The pup, dumpster diving, bite counts

I have to admit to being a little upset at the pup we are keeping for Brittany. I thought there might be a problem with my mornings but I did not expect it to be as bad as it is. I get up at 4 a.m. every weekday morning so I can do me Bible reading before I leave for work. Unfortunately the pup wants to get up with me. I do not enjoy the distraction or the frustration. I have a limited time set aside to go through my morning routine and I have not made it one morning this week without the whining and barking for attention.


Yesterday morning I let her out to go potty and though I am sure she enjoyed the relief, it was no fun for me. She was ready to begin her day – regardless of the hour. I put her on the couch with me and Rosie. Rosie immediately snapped and growled at her, so I put her back in her little wire crate. That was obviously not what she wanted and the protests began.

Rosie was so traumatized by the disruption that she got off the couch (four hours early) and nosed open the bedroom door hoping to get in bed with Mama so I had to go get her out of our bedroom before she woke Mama. I did not enjoy the morning. Today was no better even though Mama put the pup in the second bedroom. I left the house at 4:15 without doing my devotional reading because the whining started as soon as I was out of bed. I will get my reading done, but it is not the manner in which I had hoped to accomplish it.

One of my fears is that on the farm it will be far worse. Grandma and Grandpa are both light sleepers and I can usually move about the house without disturbing them. The noises from a protesting pup will cut right through their sleep. It is a disruption I hope to avoid but I am not sure how to go about it. Saturday and Sunday mornings will be a test run, but the real test will come the first morning I get up to go to work while we are staying there. I enjoy the little thing well enough when everyone is awake; not so much when there are those in the household still in bed.

I had been debating our overnight trip to the farm this weekend but the weather predictions for next week sealed the deal. Rain is predicted for Tuesday through Friday so what we are able to get done during that time may be seriously limited by the weather. Saturday is predicted to be dry, windy and hot; much more conducive to getting gardening and outdoor construction projects done.

Mama and I stopped by a pallet making company after church last night and went dumpster diving. Their dumpster is usually filled with pieces of plywood which are too small to be of any use to them, but perfect for some of the projects we are working on. We got enough plywood pieces to make several shelves as well as some scrap pieces we will use in the garden as stakes for various plants. We were limited in how far we could go into the dumpster because we were in our church cloths so next time I will take a pair of coveralls along…Not! (Although Mama might go for that idea.) Seriously, if Mama has a flashlight; I probably would need to do that.

Last night Cori was telling us about a meal they had just finished. The fare was not the favorite of our grandchildren and they were asked to complete the meal by eating a set number of bites of food. Mykenzie and Grant got into discussion about who had eaten the most of a particular item on their plate and the numerating concept word, several, was offered by mommy to reckon how many bites Grant had already taken from his portion.

Mykenzie was satisfied with the assigned bite request and was pacing herself through the exercise of finalizing her dinner. Grant was curious. He held up three fingers and said, “Mommy, this is three.” Once acknowledged he switched to four fingers and offered, “This is four.” Correct again, he opened up his hand and said, “This is five.” Not sure where this was going his parents acknowledged that he was correct.

Having laid the proper foundation for his question, he asked, “How do you do several?”