Sunday, January 7, 2007

Sunday Morning

It's 9 a.m. (or will be by the time I get this post finished), I last smoked a cigarette at 7 a.m., and the pack is empty. I'm OK, but Dad hasn't got out of bed yet. He has one cigarette left also. We will see what happens.

Brandon and Amanda stopped by late last evening. They appear to be managing on their own quite nicely and learning life lessons such as: the drive from Iowa City to Dubuque is not faster by taking I-80 to Davenport and then Hwy 61 through Maquoketa. Dad and I suspected this might be the case -- Highway 151 being a diagonal and all-- when Brandon called Saturday afternoon to tell us their plans. But you never know until you try. By the way, the plain brown folder that arrived in the mail for Brandon was his diploma from Kirkwood. And both Amanda and Brandon are really official Iowa Hawkeyes now, having received their very first "U"-Bills. Thank God for financial aid -- they both owed $0. That may change when they discover you can charge things to your U-Bill in places like the Memorial Union, the University Book Store, etc. If they don't read this themselves, please don't tell them. They'll find out soon enough. I did. When you kids were little and I was in school, did you ever wonder why you received so many Iowa Hawkeye presents at Christmas?

Earlier Saturday evening, Dad and Jacks had an encounter that I would have paid to see. (Of course, if there had been enough light for me to see, it wouldn't have happened, but that's beside the point. ) About 8 p.m., Dad had still not been able to track down Miss Kitty to put her in her house and went outside to give her "one last chance and if she doesn't come this time when I call she can spend her first night outside on her own."

Instead of Miss Kitty, Jacks was on the front porch. So Dad proceeded to walk Jacks across the backyard to Niki and Kirks house. Jacks arrived first, of course, and doubled back to greet Dad. It was dark, and as you know, Jacks is a very black dog, a very big black dog, or perhaps more accurately, a very big black puppy. ( Black is still PC as an adjective for dog, isn't it?) Because of the dark, Dad did not see Jacks coming until it was much too late to react. Jacks , with his all puppy energy, ended up with his front paws on Dad's shoulder and Dad ended up on his backside with a scratch on his forehead.

I imagine Niki was a bit alarmed when Dad came to the door with Jacks and blood running down his forehead. But no real harm done.

I stopped to watch Reliable Sources on CNN so it is now 10:32 a.m. Still haven't had another cigarette -- and I'm still OK. But you guys may have to put up with these long posts for a while. If I can keep my brain focused on something else, it helps.

4 comments:

Four Little Boys..... said...

AWESOME!! about the cigs that is. Poor Dad did he ever find Miss Kitty? If you need will power give me a call and we can talk.

Niki said...

I don't mind reading long blogs...It gives me something to do. Dad never told me that Jax knocked him down. He just said that he jumped up on him. I felt really bad about that.

Anonymous said...

Hey why do you think I spend so much time on the Internet. It gives my fingers something to do. You may have noticed that it had its beginnings in my first days without cigarettes.

Amanda said...

Just so you know, I have now read the blog and am fully aware of the dangers of charging things to my U-Bill. Not that it will stop me when I'm in a pinch or just want to buy something without facing immediate consequences. But I have a credit card for that. :) Thanks for the warning, though!

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