Ted and I did night watch duty at the Nicholas house. On the way home I heard a talk-show doctor describe an “ocular migraine.” This is a migraine that does not involve a headache, but can cause blurring. This may explain the experience I had a while back.
Over my week of Thanksgiving vacation I accomplished the following:
For Thanksgiving dinner, we went over to Tom and Jeannette’s. On the car ride over, Danny said that he hoped we would have sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows.
When we got there, Danny reviewed the fixings. The sweet potato casserole had not been cooked. Danny went over to Kathy and whispered that the sweet potatoes had eggs on top. The yet toasted large marshmallows tricked him.
Charlie spent most of her time out on the deck watching us, very nervous about Chris, Tom Jr., and Tom Sr. Jeannette managed to feed her.
Danny finally lost his first tooth last Saturday. Actually, he had me pull it out. The tooth fairy visited him and left a dollar. He took his magnifying glass and found a wing print on his window as well a scuff mark near the baseboard. Danny has deduced that the tooth fairy is much taller than I thought.
Kelly has had only two bottom teeth for the longest time. She now has two upper teeth coming in, but not the two middle teeth! We’re afraid she will end up looking like a little vampire.
I have brushed Charlie’s teeth twice now. She tolerates me doing this. In fact she enjoys biting down on the brush when I do her molars, or whatever a dog’s back teeth are called.
(Note: We have decided to call Foxseas Starkist Tuna “Charlie” instead of “Kisser”. Charlie Fishback, named after some friend of Grandma Petrides. I just could not see myself standing on the front porch yelling “Kisser!”)
[Nicole writes:]
Jackson [a Vizsla] came over today. I like him. He is nice. We got a dog named Kisser but we changed the name to Charlie Fishback. Charlie didn’t feel very comfortable when Jackson and Bill came over. She kept growling and doing half-barks. Danny and I would throw a ball to Jackson which was fun. After Jackson left Charlie would grab a ball in her mouth and start playing Throw-The-Toy. I’m glad I met him.
I got into the school spelling bee. I have a l-o-o-o-ong list to study. Last year I was runner-up and this year I accomplished Going to the school spelling bee. My goal is to get into the county compitition.
I took the week off and the kids were home, so we were all gathered around the kitchen table in the morning.
Nicole pointed to the headlines and asked, “Why do they call President Clinton ‘Brady Bill’?”
I looked at the headline that read “Brady Bill Passed By Senate.”
I told her that it was because President Clinton was the #1 Brady Bunch fan in America. Nicole was impressed.
Then, of course, I explained the less exciting truth about legislative process.
November 15, 1993
1234 Rae Place
Lawrenceville, GA 30244
Dear Karol,
We enjoyed meeting your group. We talked about each one on the way back. We also wanted to let you know that Kisser is doing well. She is adjusting much quicker than we thought she would.
She did good on the trip down. She got a good walk around a Wendy’s we stopped at. She walks very well on the leash. At one point we turned around to look in back and found Kelly, Danny, and Kisser were all fast asleep. We didn’t have to use the paper towels.
We got home late Saturday night, but gave her a tour of the yard so that she would have some idea of what was outside before going in. Getting home late was probably a good thing because we could put the kids to bed. Less chaos.
She spent the first night at the foot of our bed without a complaint.
Sunday was a big day for her. We had several family members come by to meet her. It was warm so we all conversed in the back yard while the kids played. Kisser, nervous about all the people, found a good spot to observe. She seemed torn between a desire to play and her caution.
She soon warmed up enough to let one or two people come up to her.
By the end of the day, she seemed to trust the two adults, tolerate Danny (6) and Nicole (11), and to be curious about Kelly (1). While we ate dinner, Kelly took one of her books over to Kisser and read it to her.
Kisser is very good about going into the back woods to do her business, and then coming back when called.
The kids were home from school on Monday. The two oldest gave Kisser several walks. She does such a good job walking at your side. But by the end of the day, Kelly was her favorite. Kelly played with her much of the day, sharing her toys, stacking up throw pillows which Kisser enjoyed sleeping on. And when Kelly found Kisser’s bag of food and brought her a few pieces, they became best buddies.
Though she is a wimp (for now), she did manage a couple of growls. One was when Nicole tried sneaking down the steps and sneak up on Kisser. Kisser couldn’t see who was coming, but she sensed something unusual. We pet her and let her know it was o.k., and then we cautioned Nicole and Danny that you do not sneak up on animals.
Another time Danny came scooting into the room, pulling a jersey over his head. He must have looked like a headless monster coming into the room.
Otherwise, she is very tolerant of the kids and even fascinated with Kelly. She has even let Kelly take food from her dog bowl and feed her. We let Kelly do this once because we wanted to make sure Kisser was not over protective of her food.
Right now she and the kids are fast asleep. They seemed to have worn her out.
Included is a map to our house from I-85. You and any of your gang are welcome to visit any time.
We’ll keep you posted. Thanks again for all of your help, and especially for the time and care you put into making Foxseas Starkist Tuna such a promising Vizsla.
Sincerely,
Jeb & Kathy
Nicole and Danny put on their second fireplace play tonight. It was a five act play that took place at a karate place, in an ambulance, and at a hospital. Kelly alternated between audience member and actor.
The origin of the play was Halloween, since Danny wore much of his Ninja costume. The plot was weak, not unlike other marshal arts films. Often the actors planned the next scene as they fought out the current one. At one point the play stopped as the leading man took a bathroom break.
Kelly took it all in stride. Since so many things are new to her, the unusual play that took place on her fireplace stage was nothing to be concerned about.
Last night, she quickly accepted the bizarre ritual of monsters and fairies ringing our doorbell, shouting, and receiving candy. She was perplexed at first, looking from door, to candy, to parent, to sibling, back to door, then back to candy. After the first trick ‘o treaters left, she seemed to review the bizarre event again in her mind. After a few calls, Halloween became standard operating procedure.
It was the coldest Halloween night I remember. That didn’t stop Ninja Danny and Clown Nicole from scoring over 100 pieces of candy each. Nicole counted 103. Danny gave up on the count. The mid-thirties temperature kept Kelly from her first trick o’ treat.
The two oldest spread out all of their candy to be grouped in piles on the floor. Kelly found this to much to resist, and made repeated raids on the nearest pile, which happened to belong to her tolerant brother. She would rush into the stack, squat while Danny was not looking, and pick up something. If it looked promising, she would hasten back to my lap to share it with me. Most of the things I threw back to Danny, but I couldn’t turn down one of her favorites, a purple Charms pop. She sat on my lap for a long time, enjoying the sucker, and occasionally giving me a lick.
The jack o lanterns that Kathy and I spent hours carving, were a big hit. Both Danny and Nicole had pumpkins from Harry’s that weighed more than 20 pounds but only cost $2.99. Kelly’s pumpkin weighed in at only half that.
