I took the dog for her daily walk this morning, and I'm noticing each time I take her it gets easier and easier. My 83 pound dog used to walk me, but now I'm the boss of her. I also think she has a crush on our neighbor boy dog. I'm not sure what breed he is, but he is big like her. We walked past his fence at the beginning of our walk today and they barked at each other, then on our way back, we crossed on the opposite side of the street, but in full view of the other dog. Missy (my dog) stopped to admire him from afar thereby commencing a staring contest between the two. After the appropriate amount of time (apparently), Missy sat down daintily on the grass, and a moment later, he did the same thing, only not as daintily. There stayed there for another minute or so, just sitting and staring, until I got tired of it and pulled Missy up and forced her to come home with me. She didn't like being pulled away from her new love, which manifested in her grawing at the leash for a moment, until I told her we'd come back to see him tomorrow, and she pranced her way home. I walked behind her feeling like the mother of a teenager.

Not a ton going on this week around here, except the heart attack Non and I almost had, collectively, when we received our gas bill for last month. $300 is not okay for a month's worth of heat, so we've decided to utilize our wood-burning fireplace more. I lit a fire this morning, and it was so lovely to have burning, not to mention the nifty campfire smell that wafted through the living room. Gas gouged us last month, so we're going to shun it this month. So THERE, gas. How'dya like THEM apples?