Yes We Can

He did it.

At last I believe there is hope for this country again. At last I believe there will be someone in the whitehouse who is truly there to a lead a nation, not to dominate a power struggle. At last I believe that the country I live in will once again be the country I was raised to believe in. For the first time in many years, I believe.

I was moved by a quote from his speech last night:
"And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

Here's a link to the transcript of the full speech, which is worth reviewing.
From the Washington Post

I just got some great photos from my friend Mike in Seattle:

I was impressed in Obama's speech that he had the courage to include "Gay and Straight" in his list of Americans.

Fall falls

Ladies and Gentlemen... the King of Rock and Roll.
Yes, here's Grayson in his "Zombie Elvis" costume. He was actually supposed to be wearing a skeleton T-shirt with this, but I forgot to bring it to his Dad's house, so we just went with what he had on for school. I think it still works. He made a pretty good Elvis.
























I snapped this photo this morning on my drive down Chautauqua Avenue to the museum. These are not the most colorful trees in Norman by any means, but you just can't beat these gorgeous old Elms for character.

I had all kinds of trouble with the time change this morning. I didnt' change the clocks until right before bed on Sunday, and I guess I sort of forgot I'd done it. The dogs woke me up early and I looked at the clock and I swear it said 6:15.

I got up, went walkies and when I came back I swear the clock in the kitchen said 6:30. So I went to sit on the sofa and drink coffee for 15 mintues before I got Grayson up.

Some 15 minutes later, Grayson himself appeared, warm and jammied, to curl up on the sofa with me and watch the morning weather report. I was surprised that the Today Show wasn't on. But I thought it was just a longer-than-usual news segment. I had more coffee and Grayson had breakfast. At about 7:15, I brought Grayson his clothes and got in the shower. I could have sworn it was 7:20.

After I got out of the shower I came out to find Grayson still curled up, in his jammies, on the sofa. "Get Dressed!" I told him. "But I'm SLEEPY" he moaned. I went in to check the time. 6:55.

6:55. 6:55?
Huh?
Yes, I was an hour early. So I went in and told G to take his time getting dressed, we had plenty of time.

No wonder he was sleepy!

So we hung out for awhile this morning, and I took some pictures of him with the dogs. Flower loves getting up on the sofa and snuggling. Grayson loves it, too.

Baaaaad Dog

Yesterday I took a break from hanging pictures to take Flower and Kobi to the Dog Park. Oklahoma City has this great dog park with a pond and everything where you can let your dogs run off a leash. Here's a link: http://pawok.com/
(I'd have taken pictures, but I left my camera with Gray this weekend to get pictures of Grayson and his buddy John on Halloween.)

Well, I get them there and at first everything went great. They take off running together at top speed, having a great old time. I lead them down to the pond and Flower gets right in, playing happily with the other dogs. Then Kobi starts bristling and snarling at all the dogs there.

Now Kobi weighs about 10 pounds. 15 tops. We are in the "Large Dogs," 30 lbs and over area. These are dogs five times her size. And she is snarling and barking and charging at them. Well, needless to say, before long she has attracted quite a crowd, and I have to break up a fight and pick her up to keep her from getting herself eaten.

Flower, meanwhile, is happily oblivious, wagging and running, splashing in the pond, playing peacefully.

Finally, when all the other dogs are distracted elsewhere, I'm able to put Kobi down to go play with Flower in the water. Within 4 minutes, she has picked another fight and I have to scoop her up – water, mud and all – and hold her out of harm's way. I cannot put Kobi down. The minute her feet hit the ground, she starts a fight. So I end up holding her – this 10 pound wet, muddy bundle of quivering bloodlust – for 20 minutes while Flower plays.

The shirt I was wearing is a complete gonner.

Flower and I will go back next weekend, but Kobi has to stay home.

This has been a slightly odd, though relaxing, weekend. I'm unaccustomed to so much time to myself. Yesterday morning I went shopping at Target. I spent probably 2 hours there. I kept thinking I needed to get home, and then I realized I didn't. There was nobody waiting for me, nobody who would be annoyed if I was gone for hours. I could stay as long as I wanted. So I tried on clothes and looked at toys for Grayson and shopped the baby aisle for Krysten's shower. I looked at all the TVs, just cause I could. I compared cordless phones. I imagined different curtain configurations on my scanty apartment windows.

What I bought was a couple of T-shirts and a jacket on sale, some picture nails, a $17 cordless phone, some fireplace tools and a DVD player. Can you believe you can get a DVD player now for $35? And it's so little and light weight! Amazing.

The DVD player on the TV in the living room is wonky. It has been for years, but I forgot that. We kept it around because it played Grayson's VHS tapes, unlike the VHS player in his smaller TV, which eats VHS tapes. But it no longer plays DVDs. So for $35 I was able to watch two Indiana Jones movies this weekend. The latest one is not all that great, I have to say. But the one with Sean Connery is pretty good. And they all have Harrison Ford in them, which is all I really have to say.

This morning it was up again at 7:30 (6:30 if you account for Daylight Savings Time) with Kobi's tongue up my nose. There's no rest for the woman living in an apartment with two dogs. So Up we Go, and out for Walkies.

The getting up part is a pain, but the walkies are nice. I like the quiet of the morning, breathing the cool morning air and exploring around the complex with the girls. The pulling thing is much better. The only time I have trouble now is if Flower spots one of the neighborhood cats, or if Kobi gets herself wound around a tree, for which she seems to have a special gift.

I realized this weekend that I really like it here. The complex is very quiet, much quieter than our old neighborhood, so close to Classen and 23rd street. I almost never hear sirens or helicopters here. I can hear the rumble of the road traffic, but it is muted, and at night or in the early morning it is very quiet. You can even see some stars. There is not a lot of unnecessary light. Every apartment has its porch light, which comes on automatically at a certain hour. But there aren't a lot of flood lights. It's nice. Our balcony looks out over the dog yard and the pool, so I don't feel crowded. There are some trees here, and in the next pod over there is a nice area with big sycamore trees and lots of monkey grass, which the girls like to snuffle about in. Sycamores are my favorites, of course. I love the smell of them, particularly after a rain or early in the morning when they are still damp with dew.

Yesterday I went out on the balcony in the evening and drank a glass of wine and watched the sky turn purple. The evening was beautiful, not too cool. My balcony faces south, and I could feel heat warming my back from the brick wall that had been collecting the sunshine all day. I realized I was happy sitting there. That I like my little apartment and this complex and the new routines, pain as they are. It's a good place for me and my dogs and my boy, for now at least. I'm content.