Jeremy went out of town for a few days. He was suppose to have a retreat in California – but that got cancelled because of covid. They had their first in-person retreat a few months ago and some people did get covid and got stuck quarantining in not-their-home city and that was painful and people were reluctant to do it again. So they did a modified retreat with just the DC people at Jeremy’s boss’s boss’s beautiful house near Shenandoah. Jeremy had concocted this all-week biking plan – to bike to the retreat then bike to a big climb and then bike to my friend Vickey’s house and then bike to the DC office for a meeting today. But this fell apart upon various considerations (thunderstorms on Wed? where to put clothes? are you going to wear the same bike outfit everyday? let’s meet at Vickey’s house Wed night for dinner and pick me up?). Jeremy had already decided to switch to a driving/biking hybrid when the text came in on Monday morning saying that Vickey’s son Bert had covid and we were disinvited now. But this way, Jeremy had a more relaxed trip (still hundreds of biking miles) and got to have a nice long visit with Michelle (his boss’s boss) who is retiring in a few weeks (?). Michelle has been at UCS for the entire time Jeremy’s been there – he’s always admired her managerial skill.
I’ve been knee deep in trying to housebreak Elka. It’s going well-ish. She didn’t have an accident the entire time Jeremy was gone and neither she nor I were stressed out about the training. I basically tether her with a leash to a piece of furniture so she’s always in my line of sight and I take her out every three hours or so. I, in a moment of weakness, applied to the DNP program at UMd for the fall (way past the Nov 1 deadline because the website said – we are still accepting applications!) and wrote an essay and got recommendations, and after I handed it all in, then I went to a Q&A yesterday and I found out that the program I applied to is probably full as it was one of the more popular programs. I’m not sure what I’m doing – everyone in my family is excited about this, but I think I’m getting less excited about this. I have the same feeling I had when I was starting my graduate degree at Caltech which was a mistake professionally. Jeremy says I can’t compare the two. We’ll see. Now I feel like the nursing chapter in my life is done. I should just stop (maybe?). I’ve been on this path since 2009 when I started prereqs at Montgomery College and I saw it through – I’ve made the money back that I spent on school. An aside: I’ve been listening to this book which is about children who spontaneously catch on fire.
Vince finished out his sophomore year with finals done on Monday. This was such a good year for him. His finals were early in Finals week, so he’s enjoying the end of the quarter with friends – playing D&D and going out to eat. He’s staying in Davis this summer to work and take classes. He’ll come home in August sometime. He voted in the CA primary election on Tuesday. I have no idea how he didn’t get covid.
I’m also confused how Edda hasn’t gotten covid yet either! We are going through the last few weeks of school.
Elka and Edda make a very cute pair. Elka climbs all over Edda when she gets home from aftercare, licking her, nudging her and trying to find a good spot on her lap. Sometimes her wagging tail slaps Edda in her face over and over again and Edda is like – WTF? I found her sitting with Edda while we waited for the bus in the am.
We’ve made a few more trips to the fancy dog park. Elka likes it and eagerly pulls towards the entrance gate once she realizes where she is, but she is very submissive. Anytime anydog tries to alpha her, she immediately goes belly-up. So she does get picked on a bit – a dog will pin her down and then back up half a step and then Elka is like – I’m going to crawl away and play with other dogs and then the dog will repin her down. So there are a bunch of embarrassed dog owners who are like – stop it! stop it! stop it! around me and then they usually leave the park. You know who are the worst bullies? Goldendoodles or labradoodles. Honestly, it was like 3 of the blond haired curly doggies against Elka one day. On the other hand, these two were well matched and enjoyed each other’s company (Millie).
