Borrowed dogs

Now that I am sadly dog-less, I have found some outlet for my appreciation of dog company with Pepper, the black Labrador that belongs to a couple, who are our friends. Pepper, of course, absolutely loves to be walked, and I like to take long walks so we're well suited. Last week, I started giving her a walk almost every day, and now she jumps excitedly when she sees me approach their house.

(This photo was taken by one of my former students and now more like my "college daughter," who came to walk with me and didn't mind that I brought Pepper along. I couldn't hold onto Pepper, who weighs about 80 pounds, and take a picture at the same time!)

Poor Pepper has been rather lonely and antsy because the one-half of my couple-friends is visiting family in NYC with the kids while her husband stayed behind to work in the summer program he and I did together last year, and that I did for the first time with Dr. S in 2007. I bowed out this summer because of the uncertainty of my family's situation, so he's working with Dr. S, while I am daily grateful that I have free time to recover from that insane first year on the tenure track.

Over the weekend, my husband went to West Virginia to see his sister and nephews, who are visiting from Maine, and there he came across another "borrowed" dog, a mutt that shows up at his parents' property, apparently to eat moles (something my mother-in-law very much appreciates). I think that if, and when, we get a new dog, we might just go down to WV and get a mutt there (I already have a name: Mason, for the town and county my husband hails from). That'll be a lot more sensible and cheaper than flying a sato back from Puerto Rico, as I'd originally thought.

Here the nameless dog prepares to bark at the camera as my husband gets ready to take the picture. Apparently the otherwise extremely good-natured and friendly dog had never seen a camera before so he wasn't sure if it was going to attack or what.

While I miss Geni every day, getting another dog isn't on the list of things to do right now, not only because we need a break from all that has happened but also because, while it might be summer, I still have piles of work to attend to: the not-yet-finished article that I want to make un-rejectable so I can send out for publication in a journal; the chapter of an upcoming book whose proofs need to be reviewed and corrected before my husband and I return to Puerto Rico next week; a friend's dissertation chapter and two of my mentor's chapters that he's trimming for his upcoming book; and those are just the more immediate projects I'm working on.

I'm also in the midst of having my basement office packed up so movers can take care of transferring books and files over to the new building where many of us will be working next year. I'm really looking forward to my brand-new, first-floor office with huge windows and new office furniture, and am truly grateful that I have that to look forward to for the next year.

Next week, it's off to Puerto Rico again, but this time with my beloved husband, and in anticipation of having my whole family together for a few days, which will be a treat given that this seemed highly improbable, if not impossible, only a few months back.

My plan is to put everything on hold for that one week (I may not even take my laptop to Puerto Rico with me, which would be a first!) so that I can have a real vacation for a change. I'm going to try to learn from dogs and live in the moment. Let's see how well I do.