We just spent a week in the mountains of New Mexico with no TV, radio, recorded music or computer. It was blissful. I took along a book, some magazines and some needlework, but the most I managed to accomplish was to read a few National Geographic articles. I have little idea what happened in the world last week, and I don’t really care.
Based on that experience, I’m vowing to do the following now:

• Watch less television
• Surf the Internet less; specifically, I have a list of web sites that I visit pretty much daily. I’m removing a couple of those
• Spend more quiet time (facilitated by the previous two items)
• Read more

We’ll see how it goes…

We just returned from a very relaxing short vacation in the mountains of southern New Mexico. Getting back into the swing of things again…

Katie and the kids are visiting family and friends in San Antonio this week, so I’m living the bachelor life. So, I took myself to see War of the Worlds the other evening. It was the first time in months that I’ve gone to the movie theater, and the first time in years I’ve been to see a movie that wasn’t appropriate for children.
I have to say that having a DVR and DVD player at home completely changed my movie-watching experience. First off, I had to sit captive through 25 freakin’ minutes of deafening commercials before the movie started (I arrived 10 minutes before the posted start time, and commercials continued for 15 minutes after that time). Additionally, I couldn’t stop the movie to go to the bathroom or back it up to hear or see something that I missed.

I frequently walk the dogs off their leashes in the fields between the golf fairways near our house. In the late evening and early morning, we frequently encounter rabbits in the open on the edges of the fairways. Xena has become an avid rabbit hunter, but she remains a terrible one. She just doesn’t see the rabbits until she practically trips over them. Tippie, on the other hand, spots them from a distance and gives a try at catching them (NOTE: Tippie has never come close to actually catching a rabbit, and I don’t expect either dog ever to catch one).
This morning, the reason for this difference finally dawned on me: Tippie is sight-oriented; Xena is smell-oriented. While she’s running around, Tippie has her head up looking a ways in front of her. Xena, on the other hand, has her head down and her nose working furiously. She’s an enthusiastic hunter because she smells the rabbits, but she can’t actually locate one that’s in the open because her attention is on the smells in her immediate vicinity. Before she gets close enough to smell a rabbit, it has already run into the weeds.

I ran across this quote by St. Augustine this morning:

Further, all men are to be loved equally. But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.

Katie and I have recently been given the challenge of puting St. Augustine’s advice into practice. You see, a friend of ours is now serving the first of a seven-year sentence in federal prison. He is not a close friend: I would characterize him as having a close connection to us through an accident of time, place and circumstance.

I’ve fallen off the face of cyberspace the last two days. I was in San Antonio because my mother had surgery to implant a device that will hopefully reduce her Parkinson’s disease symptoms. The surgery went very well, but they won’t turn the device on for six weeks, so we have to wait until then to know how much it helps with her symptoms.

Today, my lovely wife (of 20+ years) celebrates her fortieth birthday.

On Saturday, while I was mowing the yard, I noticed a big box turtle out on the greenbelt behind the yard. When I went to look at it, I realized it had its butt stuck in a damp hole in the ground. Apparently, it was laying eggs. It stayed in the same position for at least an hour. Later I noticed it was gone; the hole was completely filled in and the only way I could even find it was that the dirt was a little damp in that spot.

OK, let’s see if I really do have any readers here. I need some advice.
It’s about our dog Tippie. She’s half Husky, half German Shepherd, and she’s 11 or 12 years old now. Under normal circumstances–when we’re home with her–Tippie is a great dog: loving, gentle with the kids. She’s in excellent physical health for her age.
But she has always been high strung: very energetic and prone to occasional bouts of anxiety. In particular, she is afraid of loud, unfamiliar noises. That makes fireworks and thunderstorms a problem. If something scares her, she tends to dig and chew at doors and windows. We’ve replaced many a door casing and window screen over the years.
Her anxiety level has increased over the years. Many years ago, thunderstorms didn’t really bother her. Now, she paces around the house and digs at corners until we tranqualize her.
Due to the damage that Tippie occasionally inflicts on the house, about a year ago or so, we started crating her when we’re not home. She goes willingly to the crate, but she cries and digs at it.
A few months ago, she started peeing in her crate occasionally. Now, she pees every time we put her in it. She holds her bladder all night in the house, and we had her checked out by the vet, so we don’t think it’s anything physiological. The vet thinks it’s mental. So, we put her on Prozac a couple of months ago: 20 mg every other day. That seems to make her slightly mellower, but it hasn’t had any visible effect on her worst symptoms: the peeing and anxiety attacks.
The vet is currently investigating other pysch meds for her. I thought I’d see what advice my readers (assuming I have any) can offer. Please leave a comment on this post or send me an email.

We spent Memorial Day weekend on my sister Andrea’s new ranch south of San Antonio, doing all kinds of things we don’t get to do much: riding horses and ATVs, shooting guns, cooking over a camp fire. I’ve posted a bunch of photos from our weekend on my web site. Mosey on over and check them out.