uhhh... no.

please don't breathe over my shoulder. you smell.

thanks,
april

i've already had 2 plain bagels with cream cheese. they're chewy on the outside, soft and yummy on the inside and i hear them calling my name to go back for more. i didn't bring lunch and i have another meeting in a half hour so i don't have time to run out and grab something.

willpower! i need willpower! must resist the bagels!

now to go make a shirt!

why valette? i don't know. she was the first person i thought of when i saw that.

either i really really need more sleep or this is some seriously snoozeworthy content. i think probably a little of both.

then i noticed light coming from my sewing room. i'd forgotten to shut the door! when i got down there i discovered that he had grabbed a towel i had lying on the floor (i use it as his seat cover in my car but had brought it in and washed it after last night's trip to the beach), wrapped it around himself to form a little nest, and was curled up on the floor of my sewing room.

lol too bad i have no idea what b did with the camera. it was cute, i promise.

it's super boring, dry stuff and i'm having a tough time focusing. it's chock full of blah blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... i'd rather be doing so many other things...

thankfully i'm already halfway finished. passed the first of two courses with flying colors and i'm well into the second course. let's hope i get this all done before i lose attention span altogether.

additionally, when i was bathing axel last night after his jaunt in the ocean, he managed to claw the hell out of the tops of both feet. he really really doesn't like getting bathed, and at this point i'm only barely able to keep him in the tub. it's a full body workout for me and involves much screaming and crying.

needless to say i'm thankful he's ok and all but boy did that little bugger do a number on my feet last night. i'm pretty thoroughly hobbled today. sadly that meant no walkie for him this morning and of course it's back to 92+ degrees outside this afternoon so i'm not sure how much i'm going to be able to do with him this evening. we'll see.

we arrived around 7:30 pm and the pup was doing great. had fun playing fetch with a tennis ball in the water, running around the beach getting sand in everyone's drinks, following bryan and i around, and generally being a very good boy. he was off-leash the whole time and never strayed far. if he started to get a little lost, we'd call him and he'd come right back.

somewhere around 9 ish the first fireworks got lit off, far down the beach. at the sound and sight of the first one, he cowered a little and started looking around. by the second or third, he was thoroughly spooked and started walking quickly away. we called him, but he didn't come back. we started walking towards him, but he bolted.

across the beach to the path, down the path to the road. bryan started chasing, with me behind about 20 feet. i saw axel round the corner at the sidewalk, then heard slamming brakes and our friend nikki shriek his name as he darted into traffic on shore drive, the main drag at the beach.

when i reached the road, he had made it safely across, but only just barely. he'd missed several cars by mere inches. remarkably, he'd gone straight back to my car, parked in the parking lot across the street, where bryan and several of our friends caught up with him. somehow i'd thought to bring the leash with me when we took off down the beach, so b was able to leash him and hold him there while i ran back to the beach to grab my purse to take axel home.

the whole drive home he was shaking. every time we passed more fireworks he would sit up and start whimpering in the seat. by the time we got home, he just wanted to sit in the corner. periodically he'd nudge me and whimper, and i'd ask if he needed to go outside. instead he would dart into his crate and lay down.

i moved from the bedroom, where i'd been watching tv, into the living room to be near his crate but he spent most of the night in the corner by the front door. wouldn't even lay on the floor next to the couch, where he usually stays when we're in there.

he seems to be ok today, aside from itchy (i did give him a bath when we got home) and fighting diarrhea (prob from drinking too much salt water), but we will be leashing him immediately next time we know there will be fireworks.

bryan: is that supposed to be johnny depp? he looks weird.

me: i think that was the point.