Ryan -vs- The Bear

Last week, I had the pleasure of babysitting Ryan, a 6 month old little angel. I noticed that evening, that I was very relaxed and had a nice quiet evening. Man, taking care of Ryan is so much easier than taking care of Bear. I know that this won't last, and once Ryan starts to crawl and walk he will most likely give Lori a run for her money - but right now, he is such a pleasure to watch.

If you put Ryan down in one spot, 30 seconds later he is still in that spot. If you put Bear in one spot and tell him to stay, 30 seconds later he is nowhere to be found, and most likely has one of your belongings in his mouth.

When Ryan starts to cry, he either needs a diaper change or needs to be fed. Then he stops crying. When Bear barks at you, he maybe wants to go out or maybe wants to play - but most of the time he will continue to bark at you for no reason at all, for about a half hour until he gets tired.

If I leave a cell phone, sunglasses, remote control, keys on the table - Ryan doesn't care that they are there and will leave them alone for the most part. Bear can grab these items, not matter how far back on the counter or high you put them, and will take them out in the backyard and destroy them.

Ryan doesn't jump on the couch. Bear jumps on the couch, and even pushes you over if he thinks you are taking up too much of his space.

When you put Ryan to bed, he only takes a couple of minutes to fall asleep. When you put Bear to bed, you can hear him ripping up his bedding and his new thing is to pull the carpet up and away from the wall.

When Ryan has an accident, he has a diaper on and you just go change it. When Bear has an accident - which he was doing a lot when Scott left home, you have to clean up the carpet and eventually steam clean the thing.

When you go outside with Ryan, he sits in his carrier and enjoys his surroundings. When you go outside with Bear, you end up with muddy paw prints on your shirt and many holes in the backyard.

This list can go on and on - but overall, I think Ryan is the clear Low Maintenance Winner. Or could it be that we just ended up with Satan's spawn as a dog.

Strange thoughts

I find myself counting the strangest things, now that Scott is gone. I go through my daily life and routine, and wonder how many of these things Scott's going to miss.

For example:
- how many bottles of hand soap will I go through before Scott gets home?
- how many tubes of toothpaste will I have to buy before Scott gets home?
- I wonder how many bags of dog food will Bear go through before Scott gets home?
- how many bottles of cascade will I buy before Scott gets home?

I have been doing this for the past couple of weeks, but only realized it today when I was washing my hands in the bathroom and the bottle of soap is getting low. And I don't think these things about the smaller items that I buy often. I don't think "How many cartons of milk will I buy" - it's more those things that last a while and that we don't replace all the time.

Since we've moved into this house, I think we have gone through 2 bottle of soap in our bathroom, and maybe 3 or 4 in the kitchen. I wonder how many items will I,just me (one person), go through in the next 6 months? I'm strange, I know.

I am heading to the post office to mail my first package to Scott. I hope I don't have any hassles about the way I packed it, and I hope I did everything right. I ordered a bunch of flat rate boxes from the post office, and they delivered them to my house. I think I have enough boxes to last us 10 years.

Hon - I thought of somthing for your B'day present - so be on the look out for my package and I hope you like it! I miss you sweetie.

What do you do?

I am currently reading Jimmy Carter's book "Our Endangered Values". This is a book that Scott bought and started before leaving, and now I have gotten quite a bit through it. He makes a lot of good points, that I agree with, but he doesn't seem to be offerring any solutions to the issues that he points out. It doesn't seem productive to me, but it is making me think about my beliefs and opinions. Maybe his solutions are yet to come in this book.

So what do you do when your husband is doing something right now that you morally disagree with? And I have had this opinion for a long time now, but reading a chapter in this book has put my thoughts on paper and backed it up with facts.

Part of me thinks - well, he doesn't have a choice but to be doing this. But really, he does. It was his choice to joing the military. And it was the American people who made the choice to put this president in office, and re-elect him. And it was my choice to marry Scott, and become a part of all this.

So what do you do?
- I guess right now we don't have a choice that Scott is deployed, but he does have a choice when he comes home. So I deal with the days and nights right now, and just hope that the time flies by quickly. I would be very interested to take a poll of the younger people in the military and see if they know and understand the history of the US, the treaties that were made by previous presidents, and see if they really understand what they are all a part of and what it could potentially do to this country. I bet they don't have a clue.
- We all have a choice to educate ourselves on current events and public policy. I admit I am not very up on it, but reading this book has sparked my curiosity and I will continue to read about it and form my own opinions.
- We all have a choice to vote for the people who are in office, and vote for the people that will represent you and your beliefs
- And I guess we all have a choice of what country we live in and what we support. This may be a little drastic, but I do have concerns about the future and American sentiment throughout the world. Maybe buying that vineyard in Canada isn't too drastic of a thought, if we can just get the Canadians to stop hating us.

As soon as I actually make up my mind...

OK - On Saturday, I ended up hanging out at the pet shop for about an hour, SAD - I KNOW! But there was this really cute little Chia Rat in there, who was literally the size of my hand. They said she was the runt of the litter, and that they don't expect her to get over 8 lbs. I just watched her, and tried to play with her (she was more interested in looking at the other dogs and barked a little when a spazzy one came up to her). She was so cute - yet seemed so delicate. So I went home that night debating whether or not I should grab Bear, take him to the store that night before they closed, and be done with dog hunt.

I got home, and then thought - I really need to think about this. I will think and sleep on it, and on Monday I will take Bear in to the store and have them meet. All weekend, about every half hour, I changed my mind.
- I really want this dog, and it seems to be "THE" dog that I am looking for
- I really don't want Scott to miss the puppy stage (not the poop, but the cuteness), and I want him to feel like he was a part of this
- Bear really needs a friend because I just don't really make good friend material these days
- What if Bear eats it?
- I've looked at every add for months, and have not found another dog with this personality and size, and it may not present itself again soon
- I don't want Scott to come home and have to meet our new dog. It doesn't seem fair
AND THEN AGAIN - What if Bear eats it?

So today, I finally decide - OK, I'm getting it. If Bear and "daisy" get along, I will bring it home and it won't be bad. I finished work up early, and even decided to shower before 5pm. I then called the store, and they said she was sold on Sunday.
Of course - that is how my life works. Always.

As much as I like to say I am done looking - you know I will not stop. I'm addicted to the Pets section in the classifieds. SAD - I KNOW.