Notival

Our Nation's birthday is again upon us. Fireworks, hamburgers, and horse racing. That's the plan for the weekend. In the meantime, I believe that we are daily losing more of our freedoms and independence.

I try to remain non-political here, but I do believe that both of the major parties are slowly taking away our liberties. The Democrats are creating large government with too much oversight and the Republicans want everyone to fit into the same cookie cutter mold.

After the Squid graduates from college, Ninsi and I may consider a move to overseas. Though, honestly, I dont believe anywhere is any better than here. It's just stupid all over.

It's also incredibly freaking hot this Summer. We've already topped 105 and that was before July. Im not ready for that kind of heat for the next 2 months. I may have to take a 2nd job to just pay the electric bill for the Summer.

Stupid heat.

The big dogs got into a bit of row the other night. Not sure exactly what set them off, but I pulled Barley off Luna and took him outside so they could calm down. Luna had some blood on her fur, but was not obviously injured anyway, so I went to check and see if somehow Barley was bleeding.

I opened his mouth and he was bleeding from his gums right near the front. Something jagged was stuck there, but I couldn't tell if it was a large splinter from him chewing through the fence, or a broken, decayed tooth.

Either way, we decided it had to come out. I put on a heavy shirt and some gloves so I could hold him down and Ninsi got the needle-nose pliers. Barley didnt even struggle while she made two attempts and then just pulled it out. As soon as it was out, he started running around the yard like a happy dog. Turns out it was a tooth. He had apparently managed to break it at some point and it was completely rotted. I suppose it was causing him a lot of pain in general, and suddenly having it out was a big relief.

I imagine it has been bothering him for weeks. Stupid dog doesn't let us know when he's in pain. Im glad we didnt take him to the vet. It was too easy for whatever that bill would have cost, since Im sure they would have sedated him. Now, all we gotta do is keep an eye on it to make sure it doesnt get infected.

Stupid dogs.

Ive been staring at code all day. It's really all Ive been doing for the past couple of weeks. Five or six hours a day staring at the same dozen files or so for a work project. I was hoping to get this project wrapped up by the end of July, but that's not going to happen.

Cooking our annual Christmas in July dinner this weekend. We'll have quite a few more people this year than we have in years past. Too many to sit around the tables. So it will be buffet style. The turkey is already thawing in the fridge. Probably get a small ham to augment. I have no idea where everyone will sit, but Im not terribly worried about it. We're all friends, and I trust it will work itself out just fine.

This will be the first year of attendance for the Squid. There will be a few other smaller kids as well this year. We'll probably rent a few movies and send the youngsters off to the Squid's room for the evening after we finish the dirty santa activities.

The Summer is about half over, and it has been bloody hot. And probably hotter still to get. On the bright side, it looks like the kidling may be moving in and starting school here for the fall. There is still a whole lot to work out there, but it's a high probability at this point. I should know more on that this weekend, and will be sure to note any changes next time I blog. Probably sometime next week.

gobble gobble