Before the Blog: Doggy News, and More

A couple of weeks ago, we had Shrike's family over for Easter. This was the first time some of them had seen our new house, and the first time any of them had been here for more than a quick tour. It was also the first time we've hosted a family shindig at all.

We were supposed to be hunting Easter Eggs in the backyard, but it rained all day, so we ended up hiding them in the house for the kids. Later, they (with some help from Shrike's mom) hid them for the grown-ups.

Last weekend, PerfectPuppy played hooky from her doggy class and we took her to watch a dog agility trial in Frederick, MD, about an hour away. She was very well-behaved and it all looked like a lot of fun, so we're thinking of signing her up for a puppy agility class that starts next month, if it fits our schedules.

The next day she was scheduled to be spayed but, in what can only be described as an incredible act of uterine self-preservation, she went into heat that day. Although, in retrospect, she was probably already starting to bleed a bit when we were at the trial, luckily it takes a few days before things really get going, so she didn't attract any unwanted attention while we were there.

Monday morning, when we figured out that she really was in heat, we tried repeatedly to call the vets office, but couldn't get through to them. So, we headed on over there, and when we arrived, I went into check on whether it would be a problem. As it turns out, they won't spay them when they're in heat, because the uterus is full of blood, increasing the risk of bleeding during the surgery.

That very day, we got a letter from the shelter that we adopted her from, fussing at us because we haven't sent them proof that she's been spayed. That figures.

On the work front, we're both still at the same jobs, but my situation has changed a bit. At the beginning of 2003, my boss sold the company to a larger company, but thing stayed pretty much the same, other than who was signing the checks.

However, in February of this year, all of our operations were moved over to the headquarters of the larger company. It hasn't been too bad, but has been something of an adjustment.

The bigger change, however, will be coming in a couple of weeks, because my boss is leaving the company; April 30 will be his last day. I will continue to handle all of the website and database design and development, and will also take over all of the development-related client interactions and all of the development-related server stuff that he does now, too. Basically, other than billing, everything from "Hey, I want a website," to launch will be my job. Should be interesting.