Home, Kind Of

After many days and many events I find myself back in Iowa, where things haven't changed a whole lot. I feel like I was gone for a long time. And I suppose I was. After flying back from Arizona on Friday, I spent the weekend in Chicago at Brian's sister's wedding. It was an enjoyable event, but after three days of attending various receptions and gatherings and ceremonies, I was more than ready to head home. Sunday evening was glorious - sitting around quietly with Brian and catching up, and then sleeping in our own bed.

Unfortunately, that all ended on Monday morning, when we both had to leave for very long days of work that involved a good deal of catch-up for both of us. Then there is the further complication that I agreed to house-sit this week for someone I don't know. The two dogs are Shelties - and the smallest examples of the breed I have ever seen. The house is about two miles away. I thought house-sitting would be no big deal, but the dogs so far have proven very strange. Although they are young, they have bizarre and elaborate feeding requirements, and so far have refused to eat all of my carefully prepared meals. They also won't engage in any sort of normal dog activity. They don't even wag their tails. They follow me around the house staring but run away when I talk to them or try to get them to play. And although they will allow me to put their leashes on and walk them around the block, they don't seem to derive any enjoyment from this experience.

But of course the main discomfort of the whole thing is having to spend so much time at someone's else's house, and sleep there, so soon after returning home myself. Also, between the extra work and the dogs, I haven't even gotten to see Steen yet. =(

So, I guess this has turned out to be a fairly whiney blog post. I do apologize. The good news is I'm sure I can persevere until the dog's owner returns on Saturday, and in the meantime it looks like we will even get a visit from Brian's parent's to cheer us up. And after that, Brian and I should have many unbroken weeks of living our life the way we want to.