Mr. Biggins is Back!

Before I continue with this post, I need to get something off my chest.

I don't know if I can keep this up. What I feared is happening since the beginning of journal keeping and reality is hitting me like a baseball bat tonight. I sit here with my fingers ready to pound the keyboard away, and they just wiggle above it, waiting for some sort of divine intervention to guide the way. The sad truth is my life is filled with humdrum, humdrum and more humdrum and I hope I spelled humdrum correctly. Me: a working stiff in a boring and tiring routine. For instance, my day started at 3:30 this morning when I could feel a dog heaving twelve inches from my head. Bella hurled on fresh sheets. Went to my run of the mill job in a building that is white and colorless. Came home from work to find more vomit on the sofa, luckily covered by a blanket that grabs dog hair. Did poop patrol out back, fed the fish, fed the dogs, fed the beta, fed Michael and me, washed bed linens and blankets, and cleaned two toilets. Can it get any better than that? No wow factor here, that's for sure.

I am at a time in my life where the chapters are ending too quickly for me and there are times I feel I can't keep up with it all. During the past several years, health problems plagued my parents. Mom died 5 months ago and my Dad is on his way to be with her. In 2000, Gina left us in Maryland to attend college in Wilmington, NC. That was a long chapter that ended...a life-changing and sometimes difficult time when you are suddenly an empty nester and no longer referred to as "Gina's Mom" and swim team organizer, and your "too busy schedule" comes to a halt. Two years later, Michael's job took us to Delaware and I left long-time friends and neighbors in Maryland, started a new life, new job, and made new friends. Three years after that, a repeat in North Carolina. Military families do it all the time, so why am I complaining? No, I'm not complaining. I'm venting on a day I am stuck without a fresh idea because I don't know who in the hell I am anymore. So I guess I'll just shut up about it take comfort in knowing that life changing experiences build a well-rounded character, and get on with this simple post.

Yes, Austin, otherwise known as "MR. BIGGINS" is BACK! He is our granddog... Gina's lovable pup. Gina, Billy, and Austin lived with us for a little over two months this summer while they moved from Wilmington to Charlotte and settled in and established themselves. They moved to their own place in August and I see Austin on weekends, but, for the last three or four weeks, he's been prohibited from visiting his Gramma because we needed to cover the weeds and mud in the back yard with new grass. Why wasn't he allowed to visit? "Mr. Biggins" is a 65 pound boxer-mix puppy who just celebrated his 1st birthday last week. Now that the grass is grown and the mud factor won't put Gramma over the edge, he's welcome here again. And on Saturday, he arrived, happier than he could stand, to see us and his cuz's, Bella and Chloe.

This photo is a blur because his short visit here was indeed a blur! Bella is his main squeeze and she rules him completely and can roll him into total submission.

That boxer underbite...is this a face only a mother could love? Nope, Gramma loves this lap dog.

Austin...so regal, so handsome, so loving and sweet. Part of the family.

I never saw lizards until I came to North Carolina. We have oodles of them scurrying around on the west side of our house where the sun bakes the landscaping retainer wall. Yesterday, I decided to take a few minutes and get closer...

This is one of the larger ones. I'd love to catch one, observe him for a while, and return him to his hot rock.

So, I guess I would have ignored this little reptile if it weren't for the camera I carry in my pocket since I started this journal. Note to self: need more clothing with pockets.