May Days to June Bugs?

Wow, I know I may have alluded to this before, but TIME FLIES! I can't imagine that we are into the 6th month of the year tomorrow! We had a great Memorial Day weekend, full of shopping, grilling out, and relaxing around the house.

I took our smallest dog (Pepper) to get groomed last week and when I picked Pepper up on Thursday, the lady asked me if we wanted a small dog that someone had left. It was a very small, long haired male Pomeranian that put me in mind of a miniature border collie. Really cute, so I thought the girls would love it. McKenzie fell in love with it, but Adrienne has some issues with Pomeranians (thinks they are crazy), but we decided to give it a trial run. Turns out, the dog (Cocoa)is really hyper-metabolic, ie, had to be walked every 2 hrs or we would find small packages around the house! McKenzie was good, she walked the dog every 2 hrs, because she really wanted to keep it, but in the long run, it would have become a big hassle, with traveling a all, so I took it back. The first attempt to take Cocoa back ended with me feeling so bad that McKenzie was crying that we keep Cocoa the entire M Day weekend, then returned him.

After a couple weeks of nice, cool, sunny spring weather, Memphis has turned HOT and HUMID. We have been hitting the mid 90's most days, but now they say we will cool back off to the more normal mid 80's. My summer classes are going well. I have two Patho classes, one tonite at 6 pm and the other is a TR afternoon class. I am taking Mondays and Fridays off until I start my class over at SouthWest Tn CC. That is a API class that meets 5 days/week at 7 am! But, it only runs for 4 weeks and I still get the full $2500 pay, so it all balances out. We are about to begin week 5 here at BCHS and tomorrow in my first exam. I have "souped" it up a bit by making 35% of the exam short answer/analysis/critical thinking type questions. Two of the other 3 faculty that teach the course already use short answers, so I thought I had better get out of the strictly multiple choice mode, since this class is so important to success in their clinicals later on. Turns out, that more people have to repeat Patho than any other class on campus and you only get twice to pass! I have a couple doing a repeat this term and I hope I don't have to tell them they didn't pass again and will have to leave BCHS!

But, I have managed to get my class moved to a "web-assisted" course, which means I can post assignments and other documents on Blackboard and don't have to worry about copies and other stuff. I put my powerpoints there also and that keeps me from having to Email them to students.

Just saw the time, got to go potty and then to class.

Good day.

Dog Days

Well, we got Duchess back to Memphis. She seemed so happy and relieved to be back with us. We first took her to spend the night at our old house in Columbia, where she grew up. She slept inside with us and both the dog and my daughter were very, very happy! We got Duchess when she was 10 weeks old from the pound in Columbia on New Years Eve, 2003 and my daughter has seen her grow into a wonderful, sensitive, caring dog that really loves us all. Duchess is really afraid of me, as I was raised in Eastern Ky to believe that you had to put some fear in a dog to have it obey well, but I may have overdone it with Duchess, but she does obey every word I say. Problem is, she is so sensitive that she responds to the slightest change in the tone of my voice and even my facial expressions. If I come outside and she sees a frown on my face, she drops her head and keeps here distance, but then, if I smile, she begins wagging the tail and comes on up to me for petting.

It is great the have the whole family back together and the next place we move to will have a big, fenced in yard for the dogs to play in. Heck, we might even get another puppy to raise!

The summer term is coming along nicely. I am in the office only on Tue, Wed and Thur, and am teaching two patho sections. This is my third time through and I am still learning stuff, but it is a lot of fun to teach. The worst part is, I have 5 or so students who are taking patho for the second time and if they don't get at least a C this time, they are gone! I don't want to be the reason a student has to leave our college, but I can't pass someone with a 69 average and I have told them that.

My 1:15 lecture is approaching, so I need to go to the little professors room and get rid of some coffee, then on to class. Hope all have a great weekend.

Good Day!

Time goes by

Wow, since the 26th since I have written? Oh well, they are good times that are going by, but at 50, I wish time would go by a we bit slower. Made it to South Carolina and back weekend before last. Spent a day with my son. We went to a baseball game and played golf. Had a good visit. The next day, I took my daughter to play golf and she loved driving the golf cart. The last time she tried, she hit a tree! The only gaff this time was when she about ran the cart of of a bridge! Thank goodness she only got the left front tire off and stopped!

Great story. Last August when we moved to Memphis, we left our Huskie (3 yr old) with my mom-in-law's house in Charlotte NC. A mere 3 days after we moved, Duchess (the huskie) got away from them and no one saw here again. We went back of course to look for her, but to no avail. My daughter was extremely upset, but over time, we kind of accepted the fact that Duchess would just be with us in memory. Well, two days ago, the animal shelter in Charlotte called and said they had captured a huskie that was traced back to us! Wow, after 8 months running around Charlotte and eluding everyone, they had finally gotten Duchess! Of course, we were all very, very happy and felt so blessed to be able to get her back. We are leaving in the morning to drive back to NC and bring Duchness to Memphis and our new home!

God works in mysterious ways! Also, my mom in law and agreed to sell us her car for a mere $1000! We needed a second car badly and now we will have a good one, low mileage, for next to nothing!


Got to get ready for my Patho class. I am off on Fridays, so as soon as class is over, I am out the door and headed toward a cold bottle of brew!

Good day!