Sheep Guarding Llama

Today is the big, joint birthday party for Garrett, Clara and Luciana.  I had to run out to the grocery store this morning to get some cooking and party supplies.  So I left early and when I went out there were two dogs in the middle of the intersection that I had to drive around.  That worried me a bit.

When I returned from getting groceries the two dogs were still out and followed the Acadia back to the Grices’ house and hung out as if they were our dogs.  One was a golden retriever or retriever blend and looked exactly like a very old version of my dog Lady from my childhood.  The other was a little miniature dachshund, the same colouring as Nugget, the dog that we had when I was born.  The two of them together was like watching the ghosts of my childhood playing together like it was 1982 again.

The two dogs were insistent on getting into the house and because, as always, everyone just ignored me or argued when I yelled that I needed help immediately one managed to knock past me and get into the house.  The older retriever looked so much like Liza that they actually couldn’t tell them apart running around the house.  It took a bit to get the guest dog out of the house again.  Both dogs were very clean and friendly but had no collars or markings so we didn’t know what to do.

We hid in the house for a while then Emily and I tried to walk out to pick up donuts for the family for breakfast.  Well, that didn’t work.  The two dogs started following us and we could not go out to the main road or the dogs would be out in the road and would get hit for sure.  So we were stuck.  We ended up spending a full hour walking all over the neighbourhood knocking on doors and asking if anyone knew the dogs.  No one did.  They were very friendly but tried to get into any house that they could.  We got to meet all kinds of people though.  In the end we had to go back to the house sans donuts and hide in the house for a bit.

Eventually Dominica and Madeline dropped Emily and I off to get the donuts.  The dogs didn’t know that we had gotten into the car so didn’t follow us this time.  Dominica called animal control because they dogs were just too risky to leave out.  They didn’t understand the road at all and would lay down in the intersection.  They need protection.  By the time that Emily and I walked back from getting the donuts the dogs were gone.  Don’t know if animal control picked them up or if their owners got home and took care of them but either way they were not out ready to get hit by a car anymore.

We ate our late breakfast and were right off to the Tocco’s where the party was being held this afternoon.  Like any party at the Toccos’, the kids ended up going swimming.  There was a lot of swimming and the party went all evening.  The party went well and everyone had a good time.

Dominica and Francesca went back with the kids early and I stayed behind to hang out until fairly late.  I never get to be the one who stays and parties.  It was a nice change.

Tomorrow morning we are driving back to Dallas.  Have to be out of Houston before the traffic gets going and I need time to work on my classwork before it gets too late.

Today was non-farm payroll so I was up early and in the office.  At least the financial outlook was really good this month.

Dominica emailed me mid-morning to say that she got to experience the crazy pounding from next door as well and the house was shaking all morning.

For lunch today Doue and I went to Brookhaven.  He has never been there before, nor to any of the country clubs.  He was pretty impressed.  We had a really nice lunch and he is hoping that we come back there again soon.

I got stuck working really late again this week.  Dominica had the car packed and ready to go to Houston but I didn’t wrap up with work until eight.  We left home at a quarter after eight and had to stop at Target before leaving town.  I stayed in the car with the girls and Dominica just ran in to do quick shopping to be ready for the party tomorrow.

The drive south went fine. Being as late as it was there was pretty minimal traffic.  But it was very late so we were all really tired.  It was a quarter till two in the morning when we pulled into the Grices’ and got into bed.

Tons of pounding at the house next door.  No idea what is going on but our house is just shaking and shaking.  I am really concerned about our foundation with the amount of work going on.  I ran outside to try to figure out what was going on.  From the looks of it, I am pretty sure that the next door neighbours are having their inground pool removed.  They have a swimming pool that takes up their entire back yard.  We know the size of our yard and that any pool would consume the entire thing and from Google satellite view we can see that that appears to be the case next door.  I guess that they are tired with it so the huge jack hammer machines are pounding the slab apart I guess.

I was on a call this morning at eight talking about a storage training class project.  The pounding next door was so violent that my monitors were shaking and flickering and it was hard to talk on the call.

After my call was done I was in to the office.

After work we went to Brookhaven for dinner.  And a quiet night at home.

Just a little time left for my classes at RIT.  Classes end officially in nine days and my stuff wraps up in seventeen.  The home stretch for classes now.  I can’t wait for this to be done.

Was at the office today.  Normal day, nothing special.  Dominica was home with the girls.  I saw them before I left to go into the office but wouldn’t get to see them the rest of the day.

I ran out to Subway with Dan and Doue to grab quick food before the Federal Open Market support call at one.  We had wanted to really go out for lunch today but couldn’t work it around the FOMC call.

I got out of the office a little early and drove up past the airport up to Southlake where I have never been previously.  It’s amazing how much of the DFW I have still never seen.  I went out there to go to the Alt-N party going on at “The Castle” on White Chapel.  I was quite impressed to find that it actually did look like a castle.  Twenty five thousand square feet!  It was a very cool party.  We had dinner and drinks.  There were probably fifty to seventy people there.  Fully catered and bartended.  I had dinner with a group from Italy, Holland, Spain and Germany.

Later on in the evening Kim and Armando made it out and hung out for a while.

The party was a good time, I’m really glad that I went.  Met a lot of great people.

I can’t believe that April is already come and gone.  Another year flying by.  I only really notice time passing when I get behind on SGL.

My morning was quite busy and I did not manage to get into the office until after lunch.  This morning Dominica took Luciana to her checkup with the doctor.  She is maintaining something like the 87% percentile in height (can you believe that?!?) and like the 35% percentile in weight.  Overall she is very healthy and she got an immunization today.  Both girls got “Groovy” temporary tattoos from the doctors office.

Dad sent me a link and I saw some people talking on Facebook about the new Spiderman film that is filming in Rochester currently.  They are pretending that Rochester is New York City and are shooting NYPD chase scenes there.  I saw a picture of a Daily Bugle newspaper truck parked on the street there.

Worked at the office this afternoon.  Got stuck just a little late before heading home but not bad.  Got home and hung out with Dominica and the girls for a while.  Dominica made salads for dinner and we ate while watching Rules of Engagement which isn’t too bad.  We have not seen it before.

Spent a lot of time playing with the girls tonight and then they decided to go hide in our bedroom and watch shows together before going to bed.

The girls came into my office for a while and danced for about an hour tonight.  They love it when I turn on my computer’s speakers and stream music from our Amazon account.

Luciana continues to love her new bed.  She gets up in the morning and Liesl goes and gets her now.  Luciana can get in and out of bed without any problem but can’t open her bedroom door from the inside because Dominica put a protector on the handle.  So she calls and Liesl goes to get her up.  Very cool that Liesl helps out with that.

Did some work but not too much and was off to bed at a pretty decent time.  Played a little Tales from Monkey Island: Chapter 1 before falling asleep.  Dominica discovered some weird strategy game on her iPhone called Plants versus Zombies or something to that effect and was playing that all evening.  We have a Steam account loaded with amazing games and this is what she plays sitting at her desk!

I am in the office tomorrow and after work I am heading to Southlake to hang out with Alt-N.