The Romantic Dogs

There is a chocolate lab that live next door (the one I have complained about). Well recently she hit puberty and our dog (Big Dog) has taken a liking to her. Our dog has been great. He usually stays in our yard or plays out in the pasture and usually stays clear of the busy road in front of our house where the cars go 70 mph or more, unlike the other dogs in the area. It is surprising there hasn't been a dead dog yet. Anyway, Hersey (neighbor's dog), would always escape their fence and go running off with Big Dog. At first he couldn't stand her, then about a month ago is when I noticed them running off together and sometimes with other neighborhood dogs, but I noticed his attention change toward her. He became very affectionate and rubbing on her and hanging around her all the time. Her owners were constantly making fence repairs but it did not matter. In the past two weeks things have become very obvious between them and they are now out in the front yard "being married" as Jonathan commented. We figure as long as this has been going on and neither are spayed or neutered, she is probably pregnant. They couldn't spay her until she was 6 months old and she is now about 8 months and they just haven't had the chance to get it done. We were trying to put as little money into this dog as possible since he is a stray that ended up coming our way. The other day our neighbors fixed their fence real well and put chicken wire on the bottom of the fence so she can not dig her way out. Then yesterday as we went to the bus we found our dog in their yard doing stuff that grossed the kids out. It took me a while to figure out how he was getting in while I am trying to be sneaky and follow him in my muddy sweats. I ended up going to the store and getting a collar for him and tying him to our porch for right now. Last night we were talking to our neighbor and she was saying that Hersey has been so sad and mopey because he has been tied up. Big Dog keeps barking and howling and choking himself to try and get off of that porch. He got to see her last night and they were just staring at each other. It was so sad, yet so sweet. We are going to try to have him neutered, the problem is that he might be too old. I don't care if he runs the countryside, but he can't be breaking in to other people fenced back yards.

First Day of School

The first day of school was almost 3 weeks ago, but you know me, always playing catch up. Jonathan is in kindergarten and loves it. Jessica is in 2nd grade and it seems easier than first grade for her. Which has me worried because she gets stuff real quick and says that its a baby class. Emily on the other hand is having a very difficult time. She has made some friends and seems to be doing alright socially but academicly struggling. She has a hard time focusing and paying attention. She has no desire to learn or to do better. She just wants to read her horse books. Jon made a deal with her. She named 5 pets that she wants : cat, turtle, rabbit, snake, and of course, a horse. The deal is that she has to meet certain requirements (finishing homework quickly, keeping room clean, taking care of the animals she already has, reading her scriptures, and doing a chore everyday, oh, and having a good attitude) for 3 months and then she will get her first pet (cat, which is a big step for Jon). But even then she has the hardest time getting her homework alone done before my bedtime. Last night she went to bed after Jon and me. 5th grade is just going to get harder. Yesterday we talked about her trying to get as much work done at school instead of playing or reading at school and saving the work for home. Its nothing super hard, she just gets distracted. Half the time when she is asking for help, she just wants someone to give her the answers. We have to be very careful, because she will manipulate us in to almost giving her the answers. It is hard to teach a child how to learn, how to memorize, how to read the questions (what are they really asking), how to find the information. I should have gone to school to be a teacher so I could be a better help. It is exhausting!