Long Overdue Update

I guess I’m overdue for a new blog entry. So, here goes: As you may (or may) not have noticed, autumn is upon us. Keeping with the season, I’ve changed the background of my web site. Leaves on a web side background are one thing, but out in our backyard the leaves are getting out of hand. Rachel and I raked up the yard one day. The next day it looked as though we hadn’t picked up any leaves. At least, we have been putting the leaves to good use. We have been putting the leaves into pumpkin trash bags. We have two large pumpkins and eight smaller ones. I’m sure that we will have more before Halloween comes around.

Speaking of Halloween, we’ve started putting up our decorations. In addition to the aforementioned pumpkins, there’s a seven foot inflatable Dracula-Tigger in our yard. Also, we covered the front door with bright orange paper and we put the words “Happy Halloween” in black letters. It glows nicely under the black lights we have put out. We’re going to put some other assorted images on the door. Lastly, we got our candy ready to hand out. I didn’t like picking out one or two pieces for each trick-or-treater. This year, we got smarter; we filled up bags of candy. So, everyone will get the same amount. We filled up eighty bags with about thirty pounds of candy. I made sure to buy candy with wrappers that glow in the dark.

Kara and Kelly are nearing the completion of their training class; they only have two more classes to go. We are still working on STAND and STAY. They are getting better and better each day. If only we had as much luck with the housetraining (which is slowing getting better).

I am also nearing the end of my first class at Saint Leo University. My last day is October 23rd. I don’t anticipate any problems successfully completing this class. I start my next class, Basic Composition Skills, on the 25th.

In a few weeks, we’re finally going to get some new fencing. We were having problems with our former neighbors. They have since moved out and the house has been vacant for several months. The problem now is that Kara and Kelly are starting to find the spots where the fence doesn’t quite reach to the ground.

Since 2001 I’ve only taken one sick day a year. I guess that today was the day to take my sick day for this year. The sickness for the last couple of years has been an ear infection. This year was no different. What was kind of ironic was that just like the last few times time, I had just been to a movie theater a few days before. Maybe it’s something in the popcorn (but I sure hope not).

Recently I got a Roomba for the upstairs. For those that don’t know, a Roomba is a robotic vacuum. It isn’t made for deep cleaning, but since the upstairs is all linoleum, the Roomba will do just fine. I love the lights on the machine. It’s got a bright blue light that turns on every time it finds a large quantity of dirt. Sadly, this light came on several times when I was testing the Roomba. I also like the different “songs” that it plays. My favorite is the backup beep. The only downside in using the Roomba is that I have to pick all of the cords and such off the floor (which is probably a good thing anyway).

Tagline for today: “The day I worry about cleaning my house is the day Sears comes out with a riding vacuum cleaner.” - Roseanne