does. (without the British accent however.) I returned to my car and powered on Justin. I looked at his handsome LCD screen and asked, "So, Justin, where shall we go?" I swear I heard him reply with thick British sarcasm, "How should I know. You're the one with hands! So, drive!"

Grandma goes to grade school

Today was a great day! I was specially invited to go to Iona Elementary School and have lunch with my granddaughter for Valentine's Day. What a special treat. I couldn't believe how excited I was standing there in the hallway waiting for Hannah to come around the corner. What a thrill to see her beaming little face and to take her hand and walk together to the crowded lunch room. I grinned like an idiot at her first grade teacher, Mr. McKinney, and choked up as I said, "I'm her Grandma." Like he couldn't tell. We waited anxiously in line for our turn to take our sporks and sectioned tray and have it loaded with canned peaches, room temperature tater gems, chicken nuggets, a pink frosted sugar cookie and a carton of chocolate milk. She led me to a table where we chatted like old ladies and nibbled at our food. When we had decided we were done, she showed me how to properly dispose of my unfinished milk into the bucket before tossing the carton and the food left overs in to the waste cans. We put our trays on the counter for the kitchen staff to clean and sanitize them and then we headed for the playground. She told me they were having a party for Valentine's day in the afternoon, but she didn't know who was going to help. Her mom didn't like to help, she said, because they had three kids and it was too hard for her mom to come. I told her that since I don't go to work any more, maybe her mom could leave the kids with me and then she could help in her class. No disrespect to her mom, but I was pretty proud when Hannah suggested that maybe her mom could stay home and I could come and help in the class.

What fun we had on the playground. I helped her play on some of the bigger toys and soon I heard shouts of , "hey, Hannah's Grandma, can you help me?" I helped little boys and little girls all around me. Then it was time to go. As I was walking away, a little boy said, "hey, Hannah's Grandma...you're the best Grandma." I thought I was going to cry.

Few things in life bring the joy or the rewards or the sense of being important as seeing a child smile at you or tell you that you are the best. Thank you, Hannah, for letting me be a part of your day.

Suddenly Time Speeds Up

It's been especially nice having Jay home this time. We didn't plan to vacation anywhere this time around. But, as we watched the temperatures plummet, we questioned the wisdom of that decision. I just looked at the pictures of the little cottage on Berry Island in the Bahamas, where we had originally planned to go this time around, and sighed. We decided to just stay put and relax and take care of some stuff around the house. It's amazing how many trips you can make to Walmart every day. I think Jay has come to appreciate my motto, "if it's not on the list, it doesn't exist". Some people go to the movies, we like to wander the isles of Walmart.....and Sportman's Warehouse......and CAL Ranch.....and Ross's Gun shop. We have found other ways to spend our time as well. We drove to Montpelier to buy food storage from a warehouse there, only to discover that we could buy it cheaper at, yes you guessed it, Walmart. But, we did stop at Lava Hot Springs and soak our tired old bones in the steaming mineral hot pools. We have driven to Pocatello twice to practice our aim at the indoor firing range, I am a dead eye with my new .38 special, and we did have dinner with some old friends (and I do mean old...and you know who you are). The grandgirls made adorable cards for Grandpa's birthday and Paige tried to ride Tater like a horse.

It seemed like time was just rolling leisurely by and then I woke up this morning and realized that we have less than 1 week left before Jay has to leave again. His timing this rotation was perfect. I have been really down in the dumps for awhile over my job, or should I say the loss of my job. Having him here has really helped distract me from the realization that standing up for what you believe is right and losing your job sounds way better on TV than it feels in reality. Especially when you have to come to the acceptance that once you are gone, no one really cares or remembers why you took a stand, and your sacrifice was for nothing. Life goes on, nothing changes, and you must accept that you truly are expendable and the world will continue to revolve even without you at your desk. So, 5 1/2 more days before Jay is once again 8700 miles away, and suddenly time has sped up like the current of a river as it heads towards a waterfall and I am dreading the day he leaves and I am left all alone with only my own melancholy. But, just like everything else, life will go on. He will return to his routine and I will have to find a new one of my own that doesn't have anything to do with electricity. Electricity has been 3/4's of my life for so long I'm not sure I even know how to not think about it all the time. Well, it won't be too bad I guess since I am making my sister come and visit me for a week the end of February. I am going to enjoy and cherish these last few days with my sweetheart and then start marking off the next 56 days until he comes back again. I'm sure my sister, Sally, and I will be able to find just a little bit of trouble to get in to while she is here.

Electrical inspector Jane may be dead and gone, but Calamity Jane still lives on.