of (hungry) mice and (wo)men

i usually go home for lunch. or i will sometimes run out and get a yogurt and one of those earthy rolls from whole foods that can rip apart your mouth if you're not careful. or sometimes i will fit in an errand or two--these days, it's usually something to do with the impending prawn. i have gotten very domestic (knitting and such) and well, animal-y.

anyway, i didn't leave the office today, because there were too many things to do, which, happily for me, is a rare occurence. but anyway, that's how it went this afternoon. so i decided to run across the street to get an egg salad sandwich with tomato on squaw bread and a little container of sweet hot mustard. if you've never tried this sandwich, i think you should. and i will tell you that today, the man who made the sandwich managed to unflinchingly pile the bread with a full 3 vertical inches of egg salad. anyway, as i was scurrying back with my weird oversized plastic container full of salty, cholesterol laden eggs, i felt like i was a little rodent, darting back to my burrow clutching some kind of leafy or wormy thing in my teeth. or maybe dragging back some piece of straw or weed for my little sleeping area.

i often think about that as i am driving off at lunchtime to my errands or to home or to whole foods, and i see all the people coming back across the street from the little commissary, chatting and laughing with co-workers, all of them carrying styrofoam or plastic containers full of things. i always think how they are all little animals pulling back birds or grasses to their little compartments. like they have just darted out quickly, paused before they crossed the street, like a little squirrel will do, and then, safely across, they quickly gather their food and run back to their hole. i think of it more often than i would care to say. but today, i was that little rodent. it may have been because it was a little overcast and not quite blustery, but the weather was sort of toying with a pre-bluster. and then there were little pools of pine needles around in the uneven asphalt of the driveway. it all made me think how i'm just maybe a good nail filing away from real animal status. and with this big baby flipping around in there--my gosh, i'm just brimming with animal life.

it doesn't matter that i came back to a computer with a super fast internet connection, or that i had 2 messages on my cell phone, or that i bought some horrible low-fat nabisco confection for dessert, i am still a little animal pulling husks in.

i had thought about telling the people who were waiting for a final version of what i've been working on that i was just still too busy pulling in husks and making a cozy mat for the floor of my extensive burrow system and that i had to eat some worms and things so my prawn would have keen eyesight when it is born, but then i thought that i would probably end up being out of work a few months before my real (and very unpaid) maternity leave begins. so i didn't say anything. i just had my lunch and tried to finish up my (oops! i mean, somebody else's) work.

but it wasn't without noticing how our building really resembles a complex underground structure, with tunnels and rooms, and we can even seal off the entrance during daylight, if we wish. and everyone is chattering and full of industry. and some people have good strong incisors for gnawing.

i am really looking forward to having this baby. not because he will be so great and cute and wonderful and will probably resemble my handsome spousey of all species, which of course he will, but because it will be nice to finally be more like an animal. (and i understand from dear friends that the whole thing is pretty animal-y) i'm not worried about any of that though. because i think animals are some of the nicest people i've ever met. and i would be honored to just do what they do. especially if it means not having to meet someone else's deadline on the friday before a three-day weekend.

have a very nice time this memorial day, and i hope you all drag something nice into your little burrow.

of balls, eye and soccer

so much has been going on, it's hard to know where to start. first of all, i'll tell you that arsenal and barcelona are playing in the champions league final in paris tomorrow. if you happen to be in paris, and you happen to get tickets for 75,000 euro or whatever they are going for, then you are a lucky person. i, however, will be watching it on a little sylvania mini tv at work. of course, i will tivo it and watch it later as well, so i can admire frame by frame the stunning beauty of thierry henry as he scores goal after goal against barcelona.

and then, on thursday, i take the granule to her 5 week follow-up appointment. for what, you ask? well, for her cataract surgery, of course! what you don't know is that while you were toiling away in the fields, without even a tinyengine entry to sustain you in your darkest hours, i was (with loads of help from my habitat for husbandry of all habitat for husbands) helping franule the granule convalesce. she is diabetic, as you well know if you are an avid tinyengine reader. and while most dogs lose their sight from cataracts within 6 months to a year of becoming diabetic, frances managed to see clearly for 3 years. it was great. in fact, it was the only break the dog has gotten in 11 years. and we were grateful for it while it lasted. but then, old mr. cataract caught up with her and she lost her sight around fall of last year. we were out at the little park and she ran right into a light post. that's when we knew that she could no longer see. the light post broke too. she has a strong head.

so, in mid-april, just in time for her birthday, she underwent surgery. through the miracle of phaecoemulsification, they were able to dissolve her cataracts, suck them out of there, and then put new lenses into her eyes. the minute she got out of surgery, she could see again! i imagined it would have been like an old movie, where someone wakes up and with a look of wonder, gazes upon the vase of flowers on the bedside table and says tearily, "i can see!" but apparently, frances didn't react that way. also, i don't think they had flowers in the dog recovery room. but they did say that her eyes ping-ed back and forth like cartoon eyes because her brain was unable to process all the images coming in. then, they took her for a walk and she stared at everything. the grass, the flowers, the concrete blocks in the parking lot. everything.

there were soaring violins and everyone was cheering.

anyway, then we brought her home and she had to have 2 sets of eyedrops 4 times a day and 3 kinds of pills 3 times a day and she had to wear a big plastic cone helmet for a month. if you have a dog, i don't have to tell you how annoying it is for the dog and how terrible it is for the people who have to witness the poor beast walking into everything with the plastic cone helmet.

during the month, she fell down the stairs a few times (her legs had become weak) and she tried to scratch her eye with the sharp edge of a wicker basket and she also got a corneal ulcer (unrelated to the wicker basket)--in fact, we had to pick up the wicker basket of toys and bones and put it on what will eventually be the baby's changing table, and frances could only sit and stare at it longingly. and cry. there were some wrenching emotional moments during her convalescence. but now, she has totally recovered and we only need visit the kind eye doctor on thursday who will give us an all clear so she can go running and jump up to catch things in midair. good days are ahead. also, she can see her chewies again. and that means fun for everyone. by the way, we got a babygate and put in at the top of the stairs so she wouldn't fall down anymore. the second time she fell, it was while she was actually walking down the stairs for a walk. i don't want anyone calling dog protective services on us. we are very careful. and we won't wait for the baby to fall down the stairs twice either. i promise, we'll be very good.

meanwhile, i have a gargantuan child living inside of my stomach. the good news is that he will likely be on the world cup team in 2030, as he has been kicking about 23 out of 24 hours every day. he will also probably win the boston marathon. it's just a gut feeling. i could be wrong. no pressure. even if he doesn't make the world cup team, he might just end up playing for arsenal when they go for the champions league cup 25 years hence.

so that's how the dog days of spring are going around here. it is getting increasingly difficult to sleep, unless your idea of sleeping is putting a soccer ball under your shirt and then trying to get comfortable.

we are all really just waiting for world cup to start. then not much else will matter. and the best part is that frances will get to see wiltord or trezeguet or our old friend zizou score the winning goal for france. it's going to be fun.