Night Before Thanksgiving

It's a blustery, cold evening and I'm waiting for the kettle to boil so I can have some decaf Earl Gray tea. That's right - decaf. Ordinarily on an evening before a holiday, I'd be drinking caffeinated tea, but alas, I work tomorrow. This is the fate of those who send in holiday requests by Outlook timed delivery. Never, never will I do that again!

Fortunately, I have a coworker who traded shifts with me, so I'll be able to join my family for dinner, and I won't be doing much cooking. Keri's birthday is tomorrow, but she's going to be eating with Ryan's family and won't be joining us. It will be me, Lyn, Kevin and Tim. I'm thankful to have any family member to dinner these days - I know the time is coming when the days we're all together at the same time are few and far between.

Last week's puppy outing was very interesting. We went to the Washington State School for the Blind and were exposed to Braille. We used a machine to type out Braille and had printouts of the Braille alphabet and short-hand notes. It's a code and I'm sure I could have figured it out eventually. We were interpreting The Night Before Christmas. I also saw a computer program that is used to transcribe print into Braille - a much easier process. Lyn used to work at WSSFTB in his college days and was reminiscing about people who had been there when he lived in the dorms. Puppy home visit is Saturday and I'm on pins and needles!

So, it's holiday time again and knitting pictures will not be forthcoming. I am reading though. I gave up on The Echo Maker, one of the worst books I've read in a long time. I'm now reading The Zookeeper's Wife, about the family that owned the Warsaw Zoo during WWII. I love resistance stories and this one is no exception. I would have to warn that there are accounts of animal cruelty in this book, but it's a good story nonetheless.

On the recommendation of Leslie at Mini-Aussie Rescue and Support, I'm also reading Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog by Brenda Aloff. This is a fascinating book and I keep studying Aidan to see if he blinks at me and to see if he is using negotiating postures or appropriate sniffing techniques. You have to see this book to understand what I mean.

When I picked up the Brenda Aloff book at the library, I also found Working Dogs: True Stories of Dogs and Their Handlers by Kirsten Mehus-Roe. I read the chapter on Assistance Dogs and longed for my first guide dog puppy. I read the chapter on working dogs and longed for an Australian shepherd.

Water has boiled and my tea has steeped a long time. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. I'm going to try to, despite the daily warnings we've gotten at work all week on the dangers of eating too much. So, eat in moderation, don't have a 2nd piece of pie or 2 slices of different pies - it's the people you're with that count, not the food. Ha!