Happy Moments

My mom seems to think that having 3 dogs and 2 cats and a snake is unbelievably complicated and a drain on time and energy.

Right now, I'm busy with a lot of things, including working full time and deep in two master's classes online.

All these crazy animals help keep me sane. Sure, it takes time to walk them, play with them, feed them, and clean up after them. But there is only so much time I can spend on "work" things. Judging by my previous two semesters, I am probably not spending any more "free" time doing non-work, non-chore things. When I reach a certain stress threshold, I check out and do something like read or watch a movie. Pet-time has taken the place of much of my reading or other elective activities. Walking the dogs is much more refreshing than watching an episode of Kare Kano. Sure, neither activity gets the bathroom cleaned right now, but cleaning the bathroom doesn't leave me feeling happy and recharged, the way a good 10 or 15 minutes of tug and fetch with Sasha does. The Zoo gives us a full and happy house. I wouldn't trade that for a spotless floor or even a magically-emptying dishwasher.

Here are some happy moments from this weekend, despite working on two school assignments and some house projects. (You can bet I wouldn't be posting pictures of a clean kitchen counter, even if I had one)

Sasha test-drives the new dog house, under construction. She seems to approve.

I love this shot. True, she is still round as a bullet, but this pic makes her look speedy. She accompanied us to Home Depot for dog-house-building supplies. It must have been Take Your Dog to Your Local Hardware Store Day, since she was one of three pooches there.

Cyrus borrow's Sasha's collar (he can do that, now that I walk the big dogs separately, to work on pulling issues). I think he looks snappy in it. Matt says he looks girly (he already has enough people saying, She's pretty! because of those lovely blond locks framing his face). It's hard to get walking-the-dog pictures of their faces... there's too many interesting smells! (In contrast, almost all of the at home shots are face shots. Never know, I might be getting ready to feed them something at any moment, right?)